Peru Draws with Tunisia

For the international break, Peru squared off against Tunisia away from home.  The Peruvians can return with a bit of good and bad from Africa after putting in some great work and some very silly mistakes.

The Peruvians’ passing game was on display for this match, and when they could secure possession, they did brilliant things with the ball.  Unfortunately, their passing and attacking flair really didn’t produce much.  As is very typical with these types of games, the buildup play is excellent, but the finishing touch just isn’t there.  Early in the game, Peru dominated the match but poor finishing from Paolo Guerrero saw the score sit at 0-0.  The final ball just could not find the Peruvian strikers, and the game started to cool down.  That’s when Tunisia turned on— their physicality in midfield was certainly felt by the Peruvians.  It was the classic conflict of flair versus brute force, and the game swayed back and forth as neither side could exert their philosophy to the fullest.

There was finally a breakthrough at the end of the first half.  A careless error from Yoshimar Yotun left Peru exposed in the back after being pressed and overcome by Tunisia striker Ben Yahia.  The Tunisia striker was one on one with Peru goalkeeper, Diego Penny, and finished well with a powerful hit.  However, the first half would end the way it started, as immediately after the goal, Peru hit right back after Luis Ramirez was brought down in the box by a Tunisia defender.  Captain Claudio Pizarro stepped up to take the penalty, and sent the keeper the wrong way to finish a beautiful ball, bring the score to 1-1 at the break.  The game would stay that way, no team being able to make a breakthrough in the second half.

What Peru can take away from this match is that there needs to be more creativity and concentration at both ends of the pitch.  It seems as though “El Mago” Markarian has a solid midfield that can pass and protect the ball, but what they need to be better at is creating solid opportunities for the strikers.  Paolo Guerrero and Claudio Pizarro are two of the best strikers in the world, never mind South America, and will finish quality chances nine times out of 10.  The problem is they are simply not getting those opportunities and this is something that needs to be addressed.  At the other end of the pitch, careless and silly mistakes like Yotun’s simply cannot happen.  In the past, Peruvian defense has looked very mistake prone, but since Markarian’s arrival they have looked more solid.  Today’s defense showed a glimpse of their former selves and Tunisia capitalized on it.  The defense cannot afford to make those mistakes in competitive matches and this is a problem that must be addressed.  However, Yotun is quite young, at only 21 years of age he is bound to make a mistake or two—better he does them in friendly matches than in competitive ones.  Hopefully this young athlete will learn from his mistake.

Now for the positives.  It is clear that the midfield has improved dramatically under Coach Sergio Markarian.  Once a midfield of pretenders and headless chickens, the players are now looking world class, both in passing and tackling.  Another plus is that one of Peru’s best players, Farfan, was not called up because of club issues, and thus was not present in today’s match.  Farfan has the pace and ability to create a lot from the right hand side and with his skill, Peru can be sure to see more fireworks in the future.  That being said, Luis Ramirez played excellent in Farfan’s place.  Ramirez earned a penalty and had some excellent attacking play of his own in this match.  He is no Farfan, but he is certainly a worthy replacement and is a player to watch for the future.  Another player who proved his worth this match was Diego Penny.  Recently crowned Peruvian League Champions with his club team Juan Aurich, Penny started and played the full 90 minutes in goal against Tunisia.  He made many brilliant saves and held some pounded efforts— quite the excellent performance from him.  The goal he allowed was not entirely his fault; I think he could have done more to save the shot, but he was left stranded by his defense so there really isn’t much you can blame him for in that incident.  All in all, I see a Peru team with depth that is getting better and better and I hope they can continue this form into the next World Cup Qualifiers match against Colombia!

Written by David Wall, Matt Sinacore