Peru scraped past Venezuela in the last matchday of Copa America 2021. Andre Carrillo’s goal soon after the restart was enough to settle the tie.
¡FINAL DEL PARTIDO! @SeleccionPeru venció 1-0 a @SeleVinotinto con gol de André Carrillo por el Grupo B de la CONMEBOL #CopaAmérica
🇻🇪 Venezuela 🆚 Perú 🇵🇪#VibraElContinente #VibraOContinente pic.twitter.com/kgANCZFDas
— Copa América (@CopaAmerica) June 27, 2021
Venezuela desperately needed a draw to have a chance of qualifying for the knockout rounds of Copa America, whereas Peru had already booked their place in the last 8.
CLASIFICADO 🇵🇪
¡@SeleccionPeru está en cuartos de final! 👏#VibraElContinente #CopaAmérica pic.twitter.com/awnmuKd8KJ
— Copa América (@CopaAmerica) June 27, 2021
The result of the game between Brazil and Ecuador also would have had an effect on Venezuela’s chances. Especially if they had managed to get a draw against Peru.
Comenzaron recibiendo un duro golpe de Brasil. Se recuperaron con una trabajada victoria ante Colombia. Empataron contra Ecuador. Y hoy cerraron la primera fase con otro triunfo para conseguir el segundo puesto del Grupo B. ¡ARRIBA PERÚ ! 🇵🇪👏#VibraElContinente #CopaAmérica 🏆 pic.twitter.com/ZUjS5EmUOY
— Copa América (@CopaAmerica) June 27, 2021
A corner from Peru that Venezuela failed to deal with in the 48th minute. It led to Carrillo ditching his marker to get to the loose ball just 5 yards from the goal. He then smashed the ball in for the only goal of the dull affair.
Here are 3 main takeaways from the Copa America 2021 tie between Venezuela and Peru.
PERUVIANS PRESS HIGH BUT FAILED TO THREATEN
The Peruvians looked to press the deep sitting defence of Venezuela from the first whistle. They made it really hard for the Venezuelans to play out from the back, often trapping them in their own half. The constant high press proved effective as Peru kept winning the ball near Venezuela’s goal. But they failed to convert any of them in the first half.
In fact the Venezuelans looked dangerous in Peru’s half. They were able to carve out more viable chances that made the Peru goalkeeper, Gallese work harder than Farinez in the first half.
La tarántula Gallese en acción 🕷🧤#VibraElContinente #CopaAmérica 🏆 pic.twitter.com/qjCcNcVO5b
— Copa América (@CopaAmerica) June 27, 2021
Peru were surely crying out for a wake up call. It seemed it was going to be a night of Peru being wasteful while Venezuela were likely to nick a lucky goal.
Fortunately for Peru things changed in the second half. It was also clear to see that both teams wanted to make sure they did not concede.
VENEZUELA SLEEPING AFTER THE RESTART
Fans must have wondered if we were going to see a goal or not in this game as the team’s pragmatic approach resulted in a boring first half.
The second half started way differently. Peru looked effective as they wanted their high press to yield the result against Venezuela.
Esto fue lo mejor de la victoria de @SeleccionPeru sobre @SeleVinotinto por 1-0
🇻🇪 Venezuela 🆚 Perú 🇵🇪#VibraElContinente #VibraOContinente pic.twitter.com/L04FTGd4aI
— Copa América (@CopaAmerica) June 27, 2021
Peru won a corner in the 48th minute that led to the goal. But the Venezuelan defence was apparently sleeping. The players from Venezuela were clearly caught on their heels as Carrillo was afforded so much space right in the center of the goal. He was calmly able to thrash the ball into an almost open net as the Venezuelans failed to react altogether.
After the goal the Venezuelan players looked at each other absolutely befuddled as to how Andre Carrillo was given so much time and space in their penalty box.
EL GOLEADOR DEL PARTIDO 🔥
André Carrillo fue elegido el Jugador del Partido 🥇#VibraElContinente #CopaAmérica pic.twitter.com/YHL3MdzXY0
— Copa América (@CopaAmerica) June 27, 2021
The players from Venezuela were clearly still in the locker room as the words of their manager would have been ringing in their ears. It probably was too loud as Peru capitalized with ease.
VENEZUELA OUT SADLY BUT OBVIOUSLY
The Venezuelans could feel a little hard done by their run in this year’s Copa America. They started their Copa campaign with a massively depleted squad due to COVID.
They had lost a lot of their star player for the tournament due to COVID,players like Yeferson Soteldo, who returned to the field for this game after fully recovering. But he was the only one who was able to register some playing time at Copa 2021, as many of those infected could only watch from their homes.
¡Calidad pura! Hermoso 'no look pass' de Yeferson Soteldo 🇻🇪
🇻🇪 Venezuela 🆚 Perú 🇵🇪#VibraElContinente #VibraOContinente pic.twitter.com/7ipYPDTTzb
— Copa América (@CopaAmerica) June 27, 2021
A sad but obvious conclusion for this Venezuelan squad who will hope that all of their stars return to training soon as Qatar World Cup qualifiers are in full flow.