Following on from their shock victory over Colombia, Venezuela were looking to seize a surprise pole position in qualifying for the knockout phase with victory over Peru.
The game started at speed, with Venezuela going close inside seven minutes. Alejandro Guerra’s cross was met by Salomón Rondón, but his poked effort was brilliantly saved by Pedro Gallese.
The game took an enormous turn on the half hour mark as Fulham’s Fernando Amorebieta stamped on Paulo Guerrero, seeing him receive a straight red card.
The feisty challenges continued to fly in as Josepmir Ballón picked up a yellow five minutes after Amorebieta’s red, followed by Carlos Lobatón also getting booked moments later.
The sides went in at half time with neither team in real control, despite Peru having a man advantage. In a sense, the players were almost too excitable during the match, which took away from the spectacle and made it a sloppy affair.
Peru started the second half strongly, as both Guerrero and Claudio Pizarro came close with headed efforts.
After an hours play both sides began to pick up the pace of the game. Luis Advíncula flashed a fantastic ball across goal but there were no Peruvians on the end of it, while Venezuela countered but were also unable to pick out the final pass.
Juan Manuel Vargas was setting his sights as the half ticked on, having a number of efforts from outside of the box.
After 72 minutes Peru took the lead. Christian Cueva’s ball was deflected by Tomás Rincón right into the path of Claudio Pizarro, who slammed past Alain Baroja in the Venezuelan net. The goal will come as no surprise to those that have followed the career of the 36-year-old, who has scored goals everywhere he’s been – except Chelsea.
Peru saw the remainder of the game out intelligently and professionally. This result sees all four teams in Group C sitting on 3 points each with Colombia – Peru and Brazil – Venezuela to come.
Peru: Gallese; Advíncula, Zambrano, Ascues, Vargas; Ballón, Lobatón (Reyna 46); Sánchez, Cueva (Hurtado 83); Pizarro (Yotún 90), Guerrero
Venezuela: Baroja, Tuñez, Vizcarrondo, Amorebieta, Rincón, Vargas (Chichero 37), Seijas (Miku 82), Guerra, Arango (Martínez 73), Rosales, Rondón
Booked: Amorebieta, Ballón, Lobatón, Guerrero, Pizarro, Cichero
Goalscorers: Pizarro
Man of the Match: Christian Cueva. The creative hub of the Peruvian team would have been my Man of the Match against Brazil until Neymar’s late piece of magic. Today there was no keeping him out. Cueva worked tirelessly all game, retrieving the ball and creating the goal that secured Peru a massive three points.