Peruvian National Team: how many times did they win in their first match of the year?

It's back. The Peruvian National Team will make its debut this 2018 in the friendly match against Croatia in Miami. It will be the first match of the season for the national team, which hasn't played since the historic November 15th, when they qualified for the World Cup by winning 2-0 against New Zealand. In 90 years of history, the national team has won fifteen times in their annual debut.

The national team had to wait until 1936 to celebrate their first match of the year. They did it with a resounding 7-3 victory against Finland in the Olympic Games in Berlin. 'Lolo' Fernández, idol of Universitario de Deportes, was the star with five goals. That was also the first of seven victories in their season opener playing abroad, the last one was against Trinidad and Tobago in 2013.

As a curious fact, the Peruvian National Team hasn't won their annual debut under Ricardo Gareca's management. All these matches were against Venezuela: they lost a friendly in 2015, and tied 2-2 in the qualifiers in 2016 and 2017. In his fourth year leading the national team, Croatia crossed their path as the first opponent.

The Peruvian National Team and Croatia will face each other in an unprecedented match on March 23rd at 7:30 pm in Miami. The 'team of all' has already won eleven times in the United States, the last one against Brazil in the 2016 Copa America Centenario. The national team will make its debut in Russia 2018 on June 16th against Denmark in Saransk, and then will face France (06/21 in Ekaterinburg) and Australia (06/26 in Sochi).