The Peruvian National Team was eliminated from Qatar 2022 after losing to Australia in penalties, this after a 0-0 draw in the 90 minutes of regulation and in the 30 minutes of extra time. However, the match was not lost in the penalty shootout but rather because Peru couldn't find any game and the lack of hierarchy was evident. Would Paolo Guerrero have changed things?
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As it is known, 'El Depredador' (The Predator) is not in his best physical condition but still trained until the end to be called up by Ricardo Gareca. However, the Argentine decided to leave him in Lima to continue his recovery and chose to bring Gianluca Lapadula, Alex Valera, and Santiago Ormeño as his forwards.
However, as we all could see in the match against Australia, a player with hierarchy like Paolo Guerrero was missing, who with his presence on the field generates more goal-scoring chances and gives the confidence that a team needed, which didn't stop making mistakes and inaccuracies throughout the match.
The absence of Guerrero was felt more as the minutes went by, since none of the eleven players on the field could improve in the first or second half, extra time, or penalties, where the absence of our emblematic '9' was felt to motivate his teammates and even take his own penalty.
In summary, we lacked a leader in the Al Rayyan Stadium throughout the unbearable match, the Peruvian National Team never found someone to rely on and take shelter to catch their breath and fully enter the match. We lacked that Paolo Guerrero who with his rallying cries awakens the eleven players sent to the field by Ricardo Gareca. Now we have to think about the next World Cup appointment, which will be in 2026.