The choice of Peru This Friday in Lima he achieved his first victory in the qualifying rounds of 2026 World Cupa painful 1-0 over Uruguay with a header from Miguel Araujo in the 88th minute relegating them to last place in the classification and lifting them to the penultimate with 6 out of 27 possible.
It’s a dull, nervous, stalled game, with few scoring options and with two rivals in opposing roles: a local team desperate to win and a visitor who seems interested in spending the least to get a draw that will guarantee of promotion to second place. which Colombia maintains with 16 integers. La Celeste are parked third with 15 and are mired in an internal debate that has not been clarified since forward Luis Suárez aired allegations of coach Marcelo Bielsa’s alleged mistreatment of players, who did not comment.
Bielsa was surprised by the system change which saw midfielder Manuel Ugarte stand as a central defender in a line of three defenders. As wingers, Nahitan Nández and Maximiliano Araújo went on the attack from the start.
Giorgian de Arrascaeta held the ball and Uruguay dominated the first half, although scoring chances were few and far between and goalkeepers were sometimes spectators. A header from Darwin Núñez that Pedro Gallese stopped with no problem and a long shot from Federico Valverde that went wide were the clearest for Celeste.
He also came close to a game of the Liverpool attacker, who returned to the national team sanctioned by TAS after being suspended for a fight with Colombian fans during the Copa América. On the other hand, a shot by Sergio Peña was neutralized by Sergio Rochet, while Edison Flores almost connected in the back of the net.
Valverde produced the latter for Uruguay
At the start of the second half, Peña brought Peru closer with a shot that went close and Andy Polo also worried Rochet. Valverde was the only one for La Celeste, who as the minutes went by struggled to find Núñez and hold onto the ball. In the end, when everything indicated that the match was goalless, Piero Quispe served from the right sector and center back Araujo left Rochet with no options with a header.
The local team celebrated and moved up in a classification where Chile was last with only five points. For its part, Uruguay remains with 15 and third, four behind Argentina. On matchday ten, La Celeste will host Ecuador at the historic Centenario stadium, while Peru will visit Brazil in two matches to be played on Tuesday, October 15.
TECHNICAL SHEET
1 – Peru: Peter Gallese; Miguel Araujo, Carlos Zambrano, Luis Abram; Andy Polo, Jesús Castillo, Oliver Sonne (m.81, Jean Pierre Archimbaud), Sergio Peña, Alexander Callens (m.71, Piero Quispe); Edison Flores (m.71, Bryan Reina) and Álex Valera (m.81, Luis Ramos).
0 – Uruguay: Sergio Rochet; Guillermo Varela, Manuel Ugarte, Santiago Bueno; Nahitan Nández, Federico Valverde, Nicolás Fonseca (m.89, Luciano Rodríguez), Maximiliano Araújo, Giorgian de Arrascaeta; Christian Olivera (m.46, Facundo Pellistri) and Darwin Núñez.
Purpose: 1-0, Miguel Araujo (m. 88)
Referee: The Argentine Facundo Tello. He advised Nahitan Nández.
Incidents: The match on the ninth day of the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup was played at the National Stadium in Lima.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
