Peru have beaten Uruguay 3-0 in the opening Group A match in the Copa América 2007 in Merida, Venezuela, with a strike from Miguel Ángel Villalta in the first-half, a strike from substitute Juan Carlos Mariño early in the second-half with José Paolo Guerrero scoring a third to give Peru a shock win against Uruguay's ‘La Celeste’.

Group A favourites Uruguay started the match the more cautious of the two, with Peru proving to be the best team from the start, pushing Uruguay into their own half for the early portion of the first-period.

Peru deservedly took the lead in the 27th minute, with a short corner from the Peruvians finding Jefferson Farfán, who crossed the ball perfectly to the far post to Miguel Ángel Villalta, who headed the ball past Fabián Carini in the Uruguay goal to make it 1-0.

The referee ruled-out a second goal for Peru in the 32nd minute after a save from a shot from Claudio Pizarro, which Carini pushed away for José Paolo Guerrero to latch onto for what seemed a perfectly legal goal, but Pizarro was deemed to have been offside.

Uruguay almost scored an unexpected equaliser during injury-time in the first-half, when Fabián Estoyanoff attempted a 35-yard shot, which was parried away by Peru goalkeeper Leao Butrón.

The half finished 1-0 to Peru, with Uruguay needing to find a way to break through the Peruvian resistance.

The second-half saw Uruguay make a substitution, bringing on Cristina Rodríguez for Néstor Fabián Canobbio.

Butrón made a superb save from an overhead kick from substitute Cristina Gabriel Rodríguez in the opening minutes of the match as Uruguay came out with more intent, but Peru worked very well on the counter attack, carving a few opportunities of their own.

On one of the Peruvian breaks, José Paolo Guerrero crossed the ball perfectly to the far post to Jefferson Farfán, who only needed the slightest touch to take it past the goalkeeper to double the lead for Peru.

Peru scored a second goal in the 70th minute, with substitute Juan Carlos Mariño, who replaced Pedro latching on to a pass from Farfan outside the penalty area, smashing the ball into the top-right corner past Carini to put Peru in the driving seat.

Uruguay pushed for a goal, but it was Peru who took advantage of the space, punishing the South American giants with a third goal in the 89th minute from José Paolo Guerrero after an unselfish square pass from his teammate.

Uruguay Team: Fabián Carini, Carlos Diogo, Diego Godín, Diego Alfredo Lugano, Darío Rodríguez, Néstor Fabián Canobbio (Cristina Gabriel Rodríguez, 46), Pablo Gabriel García, Diego Pérez, Fabián Estoyanoff (Gonzalo Sebastián Vargas, 80), Diego Forlan, Vicente Sánchez (Sebastián Abreu, 66).

Uruguay Substitutes Not Used: Juan Guillermo Castillo, Jorge Ciro Fucile, Carlos Adrian Valdez, Wálter Alejandro Gargano, Ignacio María González, Victor Maximiliano Pereira, Diego Scotti, Alvaro Recoba.

Peru Team: Leao Butrón, Santiago Acasiete, John Tylor Galliquio, Alberto Rodríguez, Walter Ricardo Vilchez, Miguel Ángel Villalta, Juan Carlos Bazalar, Pedro García (Juan Carlos Mariño, 57), Jefferson Farfán (Paolo De La Haza, 81), José Paolo Guerrero, Claudio Pizarro (Andrés Mendoza, 81).

Peru Substitutes Not Used: Juan Angel Flores, George Patrick Forsyth, Edgar Villamarin, Jair Edson Céspedes, Jhoel Alexander Herrera, Damian Ismodes, Roberto Carlos Jimenez, Herlyn Israel Zúñiga.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

delicious | digg | google | yahoo | technorati