Venezuela have beaten Peru 2-0 in their second Group A match in the Copa América 2007. Second-half goals from Alejandro Cichero and substitute Daniel Arismendi sealed Venezuela’s second win ever in the South American tournament

Venezuela had a goal ruled-out in the 5th minute after Venezuelan striker Giancarlo Maldonado was rightly flagged offside after leaping on a rebound, much to the dismay of the home-fans who, to date had only seen their team record one win in their long Copa América history.

Peru then went down to 10-men after Maldonado was elbowed by Pedro Garcia, who was shown a straight red-card by the referee in the 15th minute.

This meant that for most of the first-half Peru were content with defending, except for a brief spell in the middle of the half, when Sanntiago Acasiete had Peru’s only attempt on-target in the first-half, with José Paolo Guerrero shooting wide.

Ricardo David Páez and Fernando de Ornellas both had shots off-target for the hosts, with José Manuel Rey and Juan Fernando Arango both forcing Peru goalkeeper Leao Butrón into saves, but nothing to seriously worry the Peruvians during the first period.

The first-half finished 0-0, with the 10-men of Peru still very much in the game, and with the hosts struggling to find a way through the sturdy Peruvian defence.

Venezuela head coach Richard Páez made his half-time team-talk pay-off shortly after half-time, with his team coming out with far more intent and causing problems for Peru.

Alejandro Cichero opened for the home-side just minutes into the second-half, with a header from a corner, which he rose well to tuck past the helpless Butrón, with the crowd going wild at the prospect of a win.

Peru's Chelsea striker Claudio Pizarro was brought down by Hector Gonzalez in the 61st minute, for what seemed a clear-cut penalty, but the referee waved it away, increasing the tension in the Peru team.

José Paolo Guerrero had a couple of chances to bring Peru back into the game, but his shots were again off-target, with substitute Juan Carlos Mariño's powerful shot denied by Renny Vicente Vega in the Venezuela goal.

Ricardo Paéz, son of the Venezuelan head coach Richard, was sent-off with only twelve minutes to play, bringing both teams down to 10-men and giving hope to Peru, but their hopes were smashed when, just minutes after coming onto the pitch, striker Daniel Arismendi sealed Venezuela’s win, only the second win that Venezuela have ever registered in their history in the tournament.

Venezuela now have a great chance to qualify from Group A, as they currently lead Group A on 4 points, ahead of Peru and Uruguay who have 3 points, with Bolivia on 1 point.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

delicious | digg | google | yahoo | technorati