Guerrero hat trick fires Peru past Bolivia, seals place in Copa America semis
Six months ago, Peru had no coach and had lost five of its last six games against South American opposition. The impact Ricardo Gareca has had since taking charge has been remarkable. A thoroughly emphatic 3-1 victory over Bolivia took Peru through to its second successive Copa América semi-final, where it will face the host Chile in the Estadio Nacional in Santiago.
After the tension and controversy of Chile's win over Uruguay in the first quarter-final, this was a much more straightforward affair, effectively settled by two goals in the opening quarter from Paolo Guerrero, who completed his hat-trick 16 minutes from time. Peru was more attacking than had been anticipated both against Brazil and Colombia, but this was by some way its most offensive display of the tournament, as it relished the space afforded it by a tentative Bolivia.
Perhaps mindful that they'd conceded seven goals in their last 135 minutes of football, Bolivia started with three central defenders, but the additional defender made little difference. There may have been a thought as well that the additional man in the center could enable them to push the wing-backs up to challenge Peru's two wingers, Jefferson Farfan and Carlos Cueva, high up the pitch, but what ended up happened was that the flanks were surrendered to Peru, who took full advantage.
Twenty minutes in, the Peru left-back Juan Vargas overlapped on the left and sent in the perfect cross for Guerrero to head in his first goal of the tournament. The top-scorer of four years ago didn't have long to wait for his second. Bolivia, perhaps panicking slightly, threw men forward for a free-kick. Peru broke quickly after clearing. Although Cueva's ball over the top was perhaps a little heavy, the Bolivia goalkeeper Romel Quinonez, who had played so well in the win over Ecuador, slipped to allow Guerrero a simple finish.
Bolivia was forced to open up after allowing the second. Briefly, it put Peru under some pressure. Leonel Morales sent a 30-yard drive fizzing just over and Marcelo Martins drew a sharp save from Perdo Gallese with a header from a free-kick, but the more open game also meant more chances for Peru. Another break ended with Farfan hitting the outside of the post. Just before half-time, he pinged a free-kick off the bar.
The question for Bolivia is what went wrong at half-time in its second group game. It had drawn 0-0 against Mexico in its opening game and was 3-0 up against Ecuador at the interval when the wheels fell off. It conceded twice in that second half, then shipped five against Bolivia before the two conceded to Guerrero here: that's 10 goals in two games' worth of playing time. It always felt slightly freakish that Bolivia should score three in that first half against Ecuador â it had only four shots in the half. What is more puzzling is how the solidity displayed in the first three halves disappeared. Perhaps the side simply began to believe it was better than it was and lost discipline as a result. Perhaps it simply couldn't maintain that level of diligence and concentration for so long.
There was, at least, in the second half, some fight. There were a couple of chances missed and a huge appeal for a penalty with 22 minutes remaining when Ricardo Pedriel sprawled over Gallese. The referee Wilmar Roldan deemed the substitute had already been going down when he made contact with the goalkeeper's legs, and the replays tended to support his decision.
With the denial of that appeal went Bolivia's final chance to truly claw back into the game. With 74 minutes played, Guerrero intercepted Danny Bejerano's square pass and ran on to finish with a swaggering efficiency. The message to Chile was clear: the Flamengo forward is in form and has the potential to punish any half-chance.
Martins pulled a goal back with an 83rd-minute penalty, but Peru was comfortable enough. This was its best performance of the tournament so far; omninously for the host, perhaps, Gareca's side is growing into form.
