Matucana, Peru
Per reporting from The Athletic’s Paul Tenorio, Orlando City is acquiring Peruvian international midfielder Wilder Cartagena from Ittihad Kalba in the United Arab Emirates. Cartagena, 27, is an experienced defensive midfielder in the prime of his career. Before his stint in the Middle East, he played for Peruvian giants Alianza Lima as well as stints in Argentina and Mexico. He played a rotational role for Peru in an unsuccessful campaign for a second-straight World Cup appearance.
Austin FC have signed winger Washington Corozo on a six-month loan from Peruvian top-flight side Sporting Cristal, in a deal that includes a transfer option. Corozo arrives after spending the 2021/2022 season on loan with Liga MX side Pumas UNAM, where he managed eight goals in 44 appearances throughout the Apertura and Clausura. The winger also featured in both legs of the 2022 Concacaf Champions League final against the Seattle Sounders.
South American nation Peru have now won their last two international matches after they continued their winning run against Oceania champions New Zealand. The Peruvians made it a two-game winning run thanks to the 1-0 win over New Zealand. Experienced Benevento striker GianlucaLapadulascored the only goal of the game for Peru on 69 minutes to make it a perfect preparation ahead of their World Cup 2022 inter-confederation clash withthe winner of the Asian playoff tie between Australia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Australians have themselves to blame after a bright start to the third round of the Asian qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament fizzled out and they ended up settling for third spot in Group B behind Japan and Group winners Saudi Arabia. To this effect, Australia will need to overcome the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Peru to get to the World Cup in Qatar later this year. They will have to beat the UAE in the Asian region playoffs before seeing off Peru in the inter-confederation playoffs involving the Asian region and the South American region.
Peru qualified for the playoffs from the South American region after they held off Colombia to finish in fifth position on the league standings behind the four automatic qualifiers namely Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador. Continue reading “AUSTRALIA VERSUS PERU FOR WORLD CUP QUALIFICATION”
South American nation Peru will face defending champions France at this year’s FIFA World Cup tournament on Qatari soil if they manage to scale through their inter-confederation playoff tie with the representatives from the Asian continent.
Peru are in a good position ahead of the final two matches in the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign from the South American region. Peru head into the final two matches in fifth spot which would be enough to qualify for the inter-confederation playoffs. An automatic spot is still a possibility for the Peruvians, but they have to finish in fourth spot at least to make this happen.
To the excitement of thousands of Liverpool fans, the Reds managed to secure a January winter transfer window signing after sealing a deal with Portuguese League giants FC Porto to bring winger Lucas Diaz to Anfield. Liverpool fans were clamoring for the club to sign new players in the attacking department especially because their two formidable attackers Mohammed Salah and Sadio Mane were away on international duty with their respective national teams at the just-concluded African Cup of Nations tournament.
After 14 games in the South American qualifying section of this year’s FIFA World Cup tournament on Qatari soil, Peru are still in contention. The Peruvians have done well in the qualifiers for the World Cup 2022 tournament till date and they have played their way to one of the five spots required for qualification. The first four spots are for automatic qualification, while the fifth and final spot is for the inter-confederation playoffs.
Peru have given their World Cup 2022 hopes a big boost after they won their two qualifiers last month. Defeats to Bolivia and Argentina had threatened those World Cup qualification hopes in October, but they have been resurrected thanks to the victories over Bolivia and Venezuela in November.
Peru have the opportunity to return to winning ways when they take on Bolivia at home in their next World Cup 2022 qualifier later this month. Peru and Bolivia meet at the Estadio Nacional in the Peruvian capital of Lima next week Thursday.
