Peru at the FIFA World Cup

This is a record of Peru's results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.

After making their FIFA World Cup debut at Uruguay 1930, Peru next made an impact on the finals at Mexico 1970 where they beat Bulgaria and Morocco to start off the tournament with a surprising bang. The Brazil of Rivelino, Tostao, Jairzinho and Pelé put an end to that adventure 4-2 in the quarter-finals. The World cup of Argentina 1978 saw Peru end up first in their group during the first phase of the tournament, but they were later eliminated after losing all their games in the second phase. Their last World Cup appearance was in that of Spain 1982, a tournament in which Peru was viewed as a favorite. Yet, the problem came when the team basically trained too much and were tired even before the tournament had begun. They were eliminated last in their group, with 2 ties and 1 loss.

Year	Round	Year	Round
1930	Round 1	1974	Did not Qualify
1934	Withdrew	1978	Round 2
1938	Did Not Enter	1982	Round 1
1950	Withdrew	1986	Did not Qualify
1954	Withdrew	1990	Did not Qualify
1958	Did not Qualify	1994	Did not Qualify
1962	Did not Qualify	1998	Did not Qualify
1966	Did not Qualify	2002	Did not Qualify
1970	Quarterfinals	2006	Did not Qualify
Total	4/18

Overview

Peru's first participation at a FIFA World Cup came in 1930, when it was held in Uruguay for the first time. Prior to the start of the event, the national team of Peru only had one training match against Club Olimpia of Paraguay. The tournament turned out to be more of a disaster for Peru for they were grouped against Uruguay, the recent Olympic champions, and Romania. The Blanquirroja lost both of its matches, although they allegedly played a dignifying match against Uruguay in the inauguration of the Estadio Centenario. During the match against Romania, the Peruvian player Placido Galindo became the first player to be sent off during a World Cup. Peru gained 10th place in this competition.

Forty years would pass until Peru would once again qualify for the FIFA World Cup, this time to be played in Mexico. However, by this time important players appeared for the team such as Alberto Gallardo, Hector Chumpitaz, and Pedro Pablo Leon among others. The team, led by Waldir "Didi" Pereira, had a splendid qualification as they beat Argentina 1-0 and Bolivia 3-0 at home, and lost by the minimal difference to Bolivia in the altitude of La Paz. However, one of the greatest moments of this qualification is the game remembered as "La Bombonera", in which Peruvian forward Oswaldo Ramirez helped tie and eliminate Argentina from a World Cup (for the first and only time in Argentine history). Once in Mexico, the Peruvian squad continued their surprises as they beat Bulgaria 3-2 after trailing two goals behind the European team by half-time. Teófilo Cubillas outshone himself in this tournament by scoring two goals in the 3-0 Peruvian victory over Morocco, Peru's only goal against Germany in their 3-1 loss, and the last goal of Peru in this tournament against Brazil in the 4-2 result of this quarterfinal match. Peru had high hopes for the next World Cup that was going to be held in Germany, but the team was overconfident and Teófilo Cubillas was at odds with Peru's coach Roberto Scarone, which led to the team to play without its star player and face elimination at the hands of Chile by a score of 2-1 in the Estadio Centenario of Uruguay.

The team would go on to qualify for the 1978 cup held in Argentina, where they famously beat Scotland 3-0 and lost to Argentina in a game that is considered to have been set up by the military junta that governed Argentina during those times. Among other memorable events that took place during that world cup, Peru qualified first in its group for its first time after drawing with the Netherlands at 0-0 and beating Iran 4-1. By the time the Spain 1982 World Cup came, the Peruvian squad was seen as a favorite, but Peru demonstrated little to nothing as they tied with Cameroon and Italy and, later, were beat by Poland with a score of 5-1.

Peru almost qualified to the World Cup in two occasions, in the 1986 qualifier and the 1998 qualifier. In 1986, the Argentina of Diego Armando Maradona and Chile put a halt to Peruvian aspirations. In 1998, Peru lost a spot in the qualifiers by a goal difference with Chile. Currently, 27 years have passed since Peru entered a World Cup, and thus far continue the disasters of past qualification attempts with only the glory of times past remaining as a grateful memory.

Qualifiers and participations

1930 FIFA World Cup

In Uruguay 1930, Peru was part of group C and lost both games they played, 1:0 against Uruguay and 3:1 against Romania. As an anecdote, the game Peru played against Uruguay inaugurated the historic Estadio Centenario of Montevideo. Among the important figures of notable mention composing the Peruvian team were the goalie Juan Valdivieso, defender Mario de las Casas, whom would later found the club Universitario de Deportes and the forward and idol of Alianza Lima, Alejandro Villanueva.

1970 FIFA World Cup

The tale to Mexico 1970 begins from the qualification game played against Argentina in their "mythical" stadium of "La Bombonera." Previously, Peru had beaten Argentina and Bolivia in Lima. At La Paz, Bolivia beat Peru. Thus, Peru only needed a tie to qualify for the World Cup. Peru played one of their best games that day, and were capable to tie the game 2:2 and qualified for the World Cup to be played at Mexico.

Those who stood out in this team were Roberto Challe, Alberto Gallardo, Orlando De la Torre, Teófilo Cubillas, Pedro "Perico" Leon, Ramon Mifflin, Nicolás Fuentes, and the idol that would be known as the "Captain of America", Héctor Chumpitaz. Afterwards, for the World Cup, the "Cholo" Hugo Sotil joined the team.

Peru entered the tournament in Group 4, and played against Bulgaria (3:2 victory), Morocco (3:0 victory), and Germany (3:1 loss). In the match against Bulgaria, the "Nene" Cubillas marked his first goal with a great pass from Ramon Mifflin. Right now, he is the 6th greatest goal scorer of the World Cups at 10 marks in 3 participations.

Once in the quarterfinals, Peru faced the Brazil of Pelé (Whom would go on to win the cup) and lost 4:2 in a game qualified as one of the best football games in history. Current president of the FIFA, Sepp Blatter, considers it the best. Peru's historic head coach was the Brazilian Valdir Pereira, whom greatly lamented playing against his own country but certainly put up a great fight.

As an anecdote to this World Cup, Peru had faced one of their worst earthquakes in history while the team was in Mexico. Several people died, and one whole city was wiped from the face of the earth. Due to this, the team was quite saddened and showed a deplorable first-half against Bulgaria (Losing 2 to nothing). The tale goes on to say that someone uttered: "With this game they're killing those who survived the earthquake back in Peru." True or false, Peru was capable to turn the game back around and beat Bulgaria.

1978 FIFA World Cup

The Argentina 1978 finals also saw Peru finish first in its opening group, as they managed to beat Scotland and Iran, then drew with the eventual finalist, the Netherlands.

Once into the second round in 1978 - a second group stage - they did not live up to their promise, falling rather dismally to Brazil, Poland, and Argentina without scoring a goal.

1982 FIFA World Cup

By Spain 1982 the team's performance declined as the team fell at the opening hurdle, drawing with Cameroon and Italy before getting crushed by Poland 5-1. Previously, though, Peru was viewed as a favorite and a good candidate to advance into the next phase.

The problem was that Peru had previously been doing several practice matches, all of which re-assured to the public that Peru would do well in the World Cup. Yet, Peru trained too much and by the time the World Cup begun, the team was completely exhausted^{[citation needed]}.

1986 FIFA World Cup Qualifier

Peru almost qualified to Mexico 1986 once more eliminating Argentina. Yet, for this qualifier game, they were to face the Argentina of Maradona. At first, Peru was achieving a victory at Buenos Aires, but Diego Armando Maradona was able to tie the game and qualify Argentina into the World Cup they would later win.

Peru was thus forced to face Chile for elimination, and they lost 4-2 on Santiago and 1-0 on Lima. This was to be Peru's last closest chance of qualifying until 1998.

1990 FIFA World Cup Qualifier

Peru was grouped for the qualification along with Bolivia and Uruguay. Every single game was lost, and only two goals were scored (One by José del Solar and the other by Andres Gonzales). Julio César Uribe was considered one of the best players of the team at that moment.

1998 FIFA World Cup Qualifier

The campaign to reach France 1998 was thwarted only by the goal difference tiebreaker, as they finished even on points with Chile. The qualifying system had changed and now all teams were to face each other, and Peru had been able to maintain the 4th spot until the next-to-last match when they faced Chile at Santiago. The game was quite humiliating, specially due to the aggressions the Peruvian team faced from the Chileans. As far as it currently goes, this is currently Peru's last closest chance to qualifying.

2002 FIFA World Cup Qualifier

The preliminaries for Korea/Japan 2002 were certainly not any respite from that, as the team finished eighth in the group with just four wins in eighteen matches. The fact that they only managed to score 14 goals demonstrated how far the attack had fallen since the days of Cubillas. Particularly low points of the qualifying tournament included a 3-0 loss at Venezuela and defeats in over half of their home matches to Uruguay, Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia and Brazil.

2006 FIFA World Cup Qualifier

During the years of 2004 and 2005, Peru participated in the qualifier for the Germany 2006 World Cup. Peru this time hit the ground hard as conflicts with the team's management soon showed poor results in the games that were to follow. Paulo Autuori managed the squad, but was not able to achieve popularity due to a disastrous campaign that led Peru into 8th place just above Bolivia and Venezuela. Freddy Ternero also momentarily managed the squad, but was dismissed due to problems with the FPF.

2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifier

The 2010 qualifiers, beginning in 2007, resulted in another set of problems for the Peruvian team. In their first four games, the team had only achieved 2 ties (both at home) and 2 losses. Not only that, but controversies between the FPF and the IPD (Peruvian Sports Institute) caused problems outside of the field for the national team.

Furthermore, a scandal shook the team as it was discovered, with informational support of prominent figures such as Jaime Bayly, that several of the players had been partying during the time they were supposedly "concentrating" for a match against Brazil. Since then, Claudio Pizarro (SV Werder Bremen), Jefferson Farfán (Schalke 04), Andrés Mendoza (Diyarbakırspor) and Santiago Acasiete (UD Almería), important figures in the team, were never considered again for the national team by coach José del Solar.

The 2008 season resulted with 3 losses, including 6-0 loss against Uruguay, 2 draws against Argentina and Colombia, and only 1 game won against Venezuela.

In 2009 "la blanquirroja" couldn't revert the situation, being the first team eliminated, at the 14th round. They only won 2 matches during this year, against Uruguay and Bolivia .

World Cup records

FIFA World Cup History
Year	Round	Score	Result	Scorers
1930	Round 1	Peru 1 – 3 Romania	Lost	Souza Ferreira  75'
	Round 1	Peru 0 – 1 Uruguay	Lost
1970	Round 1	Peru 3 – 2 Bulgaria	Won	Gallardo  50' Chumpitaz  55' Cubillas  73'
	Round 1	Peru 3 – 0 Morocco	Won	Cubillas  65'  75' Challe  67'
	Round 1	Peru 1 – 3 Germany	Lost	Cubillas  44'
	Quarterfinals	Peru 2 – 4 Brazil	Lost	Gallardo  28' Cubillas  70'
1978	Round 1	Peru 3 – 1 Scotland	Won	Cueto  43' Cubillas  70'  76'
	Round 1	Peru0 – 0 Netherlands	Drawn
	Round 1	Peru 4 – 1 Iran	Won	Velásquez  2' Cubillas  36' (pen.)  39' (pen.)  79'
	Round 2	Peru 0 – 3 Brazil	Lost
	Round 2	Peru 0 – 1 Poland	Lost
	Round 2	Peru 0 – 6 Argentina	Lost
1982	Round 1	Peru 0 – 0 Cameroon	Drawn
	Round 1	Peru 1 – 1 Italy	Drawn	Díaz  83'
	Round 1	Peru 1 – 5 Poland	Lost	La Rosa  83'

World Cup matches (By team)
Total : 4 Wins - 3 Ties - 8 Loses - 15 games played
Against	Wins	Draws	Losses	Total		Against	Wins	Draws	Losses	Total		Against	Wins	Draws	Losses	Total
Romania	0	0	1	1		Brazil	0	0	2	2		Argentina	0	0	1	1
Uruguay	0	0	1	1		Scotland	1	0	0	1		Cameroon	0	1	0	1
Bulgaria	1	0	0	1		Netherlands	0	1	0	1		Italy	0	1	0	1
Morocco	1	0	0	1		Iran	1	0	0	1		-	-	-	-	-
Germany	0	0	1	1		Poland	0	0	2	2		-	-	-	-	-

World Cup Qualification record

FIFA World Cup Qualification History
Year	Round	H/A	Score	Result
1958	Group 1	H	Peru 1 – 1 Brazil	Drawn
	Group 1	A	Peru 0 – 1 Brazil	Lost
1962	Group 3	A	Peru 0 – 1 Colombia	Lost
	Group 3	H	Peru 1 – 1 Colombia	Drawn
1966	Group 1	H	Peru 1 – 0 Venezuela	Won
	Group 1	A	Peru 6 – 3 Venezuela	Won
	Group 1	H	Peru 0 – 1 Uruguay	Lost
	Group 1	A	Peru 1 – 2 Uruguay	Lost
1970	Group 1	H	Peru 1 – 0 Argentina	Won
	Group 1	A	Peru 1 – 2 Bolivia	Lost
	Group 1	H	Peru 3 – 0 Bolivia	Won
	Group 1	A	Peru 2 – 2 Argentina	Drawn
1974	Group 3	H	Peru 2 – 0 Chile	Won
	Group 3	A	Peru 0 – 2 Chile	Lost
	Play Off	N	Peru 1 – 2 Chile	Lost
1978	Group 3	A	Peru 1 – 1 Ecuador	Drawn
	Group 3	A	Peru 1 – 1 Chile	Drawn
	Group 3	H	Peru 4 – 0 Ecuador	Won
	Group 3	H	Peru 2 – 0 Chile	Won
	Final Round	A	Peru 0 – 1 Brazil	Lost
	Final Round	H	Peru 5 – 0 Bolivia	Won
1982	Group 2	A	Peru 1 – 1 Colombia	Drawn
	Group 2	H	Peru 2 – 0 Colombia	Won
	Group 2	A	Peru 2 – 1 Uruguay	Won
	Group 2	H	Peru 0 – 0 Uruguay	Drawn
1986	Group 1	A	Peru 0 – 1 Colombia	Lost
	Group 1	A	Peru 1 – 0 Venezuela	Won
	Group 1	H	Peru 0 – 0 Colombia	Drawn
	Group 1	H	Peru 4 – 1 Venezuela	Won
	Group 1	H	Peru 1 – 0 Argentina	Won
	Group 1	A	Peru 2 – 2 Argentina	Drawn
	Play Off	A	Peru 2 – 4 Chile	Lost
	Play Off	H	Peru 0 – 1 Chile	Lost
1990	Group 1	A	Peru 1 – 2 Bolivia	Lost
	Group 1	H	Peru 0 – 2 Uruguay	Lost
	Group 1	H	Peru 1 – 2 Bolivia	Lost
	Group 1	A	Peru 0 – 2 Uruguay	Lost
1994	Group 1	H	Peru 0 – 1 Argentina	Lost
	Group 1	H	Peru 0 – 1 Colombia	Lost
	Group 1	A	Peru 1 – 2 Paraguay	Lost
	Group 1	A	Peru 1 – 2 Argentina	Lost
	Group 1	A	Peru 0 – 4 Colombia	Lost
	Group 1	H	Peru 2 – 2 Paraguay	Drawn
1998		A	Peru 1 – 4 Ecuador	Lost
		H	Peru 1 – 1 Colombia	Drawn
		H	Peru 0 – 0 Argentina	Drawn
		A	Peru 0 – 0 Bolivia	Drawn
		H	Peru 4 – 1 Venezuela	Won
		A	Peru 0 – 2 Uruguay	Lost
		H	Peru 2 – 1 Chile	Won
		A	Peru 1 – 2 Paraguay	Lost
		H	Peru 1 – 1 Ecuador	Drawn
		A	Peru 1 – 0 Colombia	Won
		A	Peru 0 – 2 Argentina	Lost
		H	Peru 2 – 1 Bolivia	Won
		A	Peru 3 – 0 Venezuela	Won
		H	Peru 2 – 1 Uruguay	Won
		A	Peru 0 – 4 Chile	Lost
		H	Peru 0 – 0 Paraguay	Drawn
2002		H	Peru 2 – 0 Paraguay	Won
		A	Peru 1 – 1 Chile	Drawn
		H	Peru 0 – 1 Brazil	Lost
		A	Peru 1 – 2 Ecuador	Lost
		H	Peru 0 – 1 Colombia	Lost
		A	Peru 0 – 0 Uruguay	Drawn
		H	Peru 1 – 0 Venezuela	Won
		H	Peru 1 – 2 Argentina	Lost
		A	Peru 0 – 1 Bolivia	Lost
		A	Peru 1 – 5 Paraguay	Lost
		H	Peru 3 – 1 Chile	Won
		A	Peru 1 – 1 Brazil	Drawn
		H	Peru 1 – 2 Ecuador	Lost
		A	Peru 1 – 0 Colombia	Won
		H	Peru 0 – 2 Uruguay	Lost
		A	Peru 0 – 3 Venezuela	Lost
		A	Peru 0 – 2 Argentina	Lost
		H	Peru 1 – 1 Bolivia	Drawn
2006		H	Peru 4 – 1 Paraguay	Won
		A	Peru 1 – 2 Chile	Lost
		H	Peru 1 – 1 Brazil	Drawn
		A	Peru 0 – 0 Ecuador	Drawn
		H	Peru 0 – 2 Colombia	Lost
		A	Peru 3 – 1 Uruguay	Won
		H	Peru 0 – 0 Venezuela	Drawn
		H	Peru 1 – 3 Argentina	Lost
		A	Peru 0 – 1 Bolivia	Lost
		A	Peru 1 – 1 Paraguay	Drawn
		H	Peru 2 – 1 Chile	Won
		A	Peru 0 – 1 Brazil	Lost
		H	Peru 2 – 2 Ecuador	Drawn
		A	Peru 0 – 5 Colombia	Lost
		H	Peru 0 – 0 Uruguay	Drawn
		A	Peru 1 – 4 Venezuela	Lost
		A	Peru 0 – 2 Argentina	Lost
		H	Peru 4 – 1 Bolivia	Won
2010		H	Peru 0 – 0 Paraguay	Drawn
		A	Peru 0 – 2 Chile	Lost
		H	Peru 1 – 1 Brazil	Drawn
		A	Peru 1 – 5 Ecuador	Lost
		H	Peru 1 – 1 Colombia	Drawn
		A	Peru 0 – 6 Uruguay	Lost
		H	Peru 1 – 0 Venezuela	Won
		H	Peru 1 – 1 Argentina	Drawn
		A	Peru 0 – 3 Bolivia	Lost
		A	Peru 0 – 1 Paraguay	Lost
		H	Peru 1 – 3 Chile	Lost
		A	Peru 0 – 3 Brazil	Lost
		H	Peru 1 – 2 Ecuador	Lost
		A	Peru 0 – 1 Colombia	Lost
		H	Peru 1 – 0 Uruguay	Won
		A	Peru 1 – 3 Venezuela	Lost
		A	Peru 1 – 2 Argentina	Lost
		H	Peru 1 – 0 Bolivia	Won