BrennanFan

Julian played forward in qualifying I believe. That was the year Dunfield was parachuted in for the actual world cup and was immediately made captain, and the great Wynne Belotte was our secret weapon.

Overall good game, not great. Lots to sharpen up but it's all doable. Marsch is a good leader, it's obvious. Larin and David could've put the game away multiple times. You just can't blow those chances. Shaff was a lightning rod out there. Made things happen. He's earning a reputation. Love to see it. Laryea and Eustaquio were good. Did their jobs. Osorio as well, basically. Johnston is our best defender. So damn sharp and fearless. Bombito got schooled by Rondon. You can't give that guy an inch, Bombito gave him a metre. Just don't get it. Crepeau should've been alive to that danger sooner, Rondon does that a lot. Live and learn. Cornelius and Davies were good defensively, good on the ball. Mature. Wicked penalty from Davies. Eustaquio had a terrible penalty, outdone only by Liam's monstrosity. You gotta get it on frame at least, yeesh. Crepeau is the man. Nothing else to say. Badass of epic proportions. Kone took one hell of a kick.

Shaff is the real deal

They're okay. But they are beatable. This is very much a winnable game for us.

Crepeau is a bad ass. Best is yet to come.

You're spot on but unfortunately we need to play Kone if we want him to get better against these types of opponents.

No, we won the fucking Gold Cup in 2000.

Usually Peru doesn't have a discipline problem. Canada brought that out of them somehow, and that's a good thing. Without the card that's a tie game at least. Regardless, we need a result against Chile. Fuck Chile. Honestly Fuck them. They're worse than Honduras. Ahhhhhhhhhhh

For the record, this result pleases me. On to the next one. Fuck Chile.

Lots of Peruvian support in Kansas it seems.

The intensity that Peru and most other south american teams bring to games like this is simply on another level than the intensity Canada is used to playing with. I say this having watched 99% of both Canada and Peru's friendly and official games since the late 1990s. The intensity and fight in south american soccer is palpable in the air. International games in south america feel more like a fight to the death than a sporting event. This is what I refer to when I say Peru will want it more. They can bring more intensity. Now, perhaps Peru will not actually bring that intensity to this second group stage game against "lowly" Canada. Every once in a while Peru shits the bed, but from everything I've been reading Peru and all other teams are taking Canada very seriously and respecting their ability to hurt good teams. Additionally, this game against Canada is THE GAME for Peru. Peru will have modest expectations against Argentina, even 1 point is not all that realistic. This game will determine whether they get out of the group, and by all accounts will represent the turning point for Peru in moving on from their poor results in WCQ and actually being able to take a run at the world cup with their new generation and new coach once qualifying resumes. Winning against Canada will breathe new life into Peru's program. This will be a tough, tough game for Canada but that's not to say Canada can't win. We will get our chances just as we did against Argentina, but we can't fluff them this time. Peru also usually needs a few good chances before they score so if we can keep it cleaner than we did against Argentina, Peru has just as much of a chance to be shut out as we do. If they can't hit us on the break, eventually Peru will gamble with overloads and possession in our third, basically they'll start playing keep away around our box, they'll keep it on the deck, passing it around again and again patiently looking for that incisive pass. They do this twice or 3 times against every team when they're looking for a goal, even Brazil and Argentina. As long as we can weather those storms and stick to the plan we used against Argentina, we can get something out of the game.

You are correct in that Peru was a disaster and a shell of their former selves in the first few games of WCQ. It was tough to let go of the older generation attacking midfielders but that lesson has been learned with the firing of that coach. Peru's defence are excellent at passing out of the back under pressure and linking with the midfield. Peru's problem is always the final third. They will have problems scoring. Their new midfielders are in no way proven though they have shown flashes of what is possible. Peru will not generate many scoring chances but neither will Canada. The most likely result in my view is a 0-0 which does not help anyone.

Their coach is a 70 year old Uruguayan so that's about right

Luis Advincula, Bryan Reyna and Alexander Callens are all injured and won't play against Canada. Along with the absence of Renato Tapia in the midfield, this amounts to an absence of 4 usual starters for Peru. It's getting close to a B+ team. Tomorrow is looking to be as good an opportunity for Canada as it's ever gonna get. As I mentioned before, Peru is very much a second half / come from behind team. Going down a goal does not phase them at all, whereas with Canada conceding will probably break the team. Peru has a very old school coach who has not had a ton of time with the team, he will stick to the basics. Given the heat and the injuries, I expect Peru to allow Canada to have most of the possession and manage the game defensively until the 75th minute or so, and then make changes to aggressively take the game to Canada, assuming Canada will wilt in the heat as the game progresses. In the last 2 Copas, Peru has been a finalist and semi finalist. They always manage to do well and get out of their group, so they will have all the confidence, belief and expectation to beat Canada. They will have the edge in wanting it more. We will have to be 'absolutely clinical' with our half chances to get a result here. One last factor that will help is that Peru is not like Chile or Argentina or Honduras when it comes to play acting, diving and pressuring the ref. Peru plays it straight, very similar to Canada.

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