'One more step' to go for Peru in Qatar quest

LIMA • Peru sealed a 2022 World Cup play-off spot on Tuesday after a 2-0 home win over Paraguay secured fifth place in the South American qualifying group.

Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay had already clinched the continent's four automatic spots.

Peru will meet either the United Arab Emirates or Australia, who play the Asian confederation play-off in Doha on June 7, for a place in Qatar. That inter-confederation play-off will take place in the same city on June 13 or 14.

"Tonight's game was a joy for the country but there is still one more step to take. From tomorrow, we'll be focused on the play-off," midfielder Christian Cueva said.

Peru also had to go through a play-off to reach the last World Cup in Russia, defeating New Zealand over two legs to qualify for their first Finals since Spain 1982.

On Tuesday, they started the night with 21 points, one more than Colombia and two ahead of Chile, knowing that a win over Paraguay in the final round of qualifiers would be enough to wrap up progression.

They went ahead after just five minutes, with Gianluca Lapadula running on to a defence-splitting pass from Cueva to poke the ball in off the post.

Three minutes before half-time it was 2-0, with Cueva the architect again. His work outside a packed penalty box led to a cross finished off by Yoshimar Yotun.

The hosts controlled the second half without creating many more chances and were content to see the game out, sending the crowd into raptures at the final whistle.

Ricardo Gareca's team did not look like they would be in contention for Qatar early on in the group, only getting their first win in their sixth game. But three victories in a row against Bolivia, Venezuela and Colombia between November and January pulled them right back into the running.

"We're very happy, we fought so hard," said midfielder Renato Tapia. "We were in a really tight situation but we were able to pull ourselves out of it. Paraguay were a tough rival but we won."

Colombia beat Venezuela 1-0 thanks to a James Rodriguez penalty but it was to no avail, while Chile slumped to a 2-0 home defeat by Uruguay with the goals coming from Luis Suarez and Federico Valverde.

Chile's second successive absence from the Finals likely marks the end of the road for the "Golden Generation" who helped them to back-to-back Copa America titles in 2015 and 2016.

Key players like Gary Medel, Alexis Sanchez, Mauricio Isla, Charles Aranguiz, Arturo Vidal and Claudio Bravo are on the wrong side of 30 and are set to make way for new blood.

"It's inevitable to think of this as the last dance of the Golden Generation, the end of a cycle," Chile newspaper La Tercera wrote after the team's failure.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS