Peru too strong for Uruguay
Peru got their Copa America campaign off to a great start with an impressive 3-0 win over Uruguay in Group A on Tuesday.
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Miguel Villanta, Juan Carlos Marino and Paolo Guerrero were on target in the Metropolitano Stadium as Peru shocked their opponents, considered by many as dark horses for the prestigious tournament taking place in Venezuela.
The Uruguayans, missing Alvaro Recoba after the Internazionale forward was ruled out with a muscle problem, began the stronger of the two sides and Villarreal striker Diego Forlan squandered two good chances to open the scoring.
But it was the Incas who struck first as defender Miguel Villanta powered home a header from Juan Carlos Marino’s corner after 26 minutes to give the Peruvians a narrow half-time lead.
Manager Oscar Tabarez brought on Diego Rodriguez and Sebastian Abreu during the interval in a bid to make Uruguay more of an attacking threat and the duo combined after 66 minutes to hand the former a great chance to level, only for Rodriguez to waste the opening.
Peru were looking to kill their opponents off and Martino doubled the lead three minutes later with a beautiful long-range strike that found the corner of the net.
And two minutes from the end, Uruguay were hit on the counter as
they desperately searched for a way back into the contest.
Julio Cesar Uribe led the breakaway before setting up Hamburg forward Paolo Guerrero to put the result beyond any doubt.
Peru’s next game is against hosts Venezuela on Saturday as they look to book their place in the last eight, while Uruguay will be keen to get their challenge back on track against Bolivia.
