South American World Cup hopeful Peru recorded a flattering 2-0 victory over T&T's Soca Warriors in a crucial international friendly at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, on Wednesday.
Bayern Munich striker and Peru captain Claudio Pizarro opened the scoring with a close-ranged effort from a Marvin Phillip parry in the first half before Chievo Verona midfielder Paulo Cruzado finished off the contest with a beautiful strike in the 88th minute, at which point the team, almost wholly comprised of T&T substitutes, gave up.
The host started on the front foot with midfielders Ataullah Guerra and Khaleem Hyland in sync as they maintained possession in large spells. It took just 18 minutes for T&T to make it count when skipper Densill Theobald won a 50-50 ball before feeding Guerra at the half-way line.
The Caledonia AIA midfielder followed with a blistering run, and just when the stadium expected him to shoot at the edge of the opposition's penalty area, Guerra threaded the pass to unmarked striker Kenwyne Jones, who allowed the ball to pass with just the Peruvian keeper to beat.
Jones, T&T's most senior player in club football, had a night to forget after allowing many a heavy first touch to be picked up by the Peruvian defence. The lanky striker also looked severely off the pace with the rest of the team. Turkey-based Darryl Roberts, who started on the right of midfield, in a more advanced role ahead of veteran Carlos Edwards, was also dispossessed far too easily in the first half as he attempted, on several occasions, to turn unnecessarily on the inside.
Half an hour passed before Peru struck though its feared striker Pizarro. T&T managed to keep the player at bay before the goal, but after Phillip parried a strike from Jefferson Farfan, which he really should have held on to, the custodian could do little to prevent the inevitable follow-up. Phillip, who replaced former number one Jan Michael Williams in goal, was called into action just four minutes later when Pizarro lofted a pass into the path of Cruzado, who smashed a left-footed shot in the direction of the top right hand corner. Phillip subsequently made amends with a terrific diving touch over the crossbar.
Then, in the 38th minute, Peru was again dispossessed in the midfield, and when the ball fell to Guerra, he did well to chest trap, but his follow-up volley went over bar. A minute before the half, T&T had its nearest sight on goal after Guerra and Defence Force winger Kevon Carter connected brilliantly.
Carter made a fine run to the right flank, and sent a clever pass to Guerra. Guerra struck first time, but his attempt was parried behind goal by Peru's goalkeeper, Raul Fernandez. The move essentially summed up T&T's first half, as the Warriors went into the dressing room wondering how they weren't ahead after several promising attacks.
The second half was sloppy. The numerous substitutions halted proceedings and especially on the part of the host, the almost immediate transformation in manpower stalled any level of creativity.
All of T&T's seven substitutes took the field between the 63rd and 83rd minutes. T&T barely had a sight on the final third of the pitch. Peru, too, was out of sorts.
The defence of the South Americans was not very impressive, but with both creativity and confidence lacking from T&T's substitutes, a goal for the hosts was always going to be an unlikely scenario. Then, with two minutes left, T&T again switched off. Cruzado took advantage when he dribbled his way from the right side of the park to the centre of the edge of the penalty area, where he took a clean left-footed, curving shot into the bottom left corner, out of substitute Clyde John's reach.
RESULTS/TEAM
Results: Peru 2 (Claudio Pizarro 30th, Paulo Cruzado 88th) v T&T 0
T&T
Marvin Phillip (Cleon John 72nd), Sheldon Bateau, Carlyle Mitchell, Carlos Edwards, Darryl Roberts (Aubrey David 64th), Kevon Carter (Jemel Sebro 76th), Daneil Cyrus (Kareem Moses 82nd), Densill Theobald (Keyon Edwards 70th), Ataullah Guerra, Khaleem Hyland (Curtis Gonzales 72nd), Kenwyne Jones (Devorn Jorsling 72nd).
Peru
Raul Fernandez (Diego Penny 46th), Renzo Revoredo, Carlos Zambrano, Alberto Rodr�guez (Christian Ramos 43rd), Yoshimar Yotun, Luiz Ram�rez, Carlos Lobaton, Rinaldo Cruzado, Jefferson Farf�n, Junior Ross, Claudio Pizarro, (Paolo Guerrero 60th).
