Peru

Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)	La blanquirroja
Association	Federación Peruana de Fútbol
Head coach	Freddy Ternero, 2005-
Most caps	Roberto Palacios (113)
Top scorer	Teófilo Cubillas (26)
First colours Second colours
First international
Peru 0 - 4 Uruguay (Lima, Peru; November 1, 1927)
Biggest win
Peru 9 - 1 Ecuador (Bogotá, Colombia; August 11, 1938)
Biggest defeat
Brazil 7 - 0 Peru (Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Bolivia; 26 June, 1997)
World Cup
Appearances	4 (first in 1930)
Best result	Quarterfinals, 1970
Copa América
Appearances	27 (first in 1927)
Best result	Winners, 1939 and 1975

The Peru national football team is controlled by the Federación Peruana de Fútbol. The team competes with the other nine nations in the CONMEBOL conference within the FIFA. Historically speaking, Peru has had difficulty competing with Brazil and Argentina in World Cup qualifying rounds.

Between 1970 and 1982, a Golden Generation of Peruvian footballers qualified for three out of four FIFA World Cups and won the Copa América in 1975. Teófilo Cubillas was the star of the side, scoring five goals in two different finals, and his attacking flair and skill became synonymous for the world with Peru's football team in the 70s. Unfortunately, five straight qualification failures since then have plagued the once proud side.

The preliminaries for Korea/Japan 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 in that many matches demonstrates 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.

The campaign to reach France 1998 was thwarted only by the goal difference tiebreaker, as they finished even on points with Chile but had to watch as their southern neighbours go to the world's biggest stage that year.

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 Argentina 1978 finals also saw Peru emerge from their 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. By Spain 1982, the magic was pretty much done, as the team fell at the opening hurdle, drawing with Cameroon and Italy before getting crushed by Poland 5-1. The 2004 Copa América, which they recently hosted, brought more of the same and saw them crash out in the quarter-finals against Argentina, sparking a wave of criticism against former Peru's coach Paulo Autuori and his squad.

World Cup record

• 1930 - Round 1
• 1934 - Withdrew
• 1938 - Did not enter
• 1950 - Withdrew
• 1954 - Withdrew
• 1958 to 1966 - Did not qualify
• 1970 - Quarterfinals
• 1974 - Did not qualify
• 1978 - Round 2
• 1982 - Round 1
• 1986 to 2002 - Did not qualify

Copa América record

Famous Players

• Héctor Chumpitaz
• Teófilo Cubillas
• Jefferson Farfan
• Paolo Guerrero
• Roberto Palacios
• Claudio Pizarro
• Nolberto Solano
• Hugo Sotil

External links

• RSSSF archive of results 1927-