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Commentary
Minute
Description
90' +6
FULL-TIME: ARGENTINA 1-0 PERU
90' +5
The corner is cleared and that should be that.
90' +4
E. Palacios enters the game and replaces G. Lo Celso.
Palacios is on for Lo Celso.
The visitors have a corner in the dying seconds. Can they grab a dramatic late equaliser?
90' +2
The hosts are just keeping the ball now and Gareca's men look a beaten team.
90'
There will be four minutes of additional time at the end of this game. Will there be a twist in the tale yet?
87'
Gonzalez intercepts a loose pass and drives forward with the ball turning inside and then back out before firing a shot at goal, that ends up being blocked for a corner.
85'
M. López enters the game and replaces C. Gonzáles.
J. Correa enters the game and replaces L. Martínez.
Goalscorer Martinez comes off for Joaquin Correa.
Gonzalez makes way for Lopez.
84'
The visitors are really starting to get frustrated now and there's been numerous heavy fouls in the last couple of minutes.
82'
Peru think they win a corner after Farfan and Romero challenged for the ball but the referee disagrees and points for a goal-kick.
78'
Since the penalty incident it's been Argentina who have looked the more likely to score the second goal of the game.
Minute
Description
76'
Gallese flaps at a Messi corner but just does enough to clear the danger.
74'
W. Cartagena enters the game and replaces Y. Yotún.
Cartagena replaces Yotun, who missed the penalty.
73'
G. Rodríguez enters the game and replaces L. Paredes.
N. González enters the game and replaces Á. Di María.
G. Costa enters the game and replaces R. García.
Di Maria comes off for Fiorentina man Gonzalez.
Rodriguez replaces Paredes.
Garcia is substituted off for Costa.
72'
The home side play some lovely one-touch stuff when they come forward but there hasn't been as many clear-cut opportunities as they have perhaps deserved.
68'
Callens brings down Lo Celso on the edge of the box and the hosts have a free-kick in a very threatening position. This is very much Messi's territory.
67'
Well that's a huge let-off for the hosts, and they can count themselves lucky to still be in front.
65'
He's missed it! Yotun smashes his spot-kick towards the top right of Martinez's goal but it pings off the bar and flies over! What a waste of a huge opportunity to get back on level terms.
60'
J. Farfán enters the game and replaces G. Lapadula.
Lapadula makes way for Farfan.
59'
After some good interplay down the left Acuna tries to whip a ball into the box, but he gets it wrong and it goes all the way through for a throw-in on the other side.
57'
Romero is down holding his head after a coming together with Lapadula.
56'
Aquino tries his luck from distance but Martinez easily catches it.
54'
Now it is the visitors who are moving the ball side to side in their hunt for a chance to equalise.
52'
The visitors will need to show some more attacking intent if they are to get anything from this game.
50'
Both sides are really flying into tackles and the referee is very busy.
48'
It's early in the second half but the game appears to have settled into the same pattern as the first period, with Argentina having lots of the ball while Peru sit back.
46'
The visiting team get us back underway.
45' +4
HALF-TIME: ARGENTINA 1-0 PERU
45' +2
R. García gets yellow.
Garcia is booked for a very poor sliding challenge on Messi as he dribbled past him.
45'
It's a deserved goal for the hosts who have dominated the ball and seen a goal disallowed.
43'
L. Martínez has scored a goal for Argentina! Assist by N. Molina.
It was a superb cross from Molina that set up Martinez to nod home.
And it's 1-0 to the hosts! It's Martinez with the goal as he heads in a brilliant cross from Molina from the right. The header just had too much power for Gallese and the Inter Milan striker puts his side in front.
41'
Y. Yotún gets yellow.
Yotun is booked after catching Paredes in the middle of the park.
39'
Di Maria slices a half-volley over as the ball fell to him in the box.
37'
Messi dinks a free-kick over the top of the defence but Gallese does well to punch it away before Romero can divert it goalwards.
36'
The game has been very scrappy so far with lots of fouls being given away. This time it is Martinez who is brought down by Zambrano.
34'
Messi sends a free-kick over from the right but his delivery is uncharacteristically poor and Gallese easily claims it.
32'
The visitors have a free-kick just outside of their own penalty area after Acuna clatters into Lora.
30'
Martinez was actually down injured for a couple of minutes after that incident and although he is back up, he's hobbling and may be unable to stay on the pitch for much longer.
27'
The hosts are putting on the pressure but so far their opponents are remaining resolute in defence.
25'
Di Maria tries to volley an effort back at goal from a deep cross but he gets it wrong and the ball flies well over.
23'
This is the 56th meeting between these two sides, with Peru winning only seven of those encounters.
20'
Messi tries to squirm his way through in the box to get a shot away but he is tackled just as it looked as if he'd made enough space to shoot.
18'
The home side think they have a corner after some brilliant dribbling by Di Maria on the left-hand side but he is ruled offside and the visitors can clear the ball upfield.
16'
There's a few hefty challenges going in already. De Paul is down this time after being caught by Lapadula as the ball bounced in midfield.
14'
Scaloni's men are certainly looking the more threatening here as they move the ball side to side in their search for an opening goal.
7'
There's a miscommunication from the Argentinians in the box as Martinez tries to leave the ball for somebody behind him but nobody was present.
6'
Lapadula sends the resulting free-kick towards goal but Martinez does well to push it wide.
5'
Peru have a free-kick on the edge of the box in a dangerous position after a foul from Otamendi on Lapadula.
2'
De Paul sends an early ball in across the face of goal but nobody can get on the end of it.
1'
The hosts kick us off and we are underway.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the World Cup 2022 qualifier between Argentina and Peru.
The hosts come into this game placed second having not lost a game yet in the group. They beat Uruguay 3-0 in their last match and can gain another three points in their pursuit of qualification here.
The visitors currently sit eighth in the group after only winning three of their 11 games so far. Their last outing was a 1-0 defeat to ten-man Bolivia.
ARGENTINA (4-2-3-1): Emiliano Martinez; Marcos Acuna, Nicolas Otamendi, Cristian Romero, Nahuel Molina; Rodrigo De Paul, Leandro Paredes; Angel Di Maria, Lionel Messi, Giovani Lo Celso; Lautaro Martinez.
SUBS: Lucas Alario, Esteban Andrada, Franco Armani, Joaquin Correa, Angel Correa, Nicolas Gonzalez, Lisandro Martinez, Gonzalo Montiel, Exequiel Palacios, German Pezzella, Guido Rodriguez, Nicolas Tagliafico.
PERU (4-1-4-1): Pedro Gallese; Carlos Lora, Carlos Zambrano, Alexander Callens, Miguel Trauco; Pedro Aquino; Raziel Garcia, Christopher Gonzales, Yoshimar Yotun, Christian Cueva; Gianluca Lapadula.
SUBS: Luis Abram, Miguel Araujo, Carlos Caceda, Horacio Calcaterra, Wilder Cartagena, Jose Carvallo, Gabriel Costa, Jefferson Farfan, Marcos Lopez, Santiago Ormeno, Christian Ramos, Alex Valera.
The two sides make their way out onto the pitch.
Visiting boss Gareca may have to make some alterations at the break to change the pattern of this game or it could be beyond them shortly. Their performance has been scrappy and they've committed a lot of fouls as they get frustrated with the hosts dominating possession. Scaloni's men will look to score early in the second half and really put this game beyond the reach of their opponents.
Thanks for joining me for this coverage of Argentina's 1-0 win over Peru in a 2022 World Cup qualifier.
That three points for the hosts moves them onto 25 points, eight ahead of third-placed Ecuador but still six behind leaders Brazil. They will travel to Uruguay next as they look to seal their place in Qatar in 2022. Meanwhile for the visitors it's another disappointing result and they drop to ninth in the group with their chances of making it to the World Cup looking even slimmer. They will host Bolivia next as they look to turn things around.
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