Salvador (Brazil) (AFP) – Goalkeeper Pedro Gallese saved Luis Suarez’s spot-kick as Peru beat Uruguay on penalties on Saturday to reach the Copa America semi-finals, where they will play Chile.
Edison Flores scored the decisive penalty as Peru, who were thrashed 5-0 by Brazil in their previous match, qualified for the semi-finals for the third time in the last four editions of the Copa.
And it was a remarkable turnaround for Gallese, who was the villain of that thumping by the hosts, gifting Brazil their second goal by clearing the ball straight to Roberto Firmino, while he was also partially at fault for the first and third scores.
But in Salvador he guessed the right way for the first shoot-out penalty to deny Barcelona forward Suarez, after which Peru’s own penalty-takers were faultless.
It was the third Copa quarter-final to finish goalless and head to penalties after Uruguay had three goals ruled out for offside during normal time.
Giorgian de Arrascaeta, Edinson Cavani and Suarez had all put the ball in the net, only to be denied by a linesman’s flag.
Brazil beat Paraguay on spot-kicks on Thursday and champions Chile did likewise to knock-out Colombia on Friday.
In the only match to feature any goals, Argentina defeated Venezuela 2-0 on Friday.
Peru will face Chile in the second semi-final in Porto Alegre on Wednesday, a day after hosts Brazil take on Argentina in Belo Horizonte.
Copa winners in 1939 and 1975, Peru lost to Chile in the semi-finals four years ago.
– Incredible miss –
After a slow opening, Uruguay burst into life on 15 minutes when Federico Valverde surged onto a loose Peru pass in their own half and picked out an unmarked Luis Suarez on the penalty spot, but the Barcelona forward couldn’t keep down his header.
Two minutes later Nahitan Nandez broke into the box from the flank but his shot was blocked by a sliding defender.
In pouring rain, Uruguay should have taken the lead on 24 minutes with a rapier counter-attack.
Suarez bundled past two defenders on the left of the box and while Gallese saved his shot, he succeeded only in pushing it out to Cavani on the edge off the six-yard box.
Incredibly the Paris Saint-Germain marksman ballooned his shot over the bar although it wouldn’t have counted as Suarez was retroactively deemed offside when he received the ball.
Moments later Nandez headed over from six yards.
from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2KQLria
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