Peru suffer penalty shootout heartbreak to lose in World Cup playoff

Peru’s hopes of qualifying for this year’s World Cup are officially over after they lost Monday night’s playoff game against Australia.

In a game of very few chances, it was Australia who advanced after the Socceroos keeper Andrew Redmayne saved Alex Valera’s spot kick. The win will see the Socceroos compete in their fifth straight World Cup.

With the stakes immeasurably high, there was little surprise that the game was exceptionally cagey and normal time ended 0-0 with very few goalscoring chances for either side.

Peru would have been disappointed with how they played throughout the 90 minutes. However, as the game stretched into extra time they looked the more likely winners.

With Peru finally finding their stride, they almost made the breakthrough with just ten minutes left but Edison Flores’ header cannoned off the post with the Australian keeper well beaten.

So, to penalties it went. The Peruvians got off to the perfect start when Pedro Gallese saved Australia’s first spot-kick. However, Peru’s advantage was diminished when Luis Advíncula struck the post.

With both sides then scoring their next two it was the unlucky Valera who missed, ending Peru’s hopes of competing in their second successive World Cup.

Australia will go into Group D and will play against France, Denmark and Tunisia.