World Cup 2022: Peru or Socceroo?

Peru vs Australia

In the other inter-continental play-off, Costa Rica face New Zealand on Tuesday when the final place will be decided and the Costa Ricans are expected to come through that test, while Wales took the 30^th place last week with a dramatic play-off victory over Ukraine.  

The winners of this tie will join World Champions France, Denmark, and Tunisia in Group D and Peru will go into the game as favourites with SBOTOP odds of 1.41 to make it to Qatar, while Australia must overcome odds of 2.81 to make it to a fifth successive World Cup finals.    

Talking Points

Gareca’s Peru can make it five for CONMEBOL

At 22^nd in the FIFA World ranking, the Incas are 20 places above Australia and they came through an extremely tough South American group with good enough World Cup 2022 results to finish fifth behind Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Ecuador.

A 2-0 win over Paraguay in their final match clinched the play-off place ahead of heavyweights Colombia and Chile so they are certainly battle-hardened.

Colombia features names such as Liverpool’s Luis Diaz and the legendary Radamel Falcao so Peru head coach Ricardo Gareca can be proud of his squad, but he will be determined to see the job through.

The boss has worked wonders since he took over the Incas in 2015, inheriting a side which had lost 16 of its 17 away games over the previous two qualifying campaigns. He organised his team from the back and made them harder to beat, and the results over the past seven years have been impressive.

Peru faced France at the last World Cup and Les Bleus know what to expect if they meet again, commenting that their 2018 group match with Peru was one of their toughest games, ending in a narrow 1-0 win for France.

This team is certainly hard to break down. But going forward, 30-year-old attacking midfielder Christian Cueva is the man who can make the difference. With 15 goals in 91 caps he can play in the middle or out wide on the left. He is a clever dribbler with quick feet and he likes to drift in to try his luck on the edge of the penalty area.      

Hrustic keeps Soceroos’ dream alive

Australia edged past the UAE to reach this play-off and it took an 84^th minute deflected goal from Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Ajdin Hrustic to see the Socceroos through.

His heavily deflected volley deceived the UAE keeper and head coach Graham Arnold is now one step away from leading his team to Qatar. Hrustic is a star on the rise, winning the Europa League with Frankfurt, and he is the man to watch in a fit and functional side. 

Former Brighton keeper Mat Ryan, now at Real Sociedad, skippers the side and has the most big match experience and he’s sure to be a busy boy on Monday.  

History

The World Cup 2022 betting odds won’t feature either of these two teams when we’re looking for a winner, but both have a pretty good history in the competition.

Peru have made five appearances at the finals, first in 1930 and, in 1970, the Incas reached the quarter finals in Brazil. They also featured in the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia and were 2019 Copa America runners up.   

More recently, the Socceroos have appeared on the World Stage four times in succession, first qualifying in 2006 and they have been ever-presents since.

2006 was their best performance, ending with a Round of 16 defeat to eventual winners Italy, but that was the high point and the Socceroos have not registered a victory since 2010.

Recent form favours Peru who have won four, drawn one, and lost one of the last six, the defeat being a hard fought 1-0 reversal to a star-studded Uruguay.

Meanwhile, Australia have won three, drawn one, and lost two against rather more modest opposition, the two defeats coming against Japan and Saudi Arabia.    

Betting Tip

A place at World Cup 2022 is the prize and both teams will go all out for the win. The Socceroos will believe they can upset the odds and the Double Chance: Australia or Draw is available at 1.82, suggesting the underdogs will push Peru all the way.

The Incas aren’t big scorers, notching 19 goals in their 18 qualifying matches, and a tight game and a 1-0 Peru win at odds of 4.74 looks in the cards and that would spark wild celebrations in Lima. I strongly suspect we’ll see Peru on the world stage again in November.

 

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