Goals from Andre Carillo and Paolo Guerrero gave the Peruvians a second straight third place win in a Copa America by defeating Paraguay 2-0 in Concepcion. It was the end to what was a great performance for the Incas going into this tournament with a bit of expectations but not a lot having been drawn in a tough group with Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. Nevertheless, the Group C runners-up exceeded expectations as the only team from that group to reach the top four and will surely be proud of this result going forward for the upcoming 2018 World Cup qualifiers starting in the fall as Ricardo Gareca will prepare for those upcoming matches.
The same goes to Paraguay. Ramon Diaz's side went into this tournament with low expectations as well, being in a group with Argentina, Uruguay and Jamaica. Nevertheless, they went to the last four having beaten Brazil on penalties for what is seen as a rebuilding process for the national team having missed out on the World Cup last summer. Just like Peru, they will go forward for the upcoming qualifiers as well.
This match though was a bit equal, as both teams had various chances going forward, especially for Peru, given their advantage of fit star players as opposed to Paraguay, who were missing a bunch of key players. In the seventh minute, Yordy Reyna's shot was saved easily by the veteran Paraguayan goalkeeper Justo Villar. In the 23rd minute, the exact opposite happened to Oscar Romero when his shot was saved by Pedro Gallese.
After a scoreless first half, Peru got on the board immediately after the break off a corner kick. Paraguay failed to clear the box and the ball fell to Andre Carrillo at the top of the box. where he was able to get enough power on his volley to beat Villar in net to give the Incas the lead in the 48th minute of the match. Following that, Paraguay attacked deeply but Peru were able to stop them on their tracks.
Paolo Guerrero almost doubled the lead eight minutes later, only a deflection by a defender got sent away for a corner. Romero's bullet of a free kick in the 66th minute went straight into the hands of Gallese as La Albirroja despertately tried to get an equalizer. The biggest chance for Paraguay came following that free kick, as Romero's ball to Edgar Benitez allowed him for his shot while he was free, but only just hit the post to deny Paraguay a huge opportunity to equalize.
It was all done and dusted as Paolo Guerrero's finish in the 89th minute secured third place for Peru as the new Flamengo man is now level with the top goalscorer, Eduardo Vargas of Chile with four goals each. In the end, Peru had 11 corners in the match compared to Paraguay’s three, which proves how much more Peru was able to create going forward, as now both teams will look at this tournament as a good test and preparation for the CONMEBOL qualifiers coming in October.