As we've seen so many times in the past decade, Peru looked solid defensively but struggled to score. And as we've seen so many times before, one man swooped in to save the day for his country -- Paolo Guerrero scored the winning goal in their 1-0 Copa America Centenario win over Haiti, executing a near-perfect header and setting his country's scoring record in the process.
Paolo Guerrero saved Peru again
Peru has a new all-time top goalscorer after their 1-0 win in a close battle with Haiti.
Jennifer Buchanan-USA TODAY Sports
Paolo Guerrero opens the scoring for Peru against Haiti with a wonderful diving header. #HAIvPER #MyCopaColors https://t.co/gSMfBB4heA
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 5, 2016
The goal was Guerrero’s 27th in a Peru shirt, finally breaking the deadlock he had with Teofilo Cubillas, who starred for Peru throughout the 70’s before hanging up his boots in the international game after the World Cup in 1982. Fans will best remember his performance in the 1978 World Cup, though, when he scored five goals in six matches as Peru advanced to the second group stage, but couldn’t advance to the final.
It took Peru a long, long time to find another striker of Cubillas’ quality, but they finally found one in Guerrero. Though his best days at Hamburg in Germany are now well behind him, Guerrero helped lift Peru to a higher level ever since he debuted for the team in 2004. He was a big part of their third-place finishes in the last two Copas America, including finishing as joint-top scorer in the 2015 Copa in Chile with four goals, and scoring five to take the top-scorer honors in 2011 in Argentina.
Now he stands alone atop Peru’s all-time goalscoring charts, and especially after seeing how he scored against Haiti on Saturday, it’s easy to see why. Guerrero has both the instincts and the work rate to score a whole lot of goals like that, and even at 32 years old now he’s got plenty left in the tank to score a few more before he hangs up his cleats.
The only place Guerrero hasn’t scored yet is in a World Cup, but Peru still have a chance to make it to the 2018 edition in Russia. If he has anything to say about it, he’ll be playing in that tournament -- and he’ll be doing his best to show why he’ll be dragging Peru there before the Copa America Centenario is over.
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