Historically, Peru aren't part of the top teams in CONMEBOL. However, the Peruvians have proved how tough and hard they fought for their ticket to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. In fact, they took advantage of a huge golden generation composed by Christian Cueva, Raul Ruidiaz, Andre Carrillo, and many more. Those players clinched two huge milestones for Peru that weren't seen at least in 40 years.
In the last 11 years, Peru have clinched two times the third place, and one time the second place in the Copa America, being the 2019 Copa America in Brazil, their last time in a finals game. As well as four times at the semifinals stage out of the last five tournaments played. Most of them led by the Argentine coach Ricardo Gareca, who really changed how the Peruvian national squad developed as a team.
Their quest for the 2018 World Cup was the closing phase of that golden generation, which faced France, Denmark and Tunisia in the group stage. However, Peru couldn't picked up any wins in Russia. Throughout their journey for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Peru felt their transition to a new generation of players, that couldn't stepped up to the challenge.
Why did Peru not qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar?
As the current format for the CONMEBOL hasn't changed since the 1998 World Cup Qualifiers, Peru knew home games are the most important in order to be placed at the top of the standings. However, the team managed at that time by Ricardo Gareca started the qualifiers with 3 losses, one win, and one draw at the Nacional Stadium in Lima.
In the second leg, Peru picked up wins both at home and away, but other results weren't beneficial for the Peruvians. At one moment, the qualifiers were so crazy that at least five games were fighting for two or three qualifying spots at the standings. That's when Peru clinched good performances, with 3 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw in their last five games of the qualifiers.
After the qualifiers, Peru clinched the fifth spot at the standings, which granted them a reclassification matchup against fourth round Asian winnner, which in this case was New Zealand. This matchup was played in Doha, at the Ahmad bin Ali stadium. After 120 minutes, Peru and Australia went to the penalty shootout, in which Peru lost 5-4.
