Nov 30

Unofficial world champs Peru qualify for official World Cup

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Peru 2-0 New Zealand

15 November 2017 Estadio Nacional, Lima World Cup Qualifier, OFC�CONMEBOL play-off second leg Scorers: Farfan, Ramos Peru defeated New Zealand in this winner-takes-all UFWC title match and World Cup qualification play-off second leg. The result means that Peru remain Unofficial Football World Champions and qualify for the World Cup finals. That doesn't guarantee that the UFWC title will be contested in Russia next summer, however, with plenty of football to play before then. Once again Peru were without suspended captain and record goalscorer Paolo Guerrero. Another veteran, Jefferson Farfan, replaced Guerrero, and it was Farfan who got the opening goal in the 28th minute, running on to a Christian Cueva cross to finish emphatically from near the penalty spot - albeit with the help of a slight deflection. In the celebrations, Farfan held up the number 9 shirt of the missing Guerrero. La Blanquirroja dominated for much of the game against the dogged All Whites. As in the first leg, New Zealand striker Chris Wood was only fit enough to start on the bench following a hamstring strain. He came on at half-time, and became the target man for New Zealand's long balls, but wasn't able to change the flow of the one-way traffic. And Peru doubled their lead in the 65th minute, when Christian Ramos snatched on a loose ball from a corner to score from close range. As far as the UFWC rankings go, the win moves Peru up to 20th position, alongside North Korea and Switzerland, with 10 title match wins. As might be expected given the uncertainty surrounding this result, Peru have no upcoming matches scheduled at the moment, although that will soon change as they prepare for the World Cup finals. We'll have details of all upcoming title matches here on the UFWC website. If you're new to the Unofficial Football World Championships you can find out all about the UFWC here. And you can keep up to date with all things UFWC by following us on Twitter or Facebook. For the avoidance of confusion, this game was played on the evening of 15 November 2017 in Peru, which was the morning of 16 November in the UK.

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