Peru are going to make their first appearance at the World Cup since 1982, and it would be very frustrating for their captain Jose Paolo Guerrero to miss the tournament. Last autumn, the 34-year-old striker tested positive for doping and was suspended, but now Guerrero is allowed to play in Russia.


36 years later

For the Peruvian captain, this is the first and most likely the last chance to take part in the World Cup, and perhaps he deserves it more than anyone else in the team. After all, Guerrero has been playing for his country since 2004, and he is the nation’s all-time top scorer. The veteran forward can boast a spectacular club career, as he played for Bayern Munich and Hamburger SV before moving to Brazil, where he is currently under contract at Flamengo.

Obviously a player of such caliber had always dreamed about featuring at the World Cup, yet Peru failed to reach the finals time after time. But everything has changed in the recent years. In the 2018 World Cup qualification, the team coached by Ricardo Gareca finished fifth in the South American zone, advancing to the intercontinental play-off matches. And in those games, Peru were too strong for New Zealand as they won 0:0 and 2:0, securing their first World Cup participation for 36 years.


Traces of cocaine

Of course such a competition would crown Guerrero’s distinguished career, yet last December, he failed a drug test which found a metabolite of cocaine in his body. The 12-month suspension followed, but the player argued that the stimulant was not performance enhancing, and was accidentally consumed in contaminated tea, so the ban was reduced to just six months. However, an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency to the Court of Arbitration for Sport reversed the case and increased the ban to 14 months. But Guerrero, whose last name is translated from Spanish as “the warrior”, kept fighting. Just a couple of weeks before the start of the World Cup, the Swiss Supreme Court granted an interim order to freeze the ban, so the striker can feature at the tournament in Russia.

Of course his presence will be a boost for Peru, who do not have a lot of renowned players in their squad. Beside Guerrero, the most prominent figure is Jefferson Farfan, another veteran who will turn 34 in October. He used to play for PSV Eindhoven and Schalke-04 in the past, and now defends the colours of the current Russian champion Lokomotiv Moscow. Similar to Guerrero, Farfan has definitely deserved to experience the World Cup at least once in his career.


Fourth World Cup

In the midfield, the likes of Paulo Hurtado from Vitoria Guimaraes, Cristian Cueva from Sao Paolo and Renato Papia from Feyenoord are the key figures, while in defence, the 34-year-old Alberto Rodriguez is worth mentioning. Just a handful of Peruvian internationals play their club football in their domestic league, but many others are spread across other American countries, such as the USA, Mexico, Colombia or Brazil.

So far, Peru have participated in just three World Cups, in 1970, 1974 and 1982, and they did pretty well, finishing among top eight teams on two first occasions. That was the era of Teofilo Cubillas, an excellent forward who was a true team leader, but after he retired from the national team in 1982, their results quickly went downhill. Although the next generation also looked quite promising, many of the nation’s hopes died in the plane crash with their club Allianza Lima in 1987.

For the next decades, Peru could not compete with the South American heavyweights and failed to reach the World Cup even with the arrival of Guerrero, Farfan and Co. But now, when this generation is already at their careers’ dawn, the team finally got their chance. An interesting fact: the captains of the teams drawn into the same group with Peru - France, Australia and Denmark - appealed to FIFA to lift Guerrero’s ban. Now their goal has been reached, the veteran scorer will play in Russia - and despite all the controversy around his name, he deserves to feature at the World Cup.