Peru has announced their final squad for the Copa America which will be taking part in the United States as from the 3rd June.
23 players have been selected by the Peruvian coach Ricardo Gareca. He said that he has chosen the best players at the moment, and he believes that they can go far in the tournament.
Players such as Claudio Pizarro, Jefferson Farfan, and Juan Manuel Vargas are all excluded from the side that will participate in the Copa America since the coach wanted to give younger players a chance to represent their country. This is no surprise since they were not included in the 40-players squad that was announced in April.
This might come as a deception for Claudio Pizarro, who was hoping that he could participate in his last Copa America tournament at 37-years old.
Instead, the coach placed his trust in younger players such as Alejandro Hohberg, Luiz da Silva, Armando Alfageme, Luis Abram and Carlos Caceda, who have yet to make their debut for their country. This is clearly in line with the coach philosophy of not only trying to do well in the Copa America but also build a team for the future.
These young players will be surrounded by more experienced players such as Paolo Guerrero, YoshimarYotun, Alberto Rodriguez in order to bring more stability to the team.
Ricardo Gareca stated that it will be a difficult tournament, but he believes his players will give their best performance on the pitch.
Peru will be in the same group as Haiti, Ecuador, and Brazil. They will feel that they will have an outsider chance of making it to the second round if ever they can get a result against Ecuador or Brazil in the group stage.