Peru at the FIFA World Cup

This is a record of Peru's results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.

After making their FIFA World Cup debut at Uruguay 1930, Peru next made an impact on the finals at Mexico 1970 where they beat Bulgaria and Morocco to start off the tournament with a surprising bang. The Brazil of Rivelino, Tostao, Jairzinho and Pelé put an end to that adventure 4-2 in the quarter-finals. The World cup of Argentina 1978 saw Peru end up first in their group during the first phase of the tournament, but they were later eliminated after losing all their games in the second phase. Their last World Cup appearance was in that of Spain 1982, a tournament in which Peru was viewed as a favorite. Yet, the problem came when the team basically trained too much and were tired even before the tournament had begun. They were eliminated last in their group, with 2 ties and 1 loss.

As one of the 13 national sides that accepted the invitation to the inaugural World Cup, Peru was placed in Group 3 with Romania and hosts Uruguay. With a mere 300 spectators, Peru's match against Romania holds the record of lowest attendance in a World Cup game. Peru lost (1–3) in a violent game where, in the second half, a fight broke out and a Peruvian became the first player sent off in a World Cup. A few days later, Peru and Uruguay played the inaugural match of the Estadio Centenario. The Peruvians were lauded by the spectators for their defense and the impressive ability of forward José María Lavalle; Peru lost by one goal to the eventual champions, who defeated their subsequent opponents by scoring at least 4 goals per game.

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