The opening minutes were one-way traffic as La Celeste quickly established the tempo of the contest and took control of possession against a Peruvian side that preferred to stay deep in their own half.
Despite the significant edge in terms of possession and the apparent dominance from the visitors, chances were still at a premium and Uruguay lacked creativity in the final third.
A tame header from Darwin Nunez just before the 15th minute was Uruguay’s best chance across the opening 30 minutes, and a decent effort from Federico Valverde that went wide was perhaps the only other scoring opportunity for Marcelo Bielsa’s side.
Peru responded with a long-range strike from Sergio Pena that Sergio Rochet parried away, and despite finishing the first half with nearly 60% of possession, the lack of ideas forced Uruguay to march into the break all square.
Clearly unhappy with his side’s performance in the first half, Bielsa sent on Facundo Pellistri to rejuvenate the attack, and even though Uruguay continued to dominate possession, Peru slowly tried to push their lines forward, with Pena as their driving force in midfield.
Uruguay’s lack of ideas was alarming, and with Georgian De Arrascaeta nowhere to be found in the final third, La Celeste failed to muster a single shot, or even threaten Gallese’s goal, until the 80th minute via Valverde.
Peru looked increasingly confident going forward in the final minutes, and against all odds, they were rewarded with a late winner via Araujo, who nodded home a cross from Piero Quispe to complete a shocking upset in Lima, although Rochet could’ve perhaps done more to stop the close-range header.
Uruguay were unable to muster a response in stoppage time and had to settle for the shock loss. La Celeste are now winless in three qualifying matches (D2, L1), while also failing to score.
Meanwhile, Peru should gain a much-needed confidence boost with this win, and they will travel to Brazil full of belief knowing that they are no longer last in the standings. Uruguay will try to bounce back at home against Ecuador. Both games will be played on Tuesday.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Miguel Araujo (Peru)