Sports

Peru beat Paraguay, finish third

Peru beat Paraguay, finish third

By Agence France Presse

Paraguay's Marcos Caceres (left) goes for the ball with Peru's Jose Paolo Guerrero during their third place match of the Copa America at the Ester Roa Rebolledo Stadium on Friday. Photo; AP

Concepción, July 4 Paolo Guerrero fired Peru to a third place play-off victory over Paraguay here on Friday to stay in the hunt for Copa America tournament top goal scorer honours. The Flamengo striker, top-scorer at the 2011 Copa America, bagged his fourth goal of this year’s tournament with a late strike as Peru completed a 2-0 victory. The goal saw Guerrero join Chile’s Eduardo Vargas as joint top-scorer. The 31-year-old’s 25th international goal has also edged him closer to overhauling Peru legend Teofilo Cubillas’s national record of 26 goals. Peru’s other goal came from Andre Carrillo in the 48th minute. A dangerous corner by Peru’s highly rated midfielder Christian Cueva was headed into the path of Carrillo by Paraguay’s Raul Bobadilla. The 24-year-old met the clearance with a sweetly struck volley which flew into the bottom corner past the dive of Paraguay goalkeeper Justo Villar. Paraguay, thrashed 6-1 by Argentina in the semi-finals, raised their game fleetingly and almost snatched an equaliser on 68 minutes only for striker Edgar Benitez to be denied by a superb block from Peru midfielder Carlos Ascues. Peru’s win saw them their third place from the 2011 Copa America.