Coutinho played the entire match, and its the first time since 1987 that Brazil have failed to make it past the group stages.
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But a rare foray into Brazilian territory from Peru ended with Raul Ruidiaz bundling in Andy Polo’s cross from the by-line, appearing to use his arm to score. A third of the way through the marathon campaign, Brazil now are in sixth, outside the qualification places.
“The fans, they saw the game, especially the first half, and they saw how Brazil was eliminated, not inside the soccer [field] itself”, Brazil coach Dunga said through a translator after the game. Brazil is eliminated after reaching at least the quarterfinals of every Copa America since 1993.
In the second half, Peru started on the upper hand with their first big chance of the match. Christian Cueva was given a free kick just outside the box, but his shot was saved by Alisson and taken out of the box by the global goalkeeper. “We just have to respect and give the maximum, whether Dunga or another coach, we have to come here and honor the jersey”, he said.
Elias squandered a golden chance from close range in injury time and Brazil’s fate was sealed.
Brazil have the right to feel aggrieved about the decision to award Peru’s goal, but they benefitted from an equally controversial call to disallow an Ecuador goal on match day one. With just a point needed in the last game against Peru to make it through to the last 8, Dunga’s side would have hoped for an easy outing at Foxborough on Sunday night.
Ecuador earned a spot in the final eight of the Copa America Centenario, following a convincing 4-0 win over Haiti, with Peru sending Brazil packing. Cunha seemed to be waiting for the fourth official’s opinion, despite the fact that video replays are not allowed in football.
Coach Dunga, who days are numbered, does not have an answer on why Brazil has become such a random team.
“The error of the referee is part of the game, we are inherent in it”, he said after the match. The 1-0 edge of the seat quarterfinal qualifier match yesterday for group B will go down as a historic one for the Peruvians team.
Valencia fired in a low shot in the 11th minute at MetLife Stadium, after taking a long feed from Christian Noboa from the corner of the 6-yard box.
Enner Valencia opened the scoring after 10 minutes and Jaime Ayovi doubled Ecuador’s advantage nine minutes later after a swift counter-attack.
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But if there is a pattern of important mistakes by the officials in Brazil’s two crunch games in this competition, there is another pattern that comes to light: The team failed to score against either Ecuador or Peru.
