Peru continue their preparations for their first World Cup appearance in 36 years with a friendly encounter against Scotland at the Estadio Nacional in Lima in the early hours of Wednesday morning that will act as a repeat of one of the World Cup’s most iconic matches.
Scotland travelled to the 1978 World Cup in Argentina in the midst of a swell of optimism and national pride occasioned by a strong qualifying campaign and the confident proclamation from manager Ally MacLeod that they had a team capable of winning the tournament.
In their opening match, in front of nearly 40,000 spectators packed into the low-profile sweep of the Estadio Olimpico Chateau Carrera in Cordoba, they took on Peru, reigning champions of South America yet somewhat overlooked as a potential force. When Joe Jordan gave Scotland an early lead, the stage seemed set for a comfortable victory.
That wasn’t to be the case. Scotland had gathered very little advance information on their opponents -- MacLeod spoke beforehand of how his left-back Martin Buchan would nullify Peru’s Juan Carlos Oblitas, a player who would start, as he always did, on the opposite side of the pitch -- and struggled once Peru found their stride and began to produce vibrant and incisive football.
With the Alianza Lima trio of Jose Velasquez, Cesar Cueto and Teofilo Cubillas -- respectively nicknamed “the boss,” “the poet” and “the kid” -- as joint maestros of the midfield zone, Peru took control. All three combined as Cueto aimed a calm finish past Alan Rough to equalise just before half-time. After the break, Cubillas took centre stage.
Scotland had squandered an excellent opportunity to retake the lead when Don Masson’s penalty was saved by Ramon Quiroga, while Jordan had also had a couple of good chances before Cubillas made his move. His first goal was a powerful strike into the top corner at the end of a slick Peruvian break; his second, a free-kick dispatched with an almost dismissive flick of his right boot, remains one of the World Cup’s most memorable goals.
Kenny Dalglish was a part of the wall, and at the final whistle it was he who was first on the scene to swap shirts with Scotland’s artistic executioner. “I’ve met Scots several times since 1978, and they always tell me I broke their hearts,” Cubillas told the Daily Record in 2010. “I’m very sorry to all the Scottish people, but they also know it was not my fault. It is football and that free-kick in particular made me very happy.”
With a draw against the Netherlands and a 4-1 thrashing of Iran, in which Cubillas scored a hat-trick, Peru progressed to the second group stage, where three straight defeats, including an infamous 0-6 loss to hosts Argentina, saw them eliminated. Scotland, meanwhile, departed much earlier after a draw with Iran and despite an unlikely win over the Netherlands in a match that featured the Archie Gemmill goal rendered epochal by Trainspotting
Scotland would suffer the same fate in each of their subsequent four showings at the World Cup, and this year’s tournament will mark the 2o-year anniversary of their last appearance. Peru would compete again in Spain four years later, but after that it has been a long wait for another generation capable of achieving the promised land of qualification.
The team who have made it to Russia 2018 do not have a standout star of Cubillas’ quality, while the pace and intensity of modern football prevents them from playing with the same easy-going swagger of the 1978 side, but the heritage of Peruvian football is still evident in their attractive, short-passing style.
Peru will not be quite such a surprise element this summer, but Australia, Denmark and France would still be best advised not to take them lightly. Scotland would be the first to warn them of the danger of doing that.
