Peru looked unable to get things going in front of a 12.000 people crowd that attended Estadio Elias Figueroa Brander. The team was dominating the match but they couldn't find spaces in the final third as Venezuela was doing a solid job on the defensive end. Luckily for Ricardo Gareca's team, Claudio Pizarro found a ball bouncing inside the box and he unleashed a fierce shot from close range to give Peru a win that keeps them alive in the 2015 Copa America.
The game started better for Venezuela, however, as Salomon Rondon looked quite active in the final third. The Zenit striker had a golden chance to break the deadlock within the first five minutes but his shot went straight to Peruvian keeper Pedro Gallese. After the initial Venezuelan storm, Peru began to settle and neither side looked particularly threatening on the first 25 minutes.
Things changed completely in the 29th minute when Venezuela defender Fernando Amorebieta was sent off due to a vicious foul over Paolo Guerrero. To complicate things even more, Venezuelan manager Noel Sanvicente decided to enter Gabriel Cichero - in an attempt to re-structure the defensive line - but he took Ronald Vargas off the game and Vargas was having a decent performance. Peru tried to move the lines forward but they weren't particularly sharp so the first half ended with a scoreless draw.
Gareca tried to add more pace in the attack and sent Yordy Reyna to replace Carlos Lobaton. The winger had some explosive moments and was close to score with a flick from inside the box but his effort went over the bar. Venezuela looked completely lost and they abandoned their attacking intentions so Peru was dominating thanks to the constant runs of Luis Advincula and Christian Cueva.
Things started to get tougher for Peru as Venezuela wasn't giving them an inch but Claudio Pizarro saved the day with his goal. The Bayern Munich striker sent the home fans into raptures as Peru was finally leading a game they were dominating with relative ease in the second 45 minutes.
Venezuela tried to shake things off in the final minutes with the entrances of Miku and Josef Martinez but it wasn't enough. Peru simply moved the ball around until the final whistle and the team won a pivotal match to keep themselves alive in the competition.
With the 1-0 win now all four teams in Group C have three points so everything will be decided on Sunday. Peru will battle for a spot on the quarterfinals against Colombia in Temuco and Venezuela will face a tough task going against Brazil in Santiago.