Peru sets bar high at Copa América

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay - "You must love your national team as much as you love your mother."

That's the message Sergio Markarian, coach of the Peruvian national soccer team, has reiterated to his players as they prepare for Copa América in Argentina from July 1 to 24.

Markarian, a 66-year-old Uruguayan, is on a quest to improve Peru's standing after a dismal campaign during qualification for World Cup 2010, when the team placed last in CONMEBOL with 13 points in 18 games.

Peru has won Copa América twice, in 1939 and in 1975. But it has reached the quarterfinals in each of the past two tournaments, losing to Argentina in 2004 and 2007.

"Copa América is a first step for Peru to reach its ultimate goal of making it to the qualifying rounds for the World Cup in Brazil in 2014," Markarian said during a media conference.

But it won't be easy for La Blanquirroja in Argentina. Peru, ranked 49th in the world by FIFA, will face seventh-ranked Uruguay on July 4 in San Juan and ninth-ranked Mexico in Mendoza on July 8 before concluding Group C play against 27th-ranked Chile in Mendoza on July 12. Of those four teams, Peru is the only one that didn't play in World Cup 2010, while Uruguay, Chile and Mexico all made it to at least the round of 16, with Uruguay finishing fourth.

Peru also arrived in Argentina without the services of forwards Claudio Pizarro and Jefferson Farfán, who each star in Germany's professional league (Bundesliga) but recently suffered injuries that will sideline them for the competition.

Defender Juan Vargas also likely will miss at least the game against Uruguay because of a lesion on his right leg.

But Markarian still has high expectations.

"Beyond the obvious changes in the squad, our objective does not vary with the absence of those injured players," he said. "Tactically, it will not be a great loss either because we have trained in all possible scenarios, so no disadvantages will happen."

Peru is counting on forward Paolo Guerrero, who plays for Germany's Hamburg, to fill the scoring void left by Pizarro and Farfán. Guerrero scored the decisive goal in Peru's 1-0 victory over Senegal in Lima, Peru, on June 28.

"We know what Pizarro and Farfán can offer," Guerrero said during a media conference. "But we have good material in our team to replace them and young players who are waiting for their opportunity. We are all aiming at one objective, which is to make it to the World Cup qualifiers. But we are not going to let anybody down in Copa América, despite all our troubles."

Defender Giancarlo Carmona also is confident Peru - one of the tournament's biggest underdogs - can win its group, which might be the toughest of the three divisions.

"We have a great team," said Carmona, who plays professionally for Argentina's San Lorenzo de Almagro. "All we have to do is be calm, go step by step, match by match and make it the best we can. "We are all very concentrated on this tournament. The team is playing very well."

Markarian added: "Don't count us out. We are going to fight for the title and we are going to make it hard for the other teams. We are going to raise this team high."

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