Argentina prevail over Peru

Argentina scored twice in the last ten minutes as they beat Peru 2-0.

Jose Pekerman's side had already sewn up a place in Germany whilst their opponents had no hopes of qualifying for the finals themselves.

However the visitors gave a good account of themselves and Argentina only prevailed with a penalty from Juan Roman Riquelme and a Luis Guadelupe own goal in the last ten minutes.

Argentina skipper Juan Pablo Sorin proved his side's most potent goal threat in the first half and saw two close range headers kept out superbly by Peru keeper Leao Butron.

The visitors were content to defend in numbers and the Buenos Aires crowd were starved of action before Peru nearly took an undeserved lead through Bayern Munich striker Paolo Guerrero.

The forward could only shoot over when through on goal and also called Roberto Abbondanzieri into action 13 minutes later in a dangerous goal-mouth scramble.

Chelsea star Hernan Crespo was also denied before Pekerman's side made the breakthrough thanks to livewire forward Lionel Messi.

The 18-year-old had been handed his first start for the national side and earned Argentina a penalty when Butron felled him in the box and was shown a red card for the challenge.

After a lengthy wait due to the protests of the away side Riquelme kept focused and duly converted, before Peru's woes deepened in injury time when Guadelupe accidentally converted a cross from Corinthians' Carlos Tevez.