The Peruvian Andes home some of the toughest peaks to ascend outside of Asia. The Peruvians Incas had a menacing mountain to climb ten months ago. Rock-bottom, with only one point from a possible 15, after five rounds of South American qualifying for the FIFA World Cup™, Ricardo Gareca’s troops required a miracle to reach Qatar 2022. Now they require just one more victory in an intercontinental play-off against United Arab Emirates or Australia. Peru completed their towering turnaround at the expense of Colombia and Chile, the former of whom won to no avail. It was also memorable evening for a new-look Brazil, who won emphatically to make sure of finishing first and steal a record from arch-rivals Argentina, and Luis Suarez, whose golazo took him past his friend Lionel Messi and into outright first on the list of the all-time leading marksmen in South American qualifying.

Bolivia 0-4 Brazil Chile 0-2 Uruguay Ecuador 1-1 Argentina Peru 2-0 Paraguay Venezuela 0-1 Colombia

Intercontinental play-off 13 or 14 June in Doha United Arab Emirates or Australia-Peru

There was considerable pressure on Peru to send Ricardo Gareca, the man who masterminded their first World Cup qualification in 36 years, into unemployment not long ago. Several senior players nevertheless spoke out in defence of ‘El Tigre’ and the shot-callers decided against a firing. The decision has indubitably paid dividends. Key to them leaping into the intercontinental play-offs has been Gianluca Lapadula, a veteran, Turin-born striker who insisted he still had hope of going to Qatar 2022 with Italy when Peru first contacted him a few years ago. The roar of a tiger is apparently persuasive, though, and Lapadula soon entrusted Gareca with putting a horizontal stripe on his chest. He can have no regrets. With Italy still reeling from elimination, the 32-year-old, who has hit three crucial goals in Peru’s last six qualifiers, is one step away from his first World Cup.

Tite fielded an experimental side in La Paz, and an electrifying performance will have given him food for thought as he looks to determine his first-choice Brazil XI for Qatar. Bruno Guimaraes, Lucas Paqueta, Antony and Richarlison were unplayable, and substitute Gabriel Martinelli flickered his palatial talent, as they made absolutely sure of finishing first. Two wonder goals – the first an overhead-kick from Luis Suarez – saw Uruguay win in Chile to finish third, while a Colombia success in Caracas, courtesy of a James Rodriguez penalty, wasn’t enough for them to snatch the play-off place from Peru, who finished one point above them. A disastrous run of seven matches without a goal was Los Cafeteros’ downfall. Argentina may have been denied by an 11th-hour equaliser, but it was an advantageous evening for Julian Alvarez. The Manchester City-owned 22-year-old got his first senior international goal as Scaloni evaluates a congested bubble of forwards ahead of the November extravaganza.

45 Victory in La Paz moved Brazil on to 45 points from a possible 51 – a record for a South American qualifying campaign. Tite’s team wrested it from Argentina, who managed 43 points in the Korea/Japan 2002 preliminaries thanks to the likes of Ariel Ortega, Claudio Lopez, Hernan Crespo and Gabriel Batistuta. 31 Argentina made it 31 games unbeaten in all outings to equal their personal best, set between 1991 and ’93. Only three teams in international football history have produced superior sequences: Spain (35 games from 2007-09), Brazil (35 from 1993-96) and Italy (37 from 2018-21).

19 Nineteen years have passed since Carlos Gamarra scored Paraguay’s last goal in Peru in World Cup qualifying. Worryingly, La Albirroja have not netted an away goal in the preliminaries in over 11 and a half hours, with the last coming via an Angel Romero penalty in Argentina. 0 No nation has ever pocketed fewer than two points from the opening three rounds of South American qualifying and reached the World Cup. Can Peru, the 28th team to attempt it, finally make history?

When ‘Contigo Peru’ (With You Peru), an anthem written to spur on Los Incas during Argentina 1978 qualifying, reverberated around the Estadio Nacional after full-time, Lapadula bellowed out the words in floods of tears.