Cueva misses penalty, Peru and Denmark scoreless at break

Peru was awarded a penalty late in the first half of its World Cup match against Denmark after a video review, but Christian Cueva squandered the opportunity by sailing his penalty shot over the crossbar.

Referee Bakary Gassama of Gambia went to the video after Cueva fell in the penalty box after an intervention from Denmark's Yurary Poulsen.

Cueva hesitated on his approach before firing his shot high, to the disappointment of more than 20,000 Peruvian fans at Mordovia Arena in Saransk. Teammates consoled him when he left the field as the match went to halftime tied 0-0.


Earlier , Paolo Guerrero was left out of Peru's starting line-up against Denmark in their opening World Cup match on Saturday as Jefferson Farfan was preferred as striker.

Having had his 14-month ban for taking cocaine overturned just weeks before the World Cup kicked off, Guerrero, 34, started on the bench in Saransk amid questions about his fitness.

Farfan, 33, keeps his place after his goals against Paraguay and in a playoff against New Zealand carried Peru to their first World Cup finals for 36 years.

The main Danish threat is expected to be Tottenham midfielder Christian Eriksen, who netted 11 goals in qualifying, a record bettered only by Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski.

The 26-year-old hit a hat-trick in the 5-1 play-off demolition of Ireland in Dublin last November.

He then scored and created another in a 2-0 friendly win over Mexico in a pre-World Cup warm-up.

With France now the Group C front-runners after earlier beating Australia 2-1 in Kazan, neither team will want to drop points at the first hurdle.

Peru
Pedro Gallese - Luis Advincula, Christian Ramos, Alberto Rodriguez (capt), Miguel Trauco - Yoshimar Yotun, Renato Tapia - Edison Flores, Christian Cueva, Andre Carrillo - Jefferson Farfan.

Coach: Ricardo Gareca (ARG)

Denmark
Kasper Schmeichel - Henrik Dalsgaard, Andreas Christensen, Simon Kjaer (capt), Jens Larsen - William Kvist, Thomas Delaney, Christian Eriksen - Nicolai Jorgensen, Yussuf Poulsen, Pione Sisto.

Coach: Age Hareide (NOR)

Referee: Bakary Gassama (GAM)