Vargas lifts Peru into semis
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China Daily, July 18, 2011
Peru had a hero in Juan Vargas and Colombia had a villain in Radamel Falcao on Saturday as Italy-based Vargas scored while Porto's Falcao missed a penalty to send the Peruvians into the Copa America semifinals.
"Falcao never misses a penalty - not even in training," said Colombia's incredulous coach Hernan Dario Gomez as he pondered his well-regarded side's exit from the tournament after Carlos Lobaton and Vargas bagged extra-time goals to give Peru their first semifinal berth in 14 years.
"We made tons of chances, but we missed them," said Gomez as his men prepared to head for home despite having beaten hosts Argentina to top spot in the group.
The Peruvians, who next face either Argentina or Uruguay, had come to the event having finished rock bottom of the last regional World Cup qualifiers.
But under Sergio Markarian they have taken the Copa by storm with this showing in Cordoba and need set themselves no limits, said Vargas.
"It was a really tough game but we applied ourselves. We rolled our sleeves up and I think we deserved to win it. Every one of us fought really hard right to the final whistle."
"I hope we can keep this going," added Vargas, who plays his club football for Fiorentina and is affectionately known as El Loco (the madman).
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