The bottom two nations in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying meet in the Clasico del Pacifico on Friday night, with Peru hosting Chile.

Match preview

Peru became the final team left to record a win in South American qualifying last month, when they got the better of Uruguay by one goal to nil to register three points at the ninth time of asking.

That was the Blanquirroja's first competitive win since the qualifying phase for the 2022 World Cup almost three years ago, and saw them move off the foot of the standings, above their rivals and upcoming opponents.

The high was only temporary though, because Jorge Fossati's side were thumped 4-0 in Brazil just a few days later, leaving them six points adrift of the playoff place with time running out to make a late surge.

Drawing yet another blank shows where Peru's troubles lie, not scoring enough, and not having the defensive strength to bail themselves out, as they have netted only three goals in their 10 qualifiers so far.

For a team that reached the 2018 World Cup and the final of the 2019 Copa America, the rapid falloff is scarcely believable, and that appearance in Russia six years ago looks likely to remain their only successful qualification in 11 attempts.

In familiar surroundings, Fossati's men are much stronger though, considering they have only lost twice in their last 11 World Cup qualifiers on home soil, as Colombia also failed to win here in September.

Three points will be the order of the day though, because Chile had another disastrous week last month, extending their losing run to five matches in qualifying.

A 17th defeat in 20 meetings with Brazil was not a good start to the month, losing in the last minute after taking the lead inside 100 seconds, and Peru's win over Uruguay shortly after sent them to the bottom of the standings.

Ricardo Gareca's men had no response on matchday 10 either, as they were hammered 4-0 in Colombia, leaving them on five points from a possible 30, meaning they look set to miss out on the finals for the third time in succession.

La Roja are in complete crisis, and the appointment of Gareca over the summer has done nothing to rectify the problem as he has lost all of his games in charge.

The managerial change was needed after they exited the Copa America groups without scoring, but they have arguably regressed even further since, especially considering they lost at home to Bolivia in September, handing La Verde their first away qualifying win in 67 attempts.

Peru possible starting lineup:

Gallese; Araujo, Zambrano, Abram; Advincula, Sonne, Castillo, Pena, Callens; Lapadula, Flores

Chile possible starting lineup:

Cortes; Loyola, Kuscevic, Maripan, Hormazabal; Valdes, Vidal, Echeverria; Mora, Vargas, Tapia