Peru-Italian striker Gianluca Lapadula inspired Peru to bounce back in the second half as they came back from a two-goal half-time deficit in a 2-2 draw against Ecuador at the Copa América on Wednesday.
The result means that both teams can still advance to the last eight of the 10-team South American tournament. Ecuador has one game left in three matches and Peru has four points.
Four of the top five teams from each group qualify for the quarter-finals.
Ecuador is one of only two teams to have never won the Copa América and although they started the match without their suspended striker Ener Valencia in the Brazilian city of Goiânia, they took the game to Peru and went 2–0 at half-time. Were.
Renato Tapia swung Parvis Estupinon's cross into his own net in the middle of the first half, and then Ayrton Precido caught a second on the stroke of half-time when he came to the end of a Damien Diaz free kick from the right and hit the ball for helpless. He was stabbed nearby. Pedro Gallis.
Peru didn't even have a talismanic striker, but Italian-Peruvian Lapadula, who appeared for Italy before choosing his mother's country of birth, stepped in to help him forget Paolo Guerrero's absence.
Lapadula did well in the second half and opened his international account four minutes after the break when he took a fully weighted pass from Christian Cueva and drove home.
Five minutes later Lapadula became the producer. He ran for a brilliant pass from Sergio Pena and drew Andre Carrillo to equalize.
Both sides had a chance to grab a winner, but this was not to happen and so Group B would go down to the wire in the final round of Sunday's matches.
In Peru, Venezuela and Ecuador face group leaders and host country Brazil, who play Colombia later on Wednesday.