On a sweltering afternoon in Kansas City, Jesse Marsch’s men already knew that a defeat would see them become the first side to be eliminated from the competition.
However, they did not play like a side that knew their survival was on the line in the first 45 minutes, dominating possession in the early stages, albeit without troubling Pedro Gallese in the Peruvian goal.
Maxime Crepeau made six saves in the opener against Argentina, and he was troubled first on 27 minutes as the Canadian shot-stopper saved well from a narrow angle after Piero Quispe was given too much room.
After Cyle Larin prodded over from Stephen Eustaquio’s cutback on the half-hour mark, Peru had the ball in the net a couple of minutes later but Gianluca Lapadula had strayed offside before flicking on Edison Flores’ free-kick delivery.
Jorge Fossati’s men were on the front foot yet were extremely fortunate not to be reduced to 10 men after 40 minutes when Marcos Lopez headbutted Alistair Johnston, but despite a VAR check, inexplicably escaped without so much as a caution.
With temperatures at Children’s Mercy Park exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit, there was a scary moment right on half-time when linesman Humberto Panjol collapsed, but thankfully, he was able to walk off under his own strength.
Canada had now gone three and a half games without a goal under Marsch and were utterly toothless in the first half here.
The former Leeds United manager made a triple substitution at the break and one of those introduced was the lively Jacob Shaffelburg. Just 10 minutes after the restart, he was felled by a horrific challenge by Miguel Araujo and Peru did not get away with this one as his initial yellow card was correctly upgraded to a red by VAR.
Les Rouges started to probe more with their man advantage but both Richie Laryea and Larin were unable to finish from deliveries from the left.
However, a first goal under their new manager came on 73 minutes as Jonathan David put the finishing touches on a rapid counter-attack involving subs Kamal Miller, Tajon Buchanan, and Shaffelburg.
Tani Oluwaseyi almost marked his competitive debut with his first international goal but the Minnesota United forward spurned a couple of late chances while Crepeau made a match-winning save from Christian Cueva’s stoppage-time volley.
The men in red ultimately held on for the three points that put them in an excellent position to make the quarter-finals ahead of their final group game against Chile in Orlando on Saturday. Peru are not out but have a huge task in game three as they take on Argentina in Miami.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jonathan David (Canada)