An Earthquake in Lima

On November 15, at 9:43 PM, "Sismo Detector", an app that issues earthquake alerts in real-time, warned the world than an earthquake had been detected in Lima, Peru.  Turns out that was the moment after Jefferson Farfan’s opening goal against New Zealand. Peru, with their white jerseys and a red diagonal stripe and known as the "blanquirojas," would go on to win the game 2-0, and earning a spot in the 2018 Word Cup in Russia. " Futbol"is a big deal in South America, and the last time Peru went to the World Cup was 36 years ago.  So Peruvians are still celebrating and will be for some time.

Before the game, the Peruvian President Kuczynski promised a national holiday the day after the game, but only if the team won, and it was a promise he made good on. 

This is a link to Farfan’s goal, set up by a perfect pass from Christian Cueva. I’m not much of a soccer fan, but this looks like almost the perfect play for the futbol equivalent of a fast break. As in many sports, in soccer the best team doesn’t always win, but that wasn’t the case here. Watch the players; the Peruvians really are better.

https://streamwoop.tv/replay/Jefferson-Farf-n-Peru-goal-vs-New-Zealand-1-0-

Here’s a link to the game. You want to start at about minute 24 to catch the play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvMopoGzJhc

In other world cup news of interest, (especially to our family) Italy is not going to the World Cup for the first time in 60 years (expect management changes there).

Much to their chagrin, Chile is not going (but Peru is).

The Dominican Republic is not going (and I’m not sure they ever have – that is a baseball, not a futbol, country).

The USA is not going, for the first time since 1986, after losing to some Caribbean island country the size of an average US county (talk about needing to make USA great again).

Neither is the Czech Republic.  

Mexico and Brazil? Of course.

By the way Sismologia Chile in a tweet later clarified that “It is confirmed that there is no natural earthquake in Lima. Apparently the emotion of the Peruvians made the application activate.”