16:12 | Zurich (Switzerland), Jun. 06.
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) highlighted Peru's Paolo Guerrero, who has become the national team's top scorer with 27 goals following his participation in last Saturday's victory at 2016 Copa America Centennial.
"Becoming a country's all-time leading scorer is not something you do every day," it says.
"Paolo Guerrero knows this all too well: it took him 12 years and 70 caps for Peru to amass the 27 goals required to surpass the legendary Teofilo Cubillas, who had held the record for almost four decades with his haul of 26 goals in 81 international appearances," FIFA added.
Nevertheless, Guerrero was quick to downplay his exploits. "I don't think about statistics," said the Peru captain shortly sealing a tight 1-0 victory over Haiti in both countries' opening Copa America Centenario fixture.
"I'm focused on our collective objective, which is to go as far as possible. The plan is to have a great tournament and, God willing, to reach the final," added the number 9, who was named Man of the Match for the game in Seattle, according to FIFA.
"Having notched once at Venezuela 2007 and led the scoring charts in the last two editions, netting five times at Argentina 2011 and four at Chile 2015, he is the competition's most prolific active player, with 11 goals under his belt in the event. Indeed, in the United States he has the chance to become the first player to finish top scorer at three consecutive editions," it stressed.
Yet the 32-year-old, who made his international debut at the age of 20, is adamant that he is only "thinking about the group."
"My priority is for the team to win, for my teammates to thrive and for them to get goosebumps every time they pull on the national team shirt," insisted the marksman as quoted by FIFA.
Information provided by FIFA
(END) NDP/MVB
Published: 6/6/2016