Peru pick 'Little Jewel' Avila for qualifiers
LIMA - Teenager Irven 'Little Jewel' Avila has been called up by Peru for the first time for next month's World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Venezuela.
The 19-year-old Sport Huancayo striker helped his country reach the quarter-finals of the under-17 World Cup in 2007.
Universitario's Nolberto Solano returns after missing the defeats by Ecuador and Colombia in June and fellow midfielder Roberto Palacios of Sporting Cristal comes back for the first time since 2007.
Germany-based strikers Claudio Pizarro and Jefferson Farfan have again been overlooked by coach Jose del Solar.
Peru are at home to Uruguay on September 5 and away to Venezuela four days later.
Strikers Paolo Guerrero and Johan Fano are suspended for the match against Uruguay in Lima.
Peru are bottom of the 10-team South American group with seven points from 14 matches and have lost all chance of reaching next year's finals in South Africa. They last reached the finals in Spain in 1982.
Squad:
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
Goalkeepers: Leao Butron (Deportivo San Martin), Raul Fernandez (Universitario)
Defenders: Carlos Zambrano (Schalke 04), Juan Vargas (Fiorentina), Walter Vilchez (Cienciano), Alberto Rodriguez (Braga), Amilton Prado (Sporting Cristal), Cristian Ramos, Josepmir Ballon (both Deportivo San Martin)
Midfielders: Daniel Chavez (Club Bruges), Juan Carlos La Rosa (Juan Aurich), Paolo de la Haza (Betar Jerusalem), Nolberto Solano, Rainer Torres (both Universitario), Luis Trujillo, Henry Quinteros (both Alianza Lima), Roberto Palacios (Sporting Cristal), Joel Sanchez (Total Chalaco)
Forwards: Johan Fano (Once Caldas), Hernan Rengifo (Lech Poznan), Paolo Guerrero (Hamburg SV), Irven Avila (Sport Huancayo)