LIMA, July 9 (Xinhua) -- The president of Peru's Football Federation (PFP), Manuel Burga, on Monday publicly backed the national soccer team manager, Julio Uribe, despite the team's 4-0 loss to Argentina in the Copa America.

    Peru's soccer bosses said that it will be hard to replace Uribe because there are no appropriate candidate and because he has contract.

    Uribe appeared calm after Argentina crushed Peru on Sunday, in the Venezuelan city of Barquisimeto, describing the players' performance as "acceptable".

    After the match, he unworriedly told reporters that "they have to fix quite a few things ahead of the South American World Cup qualifiers."

    Arthur Woodman of the Peruvian Sports Agency said the team's constant losses should trigger a change at the top of the PFP.

    "The 4-0 defeat against Argentina is nobody's fault: Some you win and some you lose. But the issue here is that we always lose, so we have to think about reshuffling the PFP's leadership," Woodman said.

    Peru had made it to the quarterfinal after beating Uruguay 3-0,losing 2-0 to Venezuela and drawing 2-2 with Bolivia. Peru has not been in a World Cup since 1982 in Spain and has only won two regional tournaments: in 1939 and 1975.