Peru's Guerrero cleared to play at World Cup after drug ban is halved

Peru captain Paolo Guerrero will get the opportunity to play at the 2018 World Cup after his initial one-year ban for cocaine use was reduced to six months.

"The FIFA Appeal Committee, after taking into account all the circumstances of the case, in particular the degree of fault of the player, considered a six-month period of ineligibility to be a proportionate sanction," FIFA said in a statement Wednesday.

The suspension will now expire on May 3, 2018, more than a month before the World Cup kicks off in Russia.

The 33-year-old tested positive for "cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine" after a World Cup qualifier against Argentina on Oct. 5. He was provisionally suspended by FIFA on Nov. 3 and forced to miss his country's World Cup play-off against New Zealand.

Even without their star striker, the Peruvians overcame the Kiwis to qualify for their first World Cup since 1982.