Guerrero was ruled out of Peru's first two 2010 World Cup qualifying games because of injury. A further blow to Peru was laid down by FIFA when Guerrero was suspended six games for insulting the referee during the match against Uruguay in June 2008. Following Peru's disastrous qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup, José del Solar was replaced with Uruguayan manager Sergio Markarián and Guerrero was called up for the 2011 Copa América. In place of an injured Pizarro, Guerrero played as the team's starting striker in the competition and scored five times, making him the tournament's top scorer, one each against Uruguay and Mexico followed by a hat-trick against Venezuela in the third place play-off match which Peru won 4–1.