Talía Escárate has become one of the most important figures in soccer in Peru. The journalist is the face of DirecTV and leads a large group of female reporters who follow “La Bicolor” constantly.
This Friday, at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington (Texas), Chile and those from Rímac will meet in the debut for both squads in the Copa América 2024. In the stands of the imposing Texas venue, Escárate spoke with AS about the upcoming match and also about the arrival of Ricardo Gareca to La Roja.
– Talía, how do you see this Friday’s match between Chile and Peru?
– It’s an early final. If we want to get through the group stage, we have the obligation to beat Chile and then get a good result against Canada, because the third game is against Argentina. The detail is that we come with some doubts… Today, the team has few goals.
-And how do you see Chile? Now Ricardo Gareca, former coach of Peru, will be directing the rival…
-We know Gareca very well and I could tell you that there is a very clear simile of how he has been managing Chile. He is a group manager and in Peru he retired Claudio Pizarro and Juan Manuel Vargas. He took Luis Advíncula out for a while and then reinstated him. It’s the same thing he is doing with Arturo Vidal and Gary Medel. I don’t know if in this case it is definitive, because Vidal is a standard bearer of Chilean football. His statements were prudent because I think he knows that he may have the door ajar… Gareca chose Claudio Bravo as leader, he knows how to flank very well.
-Which La Roja players do you like?
– Darío Osorio seems quite interesting to me, but then he has players like Marcelino Núñez and, logically, Alexis Sánchez. I think Chile has good footballers. There is Eduardo Vargas, who has scored many goals for us. Gareca has recovered it. The Peruvian players know Gareca well, but he also knows them and their shortcomings well. What about Vargas is curious, because he was erased. La Roja has shown a very good face against Albania, France and Paraguay, but has to confirm it in an official tournament. I have no doubt that if they don’t do well, the Chileans will say “why didn’t you take Vidal?”
“What happened with Gareca is painful… He gave me one of the happiest days of my life”
-How did you experience the arrival of Ricardo Gareca to Chile? In Peru it is a whole issue, people are divided…
– Painful! Very painful, but I understand that he is a professional, because we have followed him for eight years in Peru. I have enormous affection for him, because he gave me one of the happiest days of my life, taking us to a World Cup after 36 years of drought. I had not seen Peru in a World Cup. And well, not only that, it took us to a Copa América final and two semifinals. I didn’t think he would go to coach Chile, but he is a professional and it is his right. That still makes it painful for us.
