What is more difficult: betting on the consolidation of a 21-year-old player like Joao Grimaldo or rehabilitating a 31-year-old footballer who has been in decline for at least two seasons. Which decision involves more risk compared to the rush to rebuild a peruvian team which we think among the best in the world, when the reality is that – as in our most difficult and forgettable years – we are beginning to dangerously ingratiate ourselves with the ‘almost’.
With the misleading merit of ‘we tried’.
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Let’s be fair. Jorge Fossati’s task is titanic. We are demanding success from him, when what we should expect is a progressive and healthy change in the midst of a very austere and uncompetitive universe of candidates. Let’s start then by honest accounts, we do not have players to forget about Paolo Guerrero next September and send André Carrillo home, figures who, although with their physical abilities deteriorated by the natural passage of time, barely one success is enough for them, just one , a product of chance or skill, to once again come into force as the great stars of our football.
Why does Fossati insist on Cueva? There is an evident rush to reestablish the best of Ricardo Gareca’s previous process. ‘Aladino’ was the cornerstone of a project that began to be built in 2015 and ended up being worn out at the beginning of 2022, one that today seems like the roadmap to find solutions to many of the problems of this Blanquirroja. The bet is a risk that Fossati seems determined to endure.
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What does a call for Cueva, a footballer who did not play in official matches eight months ago due to an injury, support? His performance at the national team level. Only because the Alianza Lima player until recently did not register the same consistency in -at least- the last six or seven clubs where he has played.
He is a national team player, yes.
The problem arises when we take into account that his last great performance with the Blanquirroja dates back to November 2021, in the historic victory at home to Venezuela. From then to today two and a half years have passed. What player is presumed to be so relevant after so long without being transcendent? Only Cave.
The dilemma reached its peak this last Tuesday against Canada, when in ten minutes, overwhelmed by the physicality and the evident lack of continuity, ‘Aladdin’ transcends more than whoever was starting. The risk then is not only Fossati’s bet, but lies in the forms: Was there no other way to try for an improvement than by appealing to a veteran? Wasn’t it time to test all that desire of someone who still doesn’t know what it feels like to play in a World Cup and must stay on the bench to see how the past continues to be squeezed?
Beyond the healthy and good praise for amateurism, let alone the exaltation of dedication and commitment, this team suffers from key pieces in the mechanism of the game. Only Carlos Zambrano has turned out to be a safe bet on the ‘old school’. Afterwards, we suffer from prominent profiles like the ones Gareca had in his prime: Yotún, Trauco, Cueva, Carrillo, Flores and Guerrero. that backbone no longer exists.
Facing Canada; Cueva, Carrillo and Guerrero played together for 11 minutes. The three had not met on the court since September 2021, in the 1-1 draw against Uruguay in the Qualifiers. In that game played on a Thursday, all three were starters. It’s been almost three years. Since then, La Blanquirroja has played 34 games without having all three players on the court at the same time. On at least 15 occasions, one of that trident added minutes.
That is, the background was not the basis for the bet, but the surnames.
Paolo Guerrero, 40, is the second alternative in attack after Gianluca Lapadula, 34. (Photo: AFP)
There are other cases too. ‘Ears’ today functions more as a supporting actor, but we still demand that he continue to be a protagonist. The same for Sergio Peña, a midfielder who in his prime was only a replacement piece and who today tries without managing to fill the gaps left. So, the first obstacle to starting a generational change is the absence of variants with projection position by position. Or that’s what it seems at first glance.
Opting for the entry of Bryan Reyna, without minutes due to an injury for 25 days, and then pairing him with Cueva, who has not played in a long time, in addition to surrounding himself with a Carrillo who is quite in decline, does not seem to be a question of empowerment to the team, but rather a drowning slap.
There was Grimaldo’s fire or Zanelatto’s desire. Not necessarily to try to win a game. More like minutes and confidence.
One last detail. In these Qualifiers, of ten teams, six have the option to qualify for the World Cup directly and another through the playoffs. That is, being left out is assuming an embarrassing failure. It may be that the latter is what imposes practical solutions over processes based on honesty about our limitations.
The decision, finally, is with Fossati. It is he who must assume the way in which this team is willing to lose: with the Sonne, the Grimaldo, the Quispe and the Zanelatto; or putting into debate the status of World Cup heroes like Guerrero, Carrillo and Cueva. Figures that, apparently, are no longer there to assume the reins of the immediate future.
