Anderson Santamaría: the defender who fails but represents the applauded Peruvian football to go out playing Peruvian team Qatar Qualifiers 2022 | EC Stories | | SPORT-TOTAL

That’s how Chumpitaz played in Mexico 70. That’s how Meléndez came out to win the Copa del 75. That’s how I respect Reynoso and that’s how Mut Rodríguez started. The virtual, moral and television catch on Anderson Santamaría, The back of the selection of the decisive errors in this triple date -against Uruguay and against Brazil, basically- has made us forget the factory seal from which we draw so much chest: Peruvian football always had this elegant way of playing football. Not the only one, but the most romantic. To control. To step on. Some exaggerate and call it, horribly, chocolate (1) and there are others more prudent who hardly dare to say that this is, therefore, our way of presenting ourselves before the world. Let’s say, a factory seal.

So if Santamaría fails to play as he was always born, by nature, then some things need to be rethought.

(1) The SAR explained what the term “chocolate” means in Peruvian football and that was its conclusion.

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In the historic South American duel between aesthetics and effectiveness, between lyric and calculator, I am, without remorse, a billiard player. In football you play to win. The show is about winning. In the Qualifiers, winning is qualifying. Heading to Russia, except for the second half against Uruguay – which Peru turned 2-0 -, Ricardo Gareca’s selection was absolutely practical. Or very effective in front of the arc – I think in the match with Bolivia in Lima or Ecuador in Quito – or very solid back – the 0-0 in La Bombonera or the 1-1 with Colombia, the day of the famous shout , The touch -. There was, it remains in the memory, the feeling that Peru played better from the construction of game that began in Yotún, was supported with Flowers or flew with Cave. The growth was remarkable, yes, because we had stopped depending on the Fantastic 4 to go out on the court with a team. It was like that.

But it was not an endless symphony or much less, the 81st team. Peru was effective against the bow, scored the goals he needed and most importantly, defended better from a duo that was recited: Ramos-Rodriguez. How could this saga be defined? A tough and subtle one. A practical defense to clarify and a back that could even have been 10. This was Peru, that is, the Gareca Peru. This is no longer Peru, in September of 2021: two Santamaría / Callens type backing / dressing backs increase an unnecessary risk to the fund, which is also new. Not even Barza de Pep had two like that. They were Puyol -a hard- and Piqué -a subtle-. The most celebrated Peru in history was like this: Chumpi he had first a Chito De la Torre and then a Forner.

In these Qualifiers, after 9 dates and 8 points for seventh place, not knowing who will play in the saga against Chile in Lima is already, weakness.

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There is no certainty about what would have happened if Santamaría did not fail at the start before Matías Veí’s goal or if he threw the ball to Ipanema before Neymar took it out. Prudence can only boast: a spinning back, in the face of a dangerous situation, could opt for the honorable decision to give the ball a kick with his fingernails. He would have a little peace he and the heart in his place us. To say it from here is free, the footballer solves in a second what a reporter thinks in hours, but it is a criterion: if I see a train at full speed, my sense of survival will make me leave. If Neymar comes to take the ball away from me four meters from the bow – and my lane partner Advíncula has not only lost the ball but is walking again – the team asks for clarification. No race is stained by a punt.

The real one, the one that maintained its ownership in the national equipment against Uruguay, Venezuela and Brazil, is their 36 parties by the Mexican league, before the 22 of Zambrano or 19 of Abram, all counted in the last two years. Also its style: since it played in Leon de Huánuco, when it was 9 and it made 13 goals arriving from the back; and in his first big contract, when Juan Reynoso accompanied him in the steering wheel traffic to central defender, the only way he knows Anderson Santamaría, today at the bonfire, is this: play well. Or rather, so that no one is scared: play with the ball at your feet.

That’s why he played as a starter on this triple date. These conditions will keep him or take him out of the team. Is this what Peru needs? I suspect not. At the World Cup he was with Ramos and Rodríguez. And closer, Cup runner-up was with Zambrano and Abram. For Peru, it is not small. Gareca should not forget that.

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