Andy Polo: The two faces of the promising Sub 20 of 2013 with successes and scandals distributed

A new and promising generation manifested itself in 2013 to illuminate the future of the peruvian national team. The talent overflowed without fear with the modern faces of the ‘Blanquirroja’. Everything seemed to indicate that one day that great capacity of the young protagonists of the U-20 team would later become sporting laurels in his career. But not all promises were fulfilled. Nine years have passed and two sides of the coin have been presented, with successes and scandals distributed. The last case is Andy Polowhich was added to the wrong side.

That under-20 squad is one of the few that will be remembered with vigor in Peru. The great performances, both individual and collective, allowed that national team to finish leaders in their group of the South American category, although later they could not maintain the best results in the final hexagonal.

The curse of not qualifying for the World Cup remained with them, despite the promising talent they enjoyed. However, there was high hope for what the youngsters on that team could become and do in the near and not-so-near future.

Beyond the stagnation of the career of some footballers due to various factors, such as the premature retirement of Iván Bulos (27 years old) tormented by constant injuriesthere are other cases that deserve to be discussed at this time, since a dividing line has been drawn between the positive and the negative of that selection.

The last player of this generation who has become news -and not because of sporting merit- is Andy Polo.

The situation is quite unfortunate. After what happened, the future of Polo is mere uncertainty, not only at the club level, but also with the Peruvian team. This reminds us that most of his teammates in the 2013 under-20s have also been involved in serious problems that tarnished their careers, but there are exceptions.

– The positive side –

It is true that there are footballers from that U-20 who did come to transcend positively. Even from that team, many were the base of the senior team on the difficult road to the 2018 World Cup in Russia and today they continue to belong to the ‘Blanquirroja’.

There is the case of Miguel Araujo, Renato Tapia, Wilder Cartagena, Edison Flores and Cristian Benaventewho were part of the qualifying process for the senior team heading to Russia 2018.

Meanwhile, players like Angelo Campos Y Raziel Garciawho based on good performances in the local tournament, earned the consideration of Ricardo Gareca for the current challenges of the Peruvian team.

Since August 2020, he has defended the colors of Celta de Vigo of LaLiga de España, where praise for his name has become customary.

The “Chaval” was confirmed as the brand new reinforcement of Alianza Lima and will try to take advantage of this opportunity to get closer to the Peruvian team.

– The negative side –

Now, there is also another player who was part of the base of Gareca’s World Cup team and who is still considered to this day: Yordy Reyna. However, a scandal tainted the career of the man who was the top scorer for the national under-20 in the 2013 South American.

The national striker reiterated many times that he was innocent and was finally acquitted by the Peruvian justice system, but the controversy has remained on in recent years.

There are also other cases of young promises who could not unleash their full potential due to indiscipline and scandals. In this list enter Jean Deza, Alexi Gomez and Hernan Hinostrozawho have accumulated quite a few controversies in their career.

The best known is Deza. With no solution in sight, who was once the Peruvian ‘jewel’ added quite a few disobediences in his teams. His talent never went hand in hand with his discipline.

Alexi Gomez He has also been in the news on several occasions for extra-sports issues. All these things definitively distanced him from the Peruvian national team.

With Hernan Hinostroza, the story has been the same. The ‘Churrito’ could never escape the media scandals. He has even been accused of assault on more than one occasion.

Nor should we forget Patrick Alvarez. The ‘Pato’ has not been considered by the national team in recent years and is currently the starting goalkeeper for Sport Boys.

Finally, it is necessary to mention the special case of Max Barrios. Who is actually called Juan Carlos Espinoza Mercado was considered a ‘promise’ emerged in the Juan Aurich quarry. However, he had neither the age nor the name nor the nationality that he claimed to have. And it is that the Ecuadorian player impersonated his identity to be able to participate in the South American 2013, but when the deception of him was proven, he was withdrawn from the competition. After that he spent some years playing soccer in the country and his last club was Liga de Loja.