“No to the clean slate”: Gareca showed that necessary changes can be made, but not general or dramatic ones

The lessons to be learned from the Doha disaster are not obvious. We can focus on the disaster and wallow in the pain of the missed goal. It’s human, understandable. The level of expectation generated by the selection is proportional to the disappointment of the defeat against Australia. But in football, sadness is a bad counselor, even though failure is an excellent teacher. Here are some learnings:

1. Processes work

The 7 years in which Ricardo Gareca has had the national team in charge have been, from every point of view, successful: Peru competed. It is not time to list the achievements, widely known, but in every tournament that he had to face, those led by the Argentine played a decent or relevant role, for many, even above his possibilities. In a country where the medium and long term are seen as luxuries or fictions, here is irrefutable proof of how well serious processes perform when they are respected.

2. Non-traumatic replacements can be done

In Peru, generational transitions have always been difficult (think of the post-1985 debacle): an outstanding generation was followed by decades of trial and error. This group has shown that it is possible to change the two center backs (Rodríguez and Ramos for Callens and Zambrano), as well as the team’s all-time top scorer (Guerrero for Lapadula) without making a dent. There is enormous merit in the way the team has been able to have these evolutions in sensitive positions in a smooth or natural way. Doing it in the future, especially from the midfield forward, will be the main challenge between now and 2026.

3. No to the clean slate

Gareca showed that necessary changes can be made, but not general or dramatic ones. Although it is plausible how he stopped depending on some so-called “fantastics” (Pizarro, Vargas), he built his project with two of them (Guerrero and Farfán). In the same way, several of Markarián’s findings were able to consolidate under his command: Advíncula, Zambrano, Ramos, Yotún, Carrillo, Cueva or Callens, to name a few, did not debut with the ‘Tigre’, but performed above their level under his management. The key has been a pragmatic approach, not Adamic, that he made a team from what was left to him, while incorporating his own bets such as Peña or Lapadula.

4. There is a future

Gallese easily has one or two more Heats left, as well as Callens, Abram and Lopez. The same thing happens in midfield: Tapia, Flores, Aquino, Cartagena and Peña have just reached football maturity. Lapadula, more veteran, should perform an additional cycle without problems. This does not imply that those mentioned have bought the position, but it does mean that there is a structure that Gareca -in the unlikely scenario that he renews- or his successor may inherit. It is essential, yes, to affirm the newcomers, such as Jairo Concha, and recover those who for different reasons were outside the process, such as Ruidíaz.

5. Let us distrust messianism

Ricardo Gareca has done an extraordinary job in these 7 years, but we would be wrong to honor his leadership by turning it into a magical-religious affair. The Peruvian team is not born and ends with him, if need be said, nor should we turn his dedication into something as insubstantial as a miracle. The lesson is precisely the opposite: what pays off is work, not arcane formulas, suddenness, or flourishes.