“Today we are far from competing”: the present and the challenges for Gustavo Roverano’s Sub 20 with a view to the Pan American Games and the World Cup

The It was Ricardo Gareca erased the traumas generated by 36 years of football anemia. The Sub 17 still lives sheltered by the aura of the always beloved and ephemeral ‘Jotitas’. However, the Sub 20 has only accumulated frustrations in the same proportion of participations. That debt of being able to go to a World Cup in that “cursed category” has passed through all the technicians who decided to put on the diver and now it is in the hands of Gustavo Roverano.

It will be six months since his arrival at the white and red bank. And the balance in terms of results is not good at all: a draw (against Uruguay) and three defeats (one against the Charrúas and two against Argentina) in the first international tour after the reactivation of football. “Today we are far from being able to compete”Roverano told us in an exclusive interview. The six-word phrase hits as hard as the loss to Australia.

he adds while preparing everything for the fifth microcycle ahead of the friendly against Chile (July 11 and 14) with preparation for the South American Sub 20 that will be played -in theory- at the beginning of next year in Colombia that grants quotas for the Pan American and the World Cup in the category, both to be held in 2023. “The friendlies against Chile will help us draw conclusions so that, when the year progresses, there will come a time when we have a solid group with which we will work for the South American”.

While Venezuela (finalist), Colombia (fourth place) and Argentina (5th) played the Toulon Hopes Tournament; Y Uruguay, Brazil, Ecuador Y Paraguay they played a home run in the country of samba; Peru He closed his international tour and agreed to two friendly matches against the Chilean team, another two against Uruguay (there is no date) and his participation in a home run in Mexico.

These days the work in the Peruvian Football Federation is hard. Not only by Roverano’s coaching staff, but also from the recruitment area of ​​new ‘Lapadulas’, as in the case of the scorer sebastien pineauwho has also been called up to the Chilean national team, or that of Guadeloupethe 18-year-old center-back who was invited to be part of the United States Sub 20, one of the teams that is working best in minors.

Peru has been the last country in South America to reactivate soccer for minors, and restarted the Reserve Tournament – that last step of the youth to reach the First Division – after more than two years. Against the clock, Roverano goes to the most reserve matches. In addition, the clubs are obliged to record and send their team’s meeting to the FPF with the intention that the coach can see as many young people as possible.

The bag of minutes, an interested help?

There have been four microcycles of the Sub 20 so far. The next one will start on July 7. And in this time, Of them, Marlon Perea, Gilmar Paredes, Leonardo Díaz and Flavio Alcedo -all from Sporting Cristal- have been the ones who were called up four times. However, none have had minutes in League 1 so far this year.

They, in theory, add to the bag of minutes, a rule that in principle seeks to give exposure and competition to the youth, to the future of the senior team. However, the particularity of this rule currently is that a club can add 180 minutes in the case of two or more players to the Under 20 team. That said, the terrifying fact is that the three greats of Peruvian football have complied with the regulations without the need to give minutes to their homegrown players.

Lima Alliancefor example, used a Sub 20 -Sebastián Cavero- just 12 minutes in 17 dates. Crystal He has played 1477 minutes, but only one player (Grimaldo, 350′) has contributed on the pitch. In academicOf the 821′, Jorge Tandazo (8′) and Guillermo Larios (155′) are the only ones who added.

“The bases of the bag of minutes are based on the fact that the clubs have minors, that they work and invest in training. It is like rewarding the work of the institutions with their quarries because they will give visibility to the youth who is well prepared to stand out and be sold. But in Peru there is no training for minors, there is no development, there is no established program. In the absence of the latter, the bag is ridiculous”analyzed Daniel Ahmed for a report in this newspaper.

“That is so that the clubs agree to loan players to the Sub 20 because the microcycles are not always on the FIFA date. So we have to be talking to the clubs so that they can lend us their players”commented Gustavo Roverano, who also stressed that, beyond the fact that the youth do not have minutes in the First Division, he can have them close in the microcycles.

It is difficult to predict the future, but the present, as a consequence of a past that did not work well, does not look good at all. It is up to Gustavo Roverano and his coaching staff to pay off that debt that has not been paid up to now.