One point and seventh place: five lessons to face what is coming, Chile and Argentina in October

One point, seventh place for the Peruvian team in the Qualifiers. The good? The defensive treatment: we lost the two starting center backs -Callens and Zambrano- and it was not felt. The surprise? The 180 minutes played by Paolo and the freshness of Grimaldo, today ready to compete for the position. The worrying thing? The goal. We don’t kick the goal. And if there is anyone who knows how important goals are in a Qualifier, it is Juan Reynoso. The captain of France 98 – the World Cup we didn’t go to due to goal difference – has an enormous task to solve.

The idea: we defend better

Those who remember the U from 2009 agree on how difficult it was to score a goal. And those who, younger, respected their champion Melgar, know that between Kontogiannis, Villamarín or Galliquio – and above Rainer – his strength was sustained. With the national team, his greatest responsibility, it could not be different: against Paraguay in the second half and against Brazil in 89 minutes, Peru showed the new characteristics of the era. An attentive defensive line, without taking too many risks, coordinated as if they slept together. Two full-backs – especially against Brazil – who were, rather, two backs. And a midfield dedicated to raking brains like Casemiro or Neymar. That is why, for example, Cartagena was the starter. That is why there is so much hate against Ruidíaz: beyond whether he should have been at the near post or whether it was irresponsible to score in the zone in stoppage time, the criticism has to do with the unconcerned trot with which he entered, when the team, this team If he has a hallmark, it will be to defend each ball as if it were the last.

Gallese: the king of the Ones

With 99 matches in the national team and 33 years old, Gallese is largely responsible for this 0-0 against Paraguay. And also ‘only’ having lost 1-0 with Brazil. It happens that, as the minutes of two decisive games like these pass – the Qualifiers are going to be played point by point -, the goals become smaller for the forwards and the goalkeepers, Gulliver. Gallese was that giant for 180 minutes and was the face of an area – the defense – that is Reynoso’s copyright. “This is very long and we are going to fight,” he said after the defeat. A mantra. Tapia can leave his zone in the middle, Carrillo can go to the bench or Cueva cannot even be called up, but Gallese, Peru’s number one, can never be missing.

The Tapia factor

“I am a leader,” he says in the painful conference after 1-0 against Brazil and no journalist deflates or grimaces. And no one – myself included – makes a gesture because what Renato Tapia (28 years old, 74 games for the national team) says is all true. That shows in the bad times, because in the good times everyone uploads stories to IG. The leader is seen when the injured list is long and in the face of a defensive emergency, he recovers the chip and remembers that he was a back in EGB and Ahmed’s Under 23, and says I’m going. The leader is noticeable when, even without the tape, he is the first to harangue before the games start. And the leader is applauded when he plays for others. There is one month left to know if Tapia’s ideal position in this team is as a center back very close to Gallese. I would think not, if Zambrano and Callens return. But if it comes to leadership, representativeness, the Peruvian Celta is the most universal that we have today.

The immense debt: the goal

There is no possible summary that shows a Peru shot into the Brazilian goal, simply because we never kick. There are reasons: Paolo is no longer the miura who took everyone ahead and finished off. Our wingers – Carrillo or Polo, López on Tuesday night – were more concerned with defending. And also because of all the absences for this double date, there are two who scored 16 goals for their clubs: Edison Flores (7) and Christian Cueva (9), Peru’s two current top scorers in the Qualifiers. If we add to that the loss of Lapadula (13 games, 3 goals), Peru faced its debut in the process towards the World Cup without its three most dangerous weapons. The offensive proposal, by far, is the big issue to resolve for the team.

Welcome, Grimaldo

Paolo hugged him. Gallese said something to him and when he stepped onto the field, Yotún approached him. Joao Grimaldo, the great jewel of League 1, played his first 45 minutes with the adult team and represented, in that freshness to face Renato Lodi, in that predisposition to show himself in front of players who surpass him in experience and millions of dollars, the closest to the replacement expected in this selection cycle. Can he be a starter? Definitely. There is no sidereal distance with Polo. Like today, facing each other, Bryan Reyna can compete for the position with Carrillo. The balance here is absolutely favorable: Reynoso tested Grimaldo in a hot match and he did not disappoint.

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