“Professor Juan, may I ask you to please bring joy back to our team” | OPINION

It is true that we “opinologists” know much less about football than Juan Reynoso, whom the CV supports, but it is also true that the Peruvian team cannot play worse; Be careful, I’m not talking about playing “ugly” as a counterpart to playing “pretty”, but rather about playing badly, because to play well you have to do two things correctly: Defend and attack (add transitions if you want).

When leading a project, assuming responsibility is healthy, as long as it entails a purpose for amendment.

In the previous process, beyond an agonizing World Cup classification after 36 years, It was possible to solve an endemic problem in our team: The defensive system; but not only that, we also made the counterattack our greatest tactical strength.

Now, it is difficult for me to analyze the beginning of the era Reynosobecause I understand that I must give my opinion in the most realistic way possible (objective does not exist) and, clearly, I have no arguments to justify what Peru has been demonstrating in these qualifiers.

As if that were not enough, I hear some mention the field as an explanation for not having been able to develop part of the plan against Chile. It is inevitable to remember what the fields were like in the 70’s and 80’s, when Peru qualified for two consecutive World Cups.

I welcome the fact that players are no longer called due to their “measurements” because the technical command considers that they do not have the level to be part of the list; This speaks of the rigor and professionalism with which we have been working. Technology applied to sports they call it. Therefore, in order not to consider that any of the “young people” such as Grimaldo, Quispe, Concha, DÁrrigo, Zanellato, Roca, Succar, etc. They could have been an alternative in Santiago and, as if that were not enough, they had not scored a single shot into the rival goal in 270 minutes. Isn’t Chile a direct rival for Peru in these qualifiers?

How much do we not understand about what the national team is currently trying to do? Is there unanimity in the decisions made within the technical command? Do the analysts who are part of Juan Reynoso’s working group propose the above? What has been the usefulness of the anti-spy fence? There are many doubts, little certainty.

It is disconcerting that more than one national player, including the recently called-up Sonne, states that ¨Peru played well and they only needed to attack¨. On the same date, Venezuela tied with Brazil for the second time in its history (on this visit opportunity), showing that it will also be a direct rival of Peru. By the way, the llaneros chose to wait in a medium/low block and retreat as quickly as possible when the locals attacked, but at no time did Venezuela renounce the attack. The statistics and the result prove it. I forgot to mention that Bolivia has shot on goal 8 times so far in the qualifiers.

Defending and giving up attack is not playing well nor should it be from any point of view a way in which the Peruvian team plays/presents a match. The rethinking is necessary and urgent. Of course, now we have to play at home against the world champion, Argentinaand this offers a very complicated scenario, given the circumstances.

I believe that Peru’s technical command has been making costly mistakes, points that will be very difficult to recover on other dates, but not only because of the result but also because of the absence of a game idea.

It is the first designation of Juan Reynoso as a national coach and we understand that he is gaining experience, but the learning times and, above all, the margin of error in a selection are different from those of a Club. Credit is little.

It is true, Reynoso has to deal with the absence of some references such as Cave and, to a lesser extent, Flowers, in addition to a significant number of injuries. This is a fact, but in a context like ours we must give young people the responsibility that they ask to assume, because they, sooner or later, will be the ones who end up wearing the national shirt. This is called renewal and it is imminent.

Finally, I must be honest and say that this technical command is facing a very difficult transition period, especially due to what has been achieved by Ricardo Gareca, although it was really he who did not take care of renewing the squad. It is a great challenge that I hope they know how to overcome with wisdom but, above all, understanding that no ego should take the reins of this group.

Sometimes we gave away first times but we usually reacted.

We need to once again respect the specificity of each player’s position (except for a specific emergency), let’s stop proposing tactical exercises/tests that end up affecting collective functioning or the result of a match, let’s attack (regardless of the moment and form), let’s include now (gradually) to the youngest in the starting eleven – as long as they are better than the starters – and let’s build our first line with those who are better and not with those who “we like” the most.

to his fans, that you rescue that spirit that lives in our players and that you remember that the greatest quality of a coach is group management.

They say teams play like their coaches; I sincerely wish, Juan, that Peru plays like you used to do.