“The only surprise that Cueva could give is to announce that, after almost 16 years of career, he finally wants to be a professional” | OPINION

When he has had to meet leaders with bulldog faces or coaches with rigorous discipline, a new door has opened, even as important or more important than the previous one. The last was that of Alianza Lima, which gave him the club so that he could change his recent history in the Libertadores. A serious injury frustrated his path with the blue and white, which did not prevent him from becoming the great fiasco of the previous season.

However, at a time when we thought that his future was closer to soccer tournaments for retired baseball players, an unexpected character came to his rescue: Mr. Jorge Fossati, who practically debuted with the national team’s diver, worrying about his health. “You are going to see him training here in La Videna,” he declared a few weeks ago, in an unexpected act of candor that is impossible to understand in a coach with so many battles fought. Cueva responded to the charrúa’s naivety in his own style: taking advantage of his invitation and traveling to Trujillo to play a game of pichanguita with his friends. Here you can see the video.

So that there would be no doubt that he acted in the fullness of his powers, the man born in Huamachuco was definitive when it came to his defenses: “I don’t owe anyone an explanation.”

What surprised was Fossati’s reply. Not only did he minimize what the footballer did, but he accused the press of acting with a sensationalist spirit in covering the news.

The first steps in a new position are revealing because they begin to set paths. Opening a front with the press to defend the professional sloppiness of a player who has acted throughout his career with a blackmailing spirit, because he knows that someone will always show him a smile, is worrying. Already wearing the cream sweatshirt, Don Jorge had shown certain unhappy reactions to uncomfortable questions, but it was difficult for him to imagine that he was going to replicate those attitudes so quickly in the selection.

One of the great friends that life and football has given Fossati is Sergio Markarián, one of the best coaches who has passed through the country. When 14 years ago he was named coach of the national team for the World Cup qualifiers in Brazil, no one discussed it. Don Sergio, unfortunately, soon made a big mistake: he behaved excessively complacent with certain players, particularly the so-called ‘fantastic’ ones, because he considered it better not to disturb them so that they could display all their skills on the field.

We all know how the ‘fantastics’ fared. And how we did in those qualifying rounds.

It would be catastrophic if Don Jorge became a 5G version of Don Sergio.

Except for Cuevita, of course.

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