Christian Cueva: the important change in his training that was reflected in his goal against Chile

Seconds before the Chilean defender Mauricio Isla pushed him after a dispute with the ball. He fought it. He wanted to take it out of the game. But Christian Cueva I was only thinking about the game, concentrated one hundred percent and more, how the Peru vs Chile. On the next play, the ’10’ appeared in the area, as ‘9’, to put the first in the momentary victory against the Chilean team by Qualifying Qatar 2022.

“He was very bad emotionally, depressed, he wasn’t having a good time at all”. The first time that José Neyra came to the rescue of Christian Cueva was at the end of 2020. In those days the steering wheel had hit the bottom of an abyss into which it began to fall since the 2018 World Cup in Russia. out of 30 million Peruvians with his demonic dribble left through the back door of a club for the third time in less than two years. In the middle of the darkness, he contacted José, a sports coach who not only prepares great footballers, he also recovers them. And that he did with Cueva.

“From day one we spoke things very clearly. I was not going for a walk, I was not going to post photos and say that I trained Christian Cueva. It was an opportunity to show my work. ”, he told us a few months ago. “People who have gone through difficult things in life have something to convey. I did that. I motivated him according to my experiences, I convinced him that he still had the ability to continue enjoying football. We work a lot on the spiritual part, an extremely important side. When we put God first, anything is possible “he added.

With José behind him, like an older brother, Christian he signed for Al Fateh, his current club, and regained his smile. He came to the Peruvian team to contest the Playoffs and the America’s Cup 2021, and despite the fact that in the middle he was involved in another extra-sports scandal, he was one of the best of the Bicolor in Brazil. With André Carrillo and Gianluca Lapadula they commanded an attack that made us celebrate fourth place.

The results on the triple date of the Qualifiers in September were not as expected for Peru. From three games – two at home – he got four points, when the ideal was six, taking into account that one of those games was against Brazil at home. Cave gave us our first victory in the tournament with a goal against Venezuela and also took out the poisonous center in the tie against Uruguay that ended in a goal of Renato Tapia.

Aware of what we are at stake in this triple match in October (against Chile in Lima, against Bolivia in La Paz and against Argentina in Buenos Aires), he picked up the phone and called the person who knows his human side best. “In those days that we lived together, I told him: ‘God expects a little more from us.’ That phrase was marked to him. That closeness he had with God helped him a lot. If you check, his social networks are always related to the spiritual side, to his family “José recalled.

The coach traveled to Arabia in mid-September and since then he has been training double-time with ‘Aladino’. Away from his family, his academy, his country, Neyra is also making a homeland: strengthening one of those who has the magic in his feet to take us to another World Cup.

“”, the coach posted on his Facebook, who has been detailing how Cueva strives every day under extreme conditions to get to the qualifying games in the best way possible. “”, the attacker is heard saying in another video posted by José.

The Cave we need

The other side of the world, Christian Cueva is happy. At 29 years old, fully focused on football, he is a figure in Al Fateh. He is loved and more than pays for the appreciation. This Saturday he started in the fall against Al Hazm and added his fifth game since the stoppage for the Playoffs.

With 414 minutes played – he can add more next Thursday against Al Ettifaq – ‘Aladino’ is one of the 30 called by Gareca who will arrive with more rhythm to the matches for the World Cup qualifiers. The national team needs it more than ever: five points from the qualifying zone, everyone’s team is pressing for victories to stay close to Qatar’s dream.

Probably without André Carrillo in the first two games due to injury, Christian Cueva It must be the driver of the Blanquirroja. He was before, but today more than ever his mischievous dribbling is needed – misnamed by some as chocolate – his passes and his understanding with the scorer Gianluca Lapadula.