“He is an athlete, he does not appear on showbiz programs and he learns Spanish surprisingly quickly”: Why is it wrong to love Oliver Sonne?

Maybe some don’t understand it, maybe others are outraged, but there are several ways to explain the “Sonnemania”. It is true that we are facing a phenomenon never before seen in the two-color team. It was difficult for Lapadula to gain acceptance with goals and with enthusiastic beer cumbia steps. Sonne has only been dressed in red and white for half an hour and is already receiving the ovations of an established idol.

The Peruvian fan applauds not only the showy play, but also has a weakness for dedication, for leaving his shirt flooded with sweat. That’s why Corzo is loved by all the fans, that’s why ‘Chorri’, despite his umpteenth support, continues to be recognized as the Peruvian soccer player who deserved a World Cup.

Let’s say this clearly without anyone getting upset: Sonne was the first to announce his desire to play for the national team. Just after his flirtations on social networks, Juan Máximo Reynoso crossed the pond to talk to him. What took the longest was his Peruvian grandmother’s passport, but everything was a quick and doubt-free process. With Lapadula it was not the same, the undisputed ‘9’ of this team at first did not want to come. Point for Sonne.

The ‘Viking of the Andes’, furthermore, exhibits the complete opposite of the average Peruvian baseball player: he is an athlete, does not appear on showbiz programs and learns Spanish surprisingly quickly. “Of course, pe causa,” Sonne pronounces and the respectable audience collapses. Each cultural nod from the Peruvian-Danish produces seismic effects in the red and white hearts.

Against Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, Sonne showed that he is a professional soccer player and that he has the physical conditions for high competition. Is this enough for him to continue being summoned? In no way is it too hasty to say that. Nor are we facing an elite gifted person. If Sonne were a top-level full-back, he would be selected by Denmark and, at the very least, he would already have a contract with an English club like Brentford, which has shown a special weakness for Nordic footballers. What is also true is that Oliver comes from a higher level league. Since 1986, Denmark has managed to position itself as a top ten team in Europe many times and its local championship is growing. The last monarch of this country, FC Copenhagen, managed to qualify for the round of 16 of the Champions League, leaving out two historic teams such as Manchester United and Galatasaray.

In Gianluca Lapadula’s first week of training with the national team, Juan Carlos Oblitas’ response about his performance announced everything we have seen in these four years. “From the beginning it made a difference“, the director of FPF selections told us. Has Sonne stood out so eloquently? The answer is negative in Reynoso’s time and is still a doubt in the Fossati era. Only ‘Nonno’ knows if what was shown in Videna will be enough for the Nordic to take another Copenhagen-Lima flight.

Infected by the salsa nostalgia of the nineties, I ask myself: What’s wrong with loving? What’s wrong with feeling? Being charismatic is not Sonne’s fault. Nor is it the responsibility of the side that two coaches of the Peruvian team decide to call him. He may be more or less talented, but Oliver is not a liar. He is a starter in the first division of Denmark, is valued at more than one million euros and at 23 years old allows us to expand a very precarious universe of recruits.

If Fossati decides that Sonne, despite being a full-back who adapts to two fronts, does not fit into his 3-5-2, he will have to be respected. But Oliver, I’m sure of that, already feels like he’s won. He has a country that loves him, social networks that explode and even contracts with brands to bill with so much affection earned.

How must Sonne feel? Her Nordic character, that temperance that she disguises with her shy smile, hide the amazement and the feeling that she is experiencing what seemed impossible. Oliver Sonne was born in Koege, Denmark, a small, colorful city with less than 40 thousand inhabitants. Fewer people live there than all those who chanted his name at the Monumental de Ate. He probably won’t play in June’s continental tournament, but Oliver must feel like he’s daydreaming. He already won. He is already a ‘Viking’ conquering America.