Four girls from the provinces and four born outside our borders, the Sub 20, the team that seeks change in women’s football

And as Brazilian coach Jaqueline Ucella, Emily Lima’s assistant in the adult team, said, this team “has courage” because it plays soccer not only to hit the ball, but to generate the growth of discipline as part of the empowerment of the women. This is how the technical command approaches it. “We work thinking about respect, evolving women’s football and empowering women,” says the strategist.

And with that philosophy they traveled to Guayaquil after three microcycles in the year, two of them in Videnita de Chincha. With a base team that left last year’s Under 19 Evolution Tournament – ​​sixth place – and the addition of girls born abroad, the Bicolor traveled trusting in the process.

Of the 22 called, four come from outside our borders, while four girls were born in the provinces, according to Denise Vera, from the “Women’s Soccer for All” portal.

And precisely, against Ecuador the goals were scored by Birka Ruiz, from Trujillo by birth, and Linda Espinoza, a native of Iquitos. “Lucerito Human and Elsa Tapullima also come from the jungle,” says Denise.

From abroad, Peru already had players like goalkeeper Lucía Arcos (Spain), Taylor Vogt (United States) and Mía León (United States), and this year Samantha Villavicencia, also from the North American country, joined. While Emily Arévalo, born in Peru, currently plays for Bristol City in England.

-To play-

Peru has four points in its first two games, as a result of its draw against Argentina and its victory against Ecuador. “It is a defensive team,” summarizes César López, administrator of the portal Futbolistas Peruanas en el Extranjero, and highlights goalkeeper Lucía Arcos. “She is the figure of the team. She trained in Espanyol,” she tells us.

The specialist has seen all of Peru’s games and highlights what players like Shashenka Porras do: “She is very good, you can see that she has the experience of being in the adult team,” and he hopes to see Vogt, “a center back to the must to see”. She is 19 years old, is 1.72 m tall and plays for Florida Atlantic in England.

There is a fairly big change in the selection since teacher Emily Lima began to have the entire process and was able to work with a structured plan in all categories. The issue of the Women’s League has a lot to do with it, having girls from the age of 17 means they have better development. This selection is quite exciting since we haven’t seen anything like this since 2006, when Peru finished fourth. If the girls get well we can dream of reaching the World Cup and that would be a big step for national women’s soccer.

Denise Vera Women’s football for everyone

Peru faces Paraguay (4 pm, via DSports), in a duel with similar approaches. “One is going to have to propose,” César warns. The Guaraníes come from beating Uruguay and Ecuador. La Bicolor needs to add, since they then face Uruguay and rest on the last date. It should be remembered that only three of the five teams advance to the hexagonal, something that Peru has not achieved since 2006, the only time.

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