Valerie Gherson and Birka Ruiz: two giants of the U and Alianza who have put the women’s Sub 20 in the eyes of America

Thanks to Lucía Arcos, safe goalkeeper. Thanks to Sashenka Porras, the jewel. Thanks to Emily Arévalo, the immense back. Thanks to Mía León, lioness in the middle. Thanks to all of them, the streets of Lima and the country will now have something nobler than hysterical drivers, some trees and that unique, autumn fog. From now on, our street geography will include thousands of girls with shorts, boots and a bouncing ball, on their way to training.

That is truly making history.

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VALERIE.

As fanatic as the boys who hang the flags on the fence, as professional as her professor mother taught her at home, Valerie Gherson was about to turn 18 when she had to make a decision that was going to change her life: accept a scholarship in United States, play for Louisiana Tech Soccer and most importantly, leave the U, her friends, her affections and the dream that had been growing while training at Campo Mar: to become champion with the team of which she is a fan. “You don’t know how I cried the day he left,” explains Carlos Felipe Barrientos, head of marketing for the cream club, now that Valerie, the midfielder with the most goals in this Under 20 team, declares to the DirecTV camera. Peru has won 2-1, is classified for the final Hexagonal of the women’s South American that gives four places to the World Cup, and Gherson, the girl who will turn 19 four days after next Christmas, declares with absolute simplicity despite the historical magnitude of what that she and her companions just did.

Right here, in a country like Peru where everything costs twice as much for women, it turns them into noble material.

“I’m happy for scoring the goal,” she says, supportively, “but happier for the team, for my teammates.” If a politician said it, she would triple any approval.

That day when she left the student club, and consequently the national team was further away from her, Valerie Gherson cried innocently, as if the world was ending that farewell afternoon, and she promised to return to play in the Centennial of the U and return to selection. And look what a return: great goal for Argentina, anthology, from 30 meters; blow to Uruguay, the kings/queens – the inventors – of the aerial game. The big door today, in these days when they – and we with them – dream of the World Cup, is becoming too small. The tears are sweet now.

***

BIRKA.

The phrase is not from now, he said it a week ago, after beating Ecuador, but today it has just reached the dimension of a famous phrase: “We are not the worst team in the championship and here we are going to prove it.”

Her name is Birka Ruiz, she plays with number 7 and goes on the right wing, like the wing before, like so many gentlemen who played in that same position and defended the same shirt as her: the blue and white of Alianza Lima. Beyond tastes, t-shirts, heat maps, she is the best soccer player that Peru presents in this South American tournament. She has that slow step, with the ball close, that can deceive the opponent. Or that’s what she’s good for. And she has a kick on goal, which is what she quotes today: an attacker – let’s not call him a winger, or a winger, anything like that – costs in soles if he hints but is valued in dollars if he concretes. Birka already scored two. This Tuesday, when Peru was 1-0 at 70 minutes, but Uruguay and its giants raised the field with their biceps and tilted the field towards the Lucía Arcos porch – what security, coldness, category, wonderful -, Birka Ruiz received a pass hat near the big area, he ran with the intensity of his 18 years, with the fire that you never have at any age other than that, and scored 2-0 that put things in place. The blessed poetic justice. The silent Peruvian team, the Under 20 girls in whom only their parents and friends believe before getting on the plane to any competition, had victory ready. We suffered Cola’s discount and the final seconds were not narrated, they were prayed. And it was 2-1. David defeated Goliath.

Today Birka has 2,440 followers on Instagram. Her goal against Ecuador put her in the eyes of America. This one to Uruguay was pure dynamite. In Trujillo everyone will now say that they accompanied you to school, that they saw you cross the Plaza de Armas, that they went with you to spend the summer in Huanchaco. Soon those two thousand will be two million. And if the World Cup is possible, many more.