“Together at war”: the secret of this Sub 20, which lost 1-0 with Colombia but still dreams of qualifying for the World Cup | CHRONICLE

They, the soccer girls, operate from a harangue mantra phrase that was told by the captain, Mía León, in an unpublished video that, from today, will go viral.

-I advise everyone that dreams do come true. And as we say, Together until the end! Together to the war!

It’s midnight. Peru lost 1-0 to Colombia after a penalty handball by Sashenka Porras that the Bolivian judge did not see but the VAR did and, despite the defeat, leaves this immense conclusion: this team of young ladies who have barely finished school, more than studying the History of Peru they want to rewrite it.

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She plays 4-1-4-1, exudes sacrifice and has a crack on her line: Lucía Arcos in goal, who saves with the serenity of a president’s bodyguard, Melanie Frida Mondaca, who carries the heavy red and white number 10 that was one of so many monsters and there it goes, up to the task, and Birka Ruiz, our wing, our hallmark to the world. This Tuesday night she didn’t have a good game but how she ran, how tactically disciplined she was.

No defeat is celebrated but this is not a stab. That is Peru and this is how they will fight to qualify for the World Cup in August in Colombia, where four of six teams will go.

Is it possible, after this first defeat? Definitely. Are you in a position to add at least 4 points and dream of a historic World Cup berth? Definitely. In this category, the door between amateur and professional, talent begins to be balanced by athletic status and the Peruvian team is a mix of both. What he may not have in size – average 1.69m, according to data from Conmebol – is matched by this generous display of the eleven starters, who after what we saw tonight, could run three days in a row. The task remains to be completed in the opposite arc and there goes the debt. But the hustle and bustle is there and that is the great argument of this Peruvian team.

Running, we call it in football. Defend, we should call him. Because what these girls are doing is that, defending us. Or as Mía León, the 5th, the captain, the heart says: Together, to any war.