Paolo and Jefferson: what you did not know about the celebration of the most dreamed goal since Spain 82

Clarification: This story was originally published on November 15, 2020, three years after Peru’s qualification for the World Cup in Russia.

Av. Grau 662, Barranco. I could take the 10E, the Chama. And there, when he got off the bus, one of the first to meet him was a dark-haired man with pliers legs who came from the Alfonso Ugarte school in Santa Anita. Was Jefferson Farfan, who in 1996 was 14 years old and was already one of the most talented young Alliance members in the Los Reyes Rojos educational program, with Constantino Carvallo at the Directing desk. This year, Paolo Guerrero she met him for the first time in a third grade classroom. They say —who knew them then— that the chemistry was instantaneous, remarkable, expensive. In the book Nine Stories of a Warrior (Grupo Epensa, 2018), reported by the journalist Elkin Sotelo, it is read: “When Guerrero was in a dangerous comfort zone in the youth of Alianza —the famous category 84 by Carlitos Fernández, Roberto Guizasola, Wilmer Aguirre—, a competitor with a great future came to him and that with time he would become one of his best friends: Jefferson Farfán ”.

Those were the years when La Foquita took care of Waldir Sánez’s car, perhaps he cleaned his windshield and the blue-and-white idol did not give him a single sun.

Since then, it was match and gasoline: Farfán took everyone in AFIM tournaments, Paolo scored goals. “We gave their catana to the ‘U’, to Cristal too, although he had his little outfit,” recalled in April 2020 the 10th of Ricardo Gareca’s selection, in a chat via Instagram with the Peruvian captain. They went on tour to Europe. The first hats, the first watches, the first slippers were bought. Together.

Until in the Bolivarianos de Cuenca 2001, the team of Chalaca Gonzales, reached the selection and did not separate more. Until today.

***

Early 2018. The emotional crisis of the Paolo Guerrero post-sanction selection was not lived in the Peruvian dressing room: there, Jefferson Farfán never stopped having contact with the Inter Porto Alegre striker, with whom he chatted on Instagram every day. We have all noticed the familiarity in their IG live: the 40 thousand followers who followed them hypnotized, actually. The hundreds who have been spent in stupid discussions about how long they will last. The fans who dream of seeing the two of them take an Olympic lap together on the Matute court.

On May 30, 2018, a day in Peru-Scotland, the farewell to Blanquirroja before leaving for Russia, Farfán and Paolo had a contact on this social network that went unnoticed. A wink for the future. Clues that would later confirm the good news that Guerrero was going to the World Cup, after obtaining the injunction from the Swiss Federal Court. Jefferson posted the night before the announcement:. Paolo’s face betrayed the cessation of insomnia. A few hours later, with Peru already installed in Europe, Paolo Guerrero joined the national team.

But it was the day of the repechage in Lima against New Zealand, that long night that began in Spain in 1982, that we learned what kind of wood friends are seriously made of.

“I spoke with my comparator the night before and then —remembers Farfán in an exclusive interview with Diego Rebagliati in January of last year—, I thought I had to score a goal. Paolo had left the fence high for me ”. On the 10th of Peru he knew that it was time for unanimous support, a coup of authority so that it is known, on the national network, that the Peruvian team was with Guerrero. Then he had the poles made with which the starting team went out to warm up. First the Mudo Rodríguez, then Cuevita, behind Andy Polo and Luis Advíncula. Everyone paraded in the new uniform. Then he spoke with one of the props, better known as Grinders, to be his partner in the operation: he had to have Paolo Guerrero’s shirt number 9 ready at the bank. If the forecast came true, he was going to show it to the camera, as if instead of a soccer jersey he was hoisting the national flag.

—Paolo has dreamed that I score a goal. Have it ready, he said.

What Peru-New Zealand generated in the National. Not only the expected fifth place in Russia, but also a recomposition of the affections of the national team’s fan. Finally, the grandfather who talked about the goals of Cubillas in Mexico 70, could get together with the son who did not forget Cueto in 81 and now with the grandson, who wanted the shirt of Edison Flores, his new idol. According to the figures of Kantar IBOPE Media, the match broadcast broke all records: 61.4% rating. 4,086,270 people saw it. When it is noble and generates emotions, when it wins and educates about healthy competition, soccer unites like no other activity in Peru. Neither the food, nor the pisco, nor the processions.

There is an image of the Movistar Deportes transmission in which the prop goes off shot, as soon as Cueva gives him that pass from contempt Jefferson Farfán and he shoots. Two hours before, the TV reporter Pedro Eloy García told Daniel Peredo one of those phrases that are not thought, they only say: “Today you enter history. Your voice will be recorded in the archives ”. While Peredo – the voice of Peru in this Round – shouts the goal of Jefferson Agustín Farfán Guadalupe, no one notices another character who also calls Jefferson in desperation. Who also yells at him, like so many others who yell at him. Tito Benrós He polished Maradona’s Puma boots before 8 in the morning before the goals against the English in 1986. Warm He was the man / friend of Ñol Solano the day he scored an anthology goal against Uruguay in the Centennial, from a free kick. Little shoe It was Gareca’s skinny cabal in the days of the Apertura with the ‘U’ 20218: they always had to play soccer tennis before matches. If it weren’t for the prop Hermes Mono Zolezzi, Puma Carranza would never have been an idol. Not even a footballer, probably.

This time, Grinders he is the supporting actor who will go down in history. He tosses the shirt at him, the camera zooms in on the number — it’s 9 — he returns to his place, and that’s it. Mission accomplished. Thanks to that goal, to that celebration, my son knows what it is to win.

***

—Do you remember that we played that game with Peñarol, our debut together? You remember?

—In the National, right?

-There were those big defenses of Peñarol …

—Abusive pe …

—What abuse, asshole.

—We were sixteen there.

When the last and revealing streaming on Instagram between Paolo and Jefferson ends, a few months ago, it becomes increasingly clear. Few friends. The rest, the jungle.