Arianna Sousa: the 10-year-old crack, viral on Twitter, that Alianza recruited and dreams of taking Peru to a World Cup

“Dad, I want to play, I want to go in.”

It is July 28, 2019 and the patriotic act of the Sousa Guzmán family was to put on the shirt of the peruvian team and go cheer on the women’s team in their historic debut in the Pan American. The cold from Lima penetrates the bones and it feels as if Lima were the center of Antarctica, but that to them, and to the 8,615 other fans who came to the San Marcos Stadium, do not care. Much less to the little eight-year-old Arianna, who does not hesitate to express her wishes to her father Piero to take the field and help the cast of Doriva Bueno to reverse the 3-0 against Argentina. The defeat does not take away the joy that is experienced in the stands, nor does Arianna’s dream of one day defend the white-and-red on a soccer field. On the contrary, it reinforces it.

Two years have passed, Arianna is ten and a few weeks ago she received the Christmas gift that she may never have asked for, but that she always longed for. The footballer Marisella Joya published a video of her cutting off on her Twitter account. “She has been an archer since she was a little girl. Hopefully her parents continue to support her, she is a great future for Peru “, was the text that accompanied the clip. And in a matter of minutes it went viral. Today he has 1,163 retweets, 264 quoted tweets, 7,146 likes, and hundreds of comments praising his prowess under all three suits.

“On the Costa Verde there was a 7-a-side football championship for women. I went to see a friend. While there I realized that there was a tournament for minors and as always happens to me, when you see a girl playing with children it catches your attention. There was even a team where there were two girls. Suddenly I see Arianna covering. My first impression was of good, they have put it to cover because it does not play much. But I see well a save that he made, that was launched and there it caught my attention. I started watching and decided to record it ”, Joya tells us about how the video was created that has catapulted Arianna into a kind of showcase that shows her innate talent. Life, sometimes, is a series of coincidences that have a purpose.

“”adds little Marisa. “It came out to me. She is empowered, strong of character. She does not like to lose and in the position they put her, she gives the last. In one day he played two championships. With the sun that was there, he got blisters and I told him not to play anymore, he replied that he would do it anyway “, says Ana María Guzmán, Arianna’s mother.

One Sunday before it became – without knowing it – a trend on Twitter, the oldest of the Sousa Guzmán was not going to play. And if that happened, maybe right now they wouldn’t be writing these lines. He went to see his eight-year-old brother Máximo César, but his team was not complete. So the teacher, who also knows her, asked her to stand under the three sticks. “It was the sensation, even though they lost”says Don Piero proudly, an engineer by profession and one of Arianna’s first trainers. The following week she was the owner of the bow and it was prepared. There his path crossed that of Marisella Joya.

“It was a boom,” says Piero Sousa. After the video it has become quite popular. They have come to visit soccer players, they have given her gifts from various brands and high-performance centers have given her a scholarship “, he tells us. Joya herself and Adriana Dávila from César Vallejo, Silvana Alfaro from Racing Club de Argentina and Maryory Sánchez from Alianza Lima have gone to see her. In fact, the Aliancista goalkeeper already had a couple of trainings with the little girl in a high-performance center.

“”, says Alfaro, the Peruvian goalkeeper who has a contract in Racing until 2023 and hopes to go to European football. His presence abroad, his outstanding performance in other football, is also an important step for the sport in Peru.

Innate talent, a collateral benefit

Arianna He was born in Magdalena, but the streets of San Borja were his best soccer field. A round object, be it a leather ball or even a ball made by hand with pieces of paper, was his best toy. “She has always liked football and from a very young age we saw many qualities in her. When we played passes, she gave it to the foot, not to the side. And he was three years old. I would walk away a little further and give it to my foot again. He had dexterity out of nowhere, kind of innate “recalls Piero Sousa. The love of football runs through his veins. Piero always played. He integrated the selection of his college and faculty. As a forward and goalkeeper.

Arianna studies at Colegio San Agustín. From the age of five, he asked to enter the school’s training program called “Free Sports”, although in soccer there were only pure children. “Sign me up, dad,” he asked his father. “But they are men’s,” he replied. “It doesn’t matter, I want to play,” replied the little girl. He was five years old and he was better than many. That is why nothing prevented her from being part of the delegation that played interscholastic tournaments, despite being the only woman. Her talent unknowingly caused other girls to follow her example and ask for a ball as a gift. Now the “Free Sports” program does have boys and girls.

Admirer of Cristiano Ronaldo, Arianna at her young age knows that nothing is achieved without effort. That is why he asked to enter an academy. Also an idea of ​​his mother Ana María, who, seeing that her beloved daughter suffers blows while playing against children, asked that she enroll in a women’s academy. The LF7 Academy of Sisy Quiroz, head of the Alianza Lima women’s team, was chosen. Now Sisy promised to take Arianna to the sub 12 of the current Peruvian soccer champion.

“Always calm, as my dad says.” The phrase reflects the education that Piero and Ana María instill in Arianna and her brother Máximo César. “Our advice as parents is that studies come first. When there are studies, there is performance in school, the other is complementary. That is what we establish as a rule. She has to perform in school so that she can practice ”, Sousa says.

As well as the soccer players who today have more visibility in Peru, Arianna with her talent also contributes a grain of sand. And his parents, being his first fans and supporting what he likes, much more. There are no barriers for the Sousa Guzmán, who now dream of having a professional soccer player in the family.

Promising future

The video published by Marisella Joya caught the attention of thousands of netizens, but also aroused the interest of various academies. Joya herself asked to take her to the César Vallejo club. Cantolao went looking for her. But the one who won the pulse has been Sisy Quiroz, who as of January promised to make her part of Lima Alliance. Sisy, one of the managers of the growth of women’s football in the country, has known her since she was little. He knows more than anyone his potential and what he can deliver. And Alianza, today, is the best club in the country.

“She is a crack and for me she has a great future. At her age, I still didn’t have those technical gestures that she has. I had to learn them “Silvana Alfaro affirms as if warning that we are facing a little footballer with a promising future and that we should not let her get lost along the way.

Marisella Joya’s generation, as she herself tells us, had many barriers. “I even know friends who dressed as men so they could play”. Today, Arianna refreshes the illusion that things are looking up. Seeing her play, with her parents in the stands, and other girls doing it too, is an indication that women’s soccer in Peru is on the way to not being a discriminated sport. The road is long, but who knows and Arianna, and those of her generation, will take us to a World Cup in the future.