Ricardo Gareca and the lesson in faith he gave when it was believed that Peru had no chance to qualify

Peru finished the qualifying stage for the Qatar 2022 World Cup by beating Paraguay 2-0 and won the ticket to the repechage. This achievement was celebrated by more than 30 million Peruvians, by the same members of the national team and the coaching staff led by Argentine coach Ricardo Gareca.

However, in October 2021 Peru was going through a crisis, it had barely scored 11 points in twelve qualifying dates and the work of Gareca and the bicolor players was severely questioned and many considered that the 'Tigre' stage was about to end and there was even talk about Juan José Reynoso as a possible replacement for the Argentine if the next results did not benefit the Peruvian national team.

During that time Ricardo Gareca, true to his style, remained silent and only came out to speak at a press conference that was engraved in the memory of all Peruvians.

On that occasion, the strategist of la blanquiroja answered each of the questions in the press, but there was a question in which he was stressed that only six dates after the end of the qualifying rounds it was almost impossible to qualify, even, for a repechage and that 90% of Peruvians had no hope that the 'team of all 'can dream of a new world cup.

Ricardo Gareca's response today echoes in the memory of the Peruvian fan who chose to believe and be filled with faith as everyone's favorite coach had asked.

“I remember that in the last round we went back with six dates to go, but beyond this, I still have the same faith, the same conviction. For me, being in a championship has different facets: the beginning, the average and the end and in all three the ideal is to be well, because you can have a great start, a good average and a bad end and you lose the championship and the goal. But you can also have a bad start, a good average and a good finish, you win the championship and the goal,” said Gareca.

“The three items are important, I believe a lot in the end based on the experience I have. When I had to win championships, when I had to win goals, I won it for a final spring, because I had good results over the end. So as the numbers give, I believe in the national team and I am sure that 90% is not that I do not believe, but that maybe it doubts, because one thing is not to believe and another thing is to doubt,” added the coach of the national team.

He stressed that “if in the last round I had a 5% chance and now he gives me 10%, I have even more faith. The team with 5% last time was enough, now it gives me 10%, so I have more faith.”

At that time he did not hesitate to call on Peruvians to continue believing in the Peruvian national team “until the numbers hit”.

“I tell people and convey to them to continue to trust us, not to lose faith at least until the numbers give. If they don't give the numbers, well, unfortunately we will try to finish in the best way, but for now the numbers give, for now we are standing and it depends on us,” he replied

“I hope that for the benefit of the country's team and ourselves we can reverse as we did last time. I have the conviction and certainty that the team is on the right track, the team is well, it has overcome problems, problems that have hit us hard, but we are in a position to overcome and we have to prove it on the field of play”, he said with all conviction.

“I am convinced, because I know them and we are going to demonstrate on the playing field accordingly, that is the conviction I have”, he ended and six dates later he achieved the unthinkable: victory against Bolivia (3-0), Venezuela (2-1), Colombia (1-0) and Paraguay (2-0), a draw with Ecuador (1-1) and only one defeat to Uruguay (0-1).

REPECHAJE

After the victory against Paraguay, the Argentine addressed the media at a press conference and said that the key was the rebound that the team had in the last knockout dates. “We didn't start well but the rally was important and gave us the chance to access the repechage. I want to congratulate the boys for qualifying on the last date for the repechage,” he said.

In addition, he referred to the next rival that will come out between the United Arab Emirates and Australia. “Now it is to know the rival, we are going to be aware of who is our turn. I think we will have enough time, although it will be a difficult opponent. We are all looking to get to Qatar, but the most important thing now is to try to be with the family, that the players return to the rhythm, that the boys with problems recover and thus arrive in an important way.”

“When we renewed our contract, the possibility of hoping to be among those chosen to play a World Cup. It is very difficult and now we will see what rival we have. The team always tries to stay focused, but we have countless problems... André Carrillo couldn't be there today, Pedro Aquino... unfortunately it was a qualifying round full of difficulties,” he said at the end.

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