In a sport where the processes are cut in the first setbacks, the white-red It has managed to survive several storms that today place it on the shores of a new World Cup, the second in a row. Juan Carlos Oblitas He will not be the captain of the ship, but he is the one who ensures that the ship stays on track. He chose Ricardo Gareca well in 2015 and has shielded him all this time so that the evils of Peruvian soccer do not destabilize him. He is therefore the creator of the bubble called the Peruvian team.
— Have you thought about writing a book about your time in football?
They have come countless times to ask me. Once I was very close, but I said no. I wanted to tell what football means to me, what it has given me and what it has taken from me. But I realized I was going to get some welts.
MIRA: Luis Advíncula suffered a tear: would he be able to play the playoffs?
— Mention some secret things?
No, but we do talk about certain myths. I wanted to leave something to contribute, but if I am going to hurt some susceptibilities, I prefer not to do so. I am an ordinary being who has become public for this profession. Football, life, God put me there.
—Your influence in the last 50 years of Peruvian football is undeniable, from the ‘U’ runner-up in the Libertadores, passing through the classification to Russia and this process…
I’ve been a part of all of that. I didn’t realize it, even when we qualified for the previous World Cup. Over the years I have pondered that I have been part of those events.
—Has it been a personal process?
I have begun to realize, especially during this stage, that we are almost ready to participate in the most important game of the last four years. Until recently we thought of the 36-year-old backpack and it turns out that we are about to go to another World Cup in a row. Wow, we’ve done something right! I just started thinking about all that. And also that we lack so much, and that frustrates me. I don’t know if I will have time to participate in that change we need.
— You are not much of memories, why?
Is my nature. When I played, those who kept photos were my wife and my mother, then my son Fernando. When I stopped playing I decided not to live on memories because it will truncate many things for me. He had seen other former players who still thought as if they were. But over time, with the Internet, the memories come out on their own. I see the videos, the photos and I say “ah, damn, we were really good”.
“Don’t you even have t-shirts?”
I exchanged the one for the match with France with Platini and gave it to a youngster from Seraing (the club where I played in Belgium) who asked me for it. I remember there was a corner and since I was next to him I asked for it. When the game ended, all my teammates were behind him for the shirt and he told them: I’m going to change with Oblitas. The one for the match with Uruguay, in 1981, is owned by ‘Chupo’ Arriola; the one from Argentina, when we tied 2-2 in 1985, my son has it. He is with mud, just as he was left.
— The latest El Comercio-Ipsos survey indicates that 54% of the population approves of your management. Do you feel loved?
It is incredible that after seven years in this position he still has that level of approval, especially in a country like ours. In the street it feels, and perhaps much more. They approach me and tell me ‘thank you for what you are giving, for so much joy’. I answer thanks to you, because the support you feel is incredible. I haven’t seen that empathy between the people and the national team for a long time. But I am aware that recognition should not be sought in this work. Look at the politicians.
— I remember the press conference after Mexico eliminated us in the Copa América, in 1999. The press was very harsh. Were they unfair to you?
It was the hardest stage I had in my relationship with journalism, I didn’t understand anything. I did it later when the uncovering of the purchased press came out. Many then approached me to apologize and there I closed the subject. That’s why when I saw those who replaced me complain about the press, I thought that I wish they had been in my time.
—Was it the only time you felt that they used you or used the national team as a distractor?
No. At that time the tabloid press made things up to divert attention. And one of those things was Oblitas. I have also seen how soccer was used to help the government, as happened during Velasco and Morales Bermúdez.
— The selection of 78…
Without a doubt. Even singers traveled with us. There has not been a de facto government that has not used sport as a distraction, for better or for worse. Little by little I became aware of that.
— At some point were you offered to enter politics?
They even wanted to pay me to be a candidate for Congress. The last time they called me was to run for mayor of La Molina. They had made a focus group and they said that I was taking her. I asked them who was going to manage the municipality and they told me that they appointed the managers. That’s not for me. The politician does not know how to say no, but I have learned to say no.
— How do you see the country?
Wrong. Why is football the only institution that has made people happy with the national team? Because it gives you hope. Thats the secret. It is the only place where there are no differences. You arrive at the stadium and that ends. Except -and I haven’t forgotten that- what people from ONPE did, who sent letters to some kids when they said they were going to support Keiko. It was the same day that we played with Colombia. And in the networks they said that they were going to shout their goals. It is worring me? My children, my grandchildren. Many years ago I read a psychiatrist use a term that he did not know: anomie. We are growing up with anomie. I am afraid that living without rules will become general in the country. We are normalizing what is abnormal, accepting what is illegal, what is not right.
— Does it make you feel hopeless?
By nature I live in hope. When someone tells me that it will be difficult, I tell them that it will be if we don’t keep fighting. I am convinced that if you do your job well, it will be an example for others to try. Right now there is a tendency to pessimism that I don’t know where it will lead us. I am very afraid.
— You are already 71 years old. Do you plan to continue to be involved in football beyond what happens in the playoffs?
We still have something to give. I talked about the frustration I have about some things that have been left unfinished. Now we are immersed in the classification; if we qualify, we’ll see. I feel strong, mentally I am prepared. But as I always say, only God knows.