He put thumb and forefinger together, brought it to his mouth, and made the closing gesture. Oblitas does not speak, for now.
There are plenty of questions for the most influential Peruvian soccer player in history, along with Teófilo Cubillas. Is he going to stay in office? Will he be in charge of choosing the new coach? Has Gareca’s departure bothered you? And, perhaps the most important, is Juan Reynoso the main candidate to take office? And until he decides to publicly expose his position, there are the files.
READ ALSO | Ricardo Gareca’s opinion on the possible appointment of Juan Reynoso as coach of the Peruvian team
The Oblitas-Reynoso relationship is not new. If we could summarize it in a timeline, the first milestone would have to start at the end of 1986, when the Blind man directed the Peruvian youth team who participated in the ODESUR Games, where Peru finished third in the medal table. The great result of that campaign, played in Chile, is the 2-1 victory over Argentina, which had, among others, Claudio Caniggia, Pedro Troglio, Alfredo Graciani and Hugo Maradona, Diego’s brother. The Peruvian group of 16-year-olds was made up of the explosive mix between the youngsters trained in the U -Chemo del Solar, Roberto Martínez, Juan Carlos Bazalar- and Los Potrillos de Alianza Lima, who had two starting footballers in rain or snow: Luis Escobar and Pacho Bustamante. In that group they met. Diego Rebagliati, who was part of that generation, defined it in a sentence two days ago in Al Ángulo: “They have a very good lifelong relationship.”
The next step was the adult team: when Oblitas took over as the absolute diver, after Popovic’s catastrophe heading to the United States ’94, it was El Ciego who named him team captain, a leadership backed by Chorris and Solanos, which was maintained until 1999, when Oblitas left office post Copa América. Sources close to both, whom DT consulted for this article, confirm that the relationship has been maintained over time, “that they are very close friends”, and that “Juan listens a lot to the Blind Man”. However, the former champion coach with Cruz Azul in Mexico also has a career project that includes directing abroad, continuing to consolidate his prestige and has not yet had any official contact with the FPF.
THE 2-1 OF PERU IN THE ODESUR
One afternoon, at his house in La Molina, and when the Qualifiers for Qatar had not yet started, Juan Carlos Oblitas accepted an interview with Somos, in which he allowed himself surgical futurism. The dialogue, reconstructed now that the continuity of him as Selection Director is defined, went more or less like this.
-Juan Carlos. Does Ricardo Gareca’s cycle with the national team end in Qatar?
“That’s unpredictable.
—I’m asking about Juan Reynoso, whose plans are to lead Peru.
-He talks with Ricardo, it’s true. They have a very good relationship. I also. Juan has already paved the way, as well as others: Chemo, Franco, Roberto Mosquera. Definitely. The problem is that you don’t know about this. Doing futurology, suddenly comes a president of FPF who doesn’t like so-and-so. And that’s it. If I can’t convince him, dissuade him with arguments or ideas, that’s it.
—Juan Reynoso is the great future candidate for the national team?
-I think so. But it scares me to talk about this. The next day Juan’s detractors come out for having beat us to it.