50 AÑOS - "PERÚ CAMPEÓN" COPA AMÉRICA (1975)

Fifty years ago, the Peruvian national team achieved a feat in 1975, achieving Peru's second and final Copa América title. Peru shared the same group with Chile and Bolivia in home and away matches. The first stop was in Santiago. This time, "La Roja" was confident of winning at home again, as they had in the previous qualifying rounds. But this Peru team was much more solid than the last time and earned a 1-1 draw. With the game still to play, "El Nene" had the victory at his feet, but his shot, which left goalkeeper Vallejos with no chance, capriciously hit the crossbar. It was a promising start, but there was still plenty of work to be done. The next match was against Bolivia, but not in La Paz. The people from the highlands thought it best, to take full advantage of their geography, to take us to Oruro, located 3,735 meters above sea level. But the plan didn't work out. A goal by 'Cachito' Ramírez ruined their plans, and the victory went to the red and white team. As we mentioned above, the last two matches were at home in the Matute stadium. It's worth remembering that the national team's home stadium was always the Estadio Nacional, but it couldn't be used for those matches because it was the venue for the South American Youth Championship. For that reason, they had to move to La Victoria. Apparently, the Alianza stadium brought them luck, as Peru secured two well-deserved 3-1 victories, each against Bolivia and Chile. Their place in the semifinals was assured. A month before the first leg against Brazil, General Francisco Morales Bermúdez had led a coup d'état (yet another in our history) and ended the first period of that decade of military dictatorship. Perhaps this situation would serve as an incentive for our national team to deliver one of its best performances in its history and defeat Brazil 3-1 in Belo Horizonte. It's a shame that the situation wasn't repeated at home, and they lost 0-2. At that time, there were no away goals or penalty shootouts, so a draw was required to determine the finalist who would face Colombia in the Copa América final. As luck would have it, Peru's name came up. It was Verónica, the daughter of the then president of the South American Football Confederation, Teófilo Salinas, who gave us our ticket to the final. At the helm was a Colombia team that, although considered a second-tier team in that South American context, was slowly beginning to show signs of its talent and worth, which would only fully explode in the second half of the 1980s. The point is that it was a win for each side at home. Although the goal difference leaned in Peru's favor, that wasn't a factor in determining the continent's new champion. So, this time, they had to play an extra game. For that match, the national team had endured a thousand and one difficulties. Cubillas arrived without permission from Porto, while Sotil had permission from Barcelona but had to return immediately. To top it all off, the torrential rain that fell that night made things more difficult for our team than for the "cafeteros," who were more accustomed to such circumstances. We also felt like visitors, due to the large number of Colombians living in the Venezuelan capital. The Colombian team felt like the favorites in the match and tried to let their opponents know this from the opening whistle, but the defensive line and Sartor himself were an unbreakable barrier they were never able to overcome. In attack, they made Zape work harder than usual until the most glorious moment in Peruvian football arrived. At 24 minutes, Eleazar Soria executed a throw-in. Rojas shot at goal, but it was blocked by Escobar. Cubillas found the ball, but this time it was Segovia who half-heartedly blocked it. Until the ball landed at Sotil's feet, who wouldn't miss again, making Zape's stretch in vain. What came after that 1-0 win over Colombia, the celebrations on the plane, and the caravans in Miraflores, was a feeling very close to happiness. Peru at the top of South America.