DERBY DAYS/Peru v Chile:The bitter South American rivals have a history of falling out and this becomes even more apparent when the nations take to the field for a game of soccer, writes DAMIAN CULLEN
Sunday, March 29th – Estadio Nacional, Lima
Kick-off - 6.10pm (local-time), 1.10pm (Irish-time)
IN PERU and Chile, suspicion of the other side runs deep. And for good reason. Ever since the War of the Pacific all of 125 years ago, successive governments on both sides of the border have nurtured the lingering bitterness between the countries for political gain.
Regularly stoked tensions concerning territorial, maritime and cultural issues inevitably sought an outlet. And in a continent where soccer ranks first, second and third for most, international meetings in the sport was the natural choice.
In the early 1880s, Chile fought, and defeated, the combined forces of Peru and Bolivia, leading to Chile occupying the capital Lima for two years and eventually claiming large tracts of mineral-rich territory from their northern neighbours.
The scars left by the humiliating defeat ran deep in Peru, and has proved permanent, especially due to the eagerness of successive military governments in Chile and Peru to keep the battles foremost in the minds of citizens. But, wait, there’s worse – an even more acute point of disagreement between the countries that has fuelled the irreconcilable and intense rivalry.
And it’s something that has caused never-ending controversy in South America and is still an issue of fanatical disagreement between soccer supporters in Peru and Chile.
Both countries claim to have invented the bicycle-kick.
Known as “la chilena”, Chileans claim the overhead kick was first performed in 1914, with Ramón Unzaga credited as being the first to turn his back on goal as a cross came into the box and attempt to acrobatically kick the ball into the net.
According to the disputed reports, this happened during a club match in the Chilean port of city of Talcahuano, with Unzaga making several attempts to execute the bicycle kick – apparently eager for it to become his trademark – but failing to score. No matter. Soccer fans in Chile were sufficiently impressed with the technique that they embraced “la chilena” and called it their own.
When news filtered up the coast, however, the reaction from Peru was rather less chirpy.
According to Peruvian soccer fans, Unzaga’s bicycle kicks – known as a “chalaca” in Peru – had been around in Peru since the late 19th century, when English sailors and the local residents in the port of Callao would play soccer matches (which would, amazingly, regularly feature bicycle-kicks).
The dispute reached a zenith in 1975 when the bizarrely nicknamed (but incredibly talented) winger Juan Carlos Oblitas of Peru – known as El Ciego, the Blind One – had the temerity to score a bicycle-kick/la chilena/chalaca (delete as desired) against Chile in the Copa America, a tournament Peru then went on to win outright.
The current South American World Cup qualifying campaign began as far back as October, 2007, and Chile hosted Peru that month with every available policeman, as well as several hundred private security officials, drafted into Santiago for the big derby clash.
“We know that here we are not generating any type of war between nations nor the concept of Chilean and anti-Chilean . . . we are just taking the necessary measures so that the game can be played normally,” the city government’s head of public order, Leonardo Aracena, said before the game.
With the border dispute making it back to the front pages of newspapers in recent years, the build-up to the last meeting was, understandably enough, all-consuming.
The turnstiles at Estadio Nacional de Chile opened at 3pm and nearly all of the 60,000 spectators were in position shortly after 5pm. The game kicked-off at 7.10pm, shortly after a rendition of both national anthems, though the Himno Nacional del Peru was drowned out by the home support.
La Roja emerged victorious, beating the visitors to Santiago 2-0, with striker Humberto Suazo (who in 2006 pipped Peter Crouch by one goal to the International Federation of Football History Statistics (IFFHS) World’s Top Goal Scorer Award with 17 goals in international and continental club competitions) and midfielder Matias Fernandez (who scored for Villarreal against Athletic Bilbao last weekend and will surely have a major say in whether Arsenal reach the semi-finals of the Champions League) scoring in each half to secure Chile’s first competitive win under Marcelo Bielsa.
Since then, Peru have had a torrid time of it in the World Cup qualifying campaign, despite raising their game twice for the visits of giants Brazil and Argentina, both finishing in 1-1 draws.
Chile, however, are flying high and are fourth in the table after 10 rounds, a single point behind Argentina and two adrift of Brazil, with Paraguay currently at the head of the 10-nation standings. In their last match, Chile defeated Argentina 1-0 in Santiago De Chile.
Peru, however, don’t need the lure of qualification points to find the passion for a visit from next door. The poor relation of South American soccer would love for nothing better than putting a severe dent in Chile’s ambitions of playing in South Africa next year.
