As the 34-year-old Nolberto Solano walked from the pitch following Peru’s recent 3-0 defeat to Brazil, he must have known that his time had passed.
Having grown up harboring a World Cup dream since watching Peru’s golden age teams of the seventies and eighties as a child, his country's near certain failure to qualify for South Africa 2010 must have cut like a knife.
One of the greatest journeymen of the modern game’s last chance to attend the greatest stage of all was predictably thrown away by a Peruvian side that has been unable to answer any of the questions that their superior footballing neighbors have thrown at them.
Though a footballer of amazing vision, touch and ability, his humble disposition and amiable nature has more often than not left his talent overlooked by football fans and the media alike.
His 17-year career so far has seen him hold a confident grasp on every team he has played in, yet all his efforts and quality have managed to produce is three Peruvian titles and an Intertoto Cup Winners medal.
Before becoming one of the England’s most successful South American players to date with Newcastle, or starring alongside his friend Diego Maradona at Boca Juniors, Nolberto Solano stood on the verge of a dream a million miles from the Eurocentric desires of the Premiership.
He first came up on the world football radar in 1997. In the same year that he came in at No. 2 in the South American player of the year awards, he picked up a Copa Libertadores runners-up medal with Peru’s Sporting Cristal after a 1-0 defeat to Brazil’s Cruzeiro.
This was one of the sparse moments that a Peruvian club has made any mark on the Libertadores.
25 years earlier, Peru’s greatest club, Universitario De Deportes or “La U” as they are affectionately known, produced a similar display by falling to Independiente in the 1972 final.
These close shaves with glory only accentuate the fact that Peru, has as yet, failed to produce a Libertadores winning side.
After leaving the bright lights of the Premiership last year, Solano seemed to be quietly creeping towards retirement, playing for Greek side Larissa.
After a couple of months though, spurred on by his wife’s desire to return to Lima, Solano sparked a Peruvian media frenzy by opting for a return to his home country.
Universitario’s prestige and finances made them the only logical place for the country’s most successful player of recent years, so in January Solano returned to the Primera Division Peruana, after 12 years of football adventures.
The league where it all began beckoned, as did the trophy that got away in his youth—The Copa Libertadores.
Despite being around the retirement age of a European footballer, Solano looks more than comfortable back in Peruvian football, and has managed to score freely and provide assists in both the league and the Libertadores.
His experience and professionalism could well prove the difference for Universitario this season.
The legs may be creaking slightly, but he continues to exhibit the awareness and clairvoyant vision of a player operating in a much higher state of consciousness to everyone around him.
He has begun this season as he has so many before, hoping to win trophies against the weight of history, as well as the odds. Another Peruvian League winners medal is surely a realistically achievable goal, but the elusive Copa Libertadores provides a much more testing challenge.
Every player has a career defining moment. At present, Solano’s is either his Intertoto Cup win with Newcastle or the honour of being the first Peruvian to ever play in the final of the world’s oldest football competition—the FA cup.
Neither is suitable for a player of his calibre.
So far, Universitario have managed two draws against Mexico’s San Luis, a victory against Argentina’s San Lorenzo, and a rather unconvincing loss to Paraguay’s Libertad.
With two games left to play, they are hanging on to their last 16 qualifying position for dear life.
A win in either of their remaining games against San Lorenzo or Libertad should be enough to ensure progression, and a chance to delay disappointment for a Peruvian veteran who has carried a misplaced feeling of optimism into nearly every competition he has ever participated in.
This season and next is the last chance for Solano to get his hands on some meaningful silverware.
The Copa Libertadores would be a fitting swansong. Whether he does it depends as much on himself as it does his teammates playing above themselves.
Should he and Universitario manage to navigate their way to the last 16, a much sterner test will await them.
Powerhouses such as Boca Juniors, Sao Paulo, Nacional, and Colo-Colo stand between them and the trophy.
Coupled with South American football’s habit of throwing dark horses like last year’s winners LDU Quito into the mix, the task appears almost insurmountable.
For a player like Nolberto Solano though, being the outsider is second nature.
6 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete