A divided national team - how Peruvian national team becomes affected by the 2021 Peruvian election?

The Peruvian election poll has come to a stand-still, with the extreme left Pedro Castillo of Peru Libre only gains a marginal lead over the extreme right Keiko Fujimori of Fuerza Popular. In a country where the influence of the Fujimori family remains deep in the society, this could evoke an emotional riot across Peru, notably among the conservatives.

And in this group of pro-Fujimori people, also include surprise packets: nearly half of the senior members of the Peruvian national team dedicated their tacit backup for the Fujimori candidate. Many normal, libertarian Peruvians had come to disbelief when the national team had so many supporters for the Fujimorists.

In a video that lasted only one minute, Edison Flores, who was the new star of the resurgence Peruvian side and played in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, made his first appearance condemning indirectly Pedro Castillo and warned voters not to choose communism. Then followed Carlos Zambrano, Jefferson Farfán, Pedro Gallese, Luis Advíncula, André Carrillo, Wilder Cartagena, Miguel Trauco and Raúl Ruidíaz, even former international Claudio Pizarro, joined the vid. Their message was simple: put the national team jersey.

Keiko Fujimori, like her dad, former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, usually appears with the clothes of the national team, white with a red stripe. She is similar to her dad in that she has a reputation of being strongly right-wing. Alberto was a brutal, yet effective President from 1990 to 2000, where he managed to rout the communist Shining Path, usually with excessive violence; as well as recovering the economy into a competent market-oriented system, though far from perfect. Keiko promised she would uphold this program of radical liberalism, pardoning her ageing father and framed Pedro Castillo as a communist.

Ultimately, though, many Peruvians also have a negative feeling about Pedro Castillo as well. Castillo has been accused of having an alleged link to the Shining Path, which he denied. Castillo is also widely seen as ineffective, having no political experience. That doesn't make Keiko an angel either: she, like her father, has been accused of corruption, nepotism and social destruction. Thus the unhappy election in Peru happened.

The national team of Peru seems to have been benefiting from the development of radical liberalism. It should be noted that during the final year of Fujimori Presidency back in 1995-2000, Fujimori frequently watched the Peruvian national team play, where they almost reached France 1998 only to be defeated in an agonising fashion to Chile. Also the same era, Peruvian football experienced a decade of its booming successes, Sporting Cristal almost won the Copa Libertadores in 1997. Many of these players had their relatives killed during the era of Shining Path's terrorism, hence their deep grievances.

That coincides with the desire of candidate Keiko. She frequently reminds players to not forget how football in Peru experienced its resurgence under her father, triggering their feeling of gratitude. Of course, not all Peruvian players were on the same bed: Paolo Guerrero and Renato Tapia criticised Keiko's ambitious plan for tearing the national team apart.

Well, the situation evolved not happily. Weeks after posting the video, Peru played its World Cup qualifying game at home to Colombia, losing 0-3 with a disastrous performance of Pedro Gallese and Miguel Trauco, the latter given a red card. Peru was on the verge of failing to qualify for the World Cup, having only returned to the stage back in 2018 after 36 years, though the side had bounded to gain an important 2-1 away win to Ecuador.

Unfortunately, what happened to Peru showed how complicated the situation could be.