Gunpowder for these internal fires, only football is capable of activating emotions that cannot be explained. Or in other words, hope in footballers that we have barely seen walk. It happened last Friday in Matute, a stadium also referred to as La Caldera, when the entire western sector of the field shouted at debutant coach Jorge Fossati for Oliver Sonne, the model player, the son of Denmark who dances salsa.
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Among them, 17 Danish compatriots who, dressed in all kinds of confetti, headbands and Gamarra t-shirts, crossed the Atlantic Ocean to see South America and arrived in La Victoria to applaud Oliver, the soccer player with the name of a cartoon genius.
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They were crying out for it, not only in Matute, but since Juan Reynoso called it for the first time in October of last year. Five months passed, now with a new coach named Jorge Fossati, before we saw Sonne for the first time wearing the Peruvian national team shirt. First alert: Fossati calls him for the two friendlies. Second alert: he arrives with a new look, total blonde. Third alert: he will wear the number 3 jersey.
But the expectation was not only in Peru, but also in his native country Denmark, since his name gained relevance after he decided to represent the bicolor. The furor has been so great that these 17 Danish tourists that I have here, two steps below, came to Lima to see him debut with the sacred Blanquirroja. There in the east stand next to the south stand they could be seen singing, dancing and enthusiastic about seeing their compatriot wearing the Peru shirt. Be careful, many of them had already seen him play in Danish football, so they had references about the spectacle he could provide on the Matute field.
The defender from Silkeborg of the Danish First Division made his debut in the 57th minute, replacing Miguel Trauco in the 2-0 win against Nicaragua. But minutes before he entered, the stands were already shouting his name as a signal for Fossati to make him enter and that’s how it happened. The Danes, for their part, shouted Sonne’s name and as a gift, Oliver stood in front of them so that he could hear the harangues of the Danes who in his language told him:
This is, of course, a free interpretation supported by Google Translate.
-“Fire, fire, fire, nuuuul, fire nuul, fire nuul (getting his attention), and then we yelled “jeg elsker dig Sonne” which means “I love you Sonne”.
“That is the symbol song that they adapted for the occasion, emphasizing Denmark’s 4-0 game against Wales in the Euro 2020 and it turned out to be a song of encouragement,” says Rasmus Petersen, one of the 17 Danish citizens present in Matute encouraging Oliver Sonne.
The 17 Danish tourists are visiting Peru, their journey in South America began in Ecuador and now they are in Lima, then they will go to Ica, Cusco and visit Machu Picchu.
According to Cusco tourist guide Ángel Ugarte, as soon as the Danes arrived in Lima, they wanted to see Oliver Sonne on the playing field. “I wanted to discourage them because the game was in La Victoria, but their insistence was so much that they bought their tickets, t-shirts and we organized everything to come,” Ángel added.
Danes encourage Sonne against Nicaragua
“Some of them already knew Sonne, they saw him play against their teams. It seemed strange to them to see that he agreed to play for Peru and to see how the Peruvian people admire him. to Sonne. They don’t understand why they love it so much,” commented the tour guide.
Paying attention to the conversation, one of them, who speaks Spanish and English, says: “We had heard that Peru was going to play a match with another country and we knew that Sonne was called up. So, we had the idea of wanting to come to the stadium,” says Rasmus Petersen.
“The Danish newspapers questioned why Sonne had preferred Peru over Denmark, and as a result of that, Oliver has a greater reach on social networks, and perhaps it is one of the reasons why he decided to play here,” says Petersen.
We also asked him about what Oliver Sonne has seen in Denmark, to which Rasmus Petersen answers us: “He is a normal, regular player, he does not stand out much, since there are better players in his position, however, after he decided to play for Peru caught the attention of the whole world. Everyone talked about him, because of the decision he made. We would have liked him to be a starter.”
They wrote to Sonne without success, as the match progressed.
Rasmus told El Comercio that he wrote to Oliver Sonne on his Instagram account hoping to take a photo with the Peruvian national team, but until the closing of this report he had not received a response.
Danes write to Sonne that they will go to see him in Matute
“We are boys and girls from Denmark and we are going to be in Lima, we want to go to the stadium and we would like to see a bit of South American football. It would be great to meet up to take a photo and/or if you could give away tickets,” Rasmus Petersen translates.
Finally, when the Brazilian referee, Paulo Zanovelli, whistled the end of the game, the Danes hugged and celebrated as if they were Peruvians in the victory against Denmark. Right now they are in Cusco to continue their tour of Peru, but happy to have seen Oliver Sonne debut with the Peruvian national team shirt.