Peru’s National Identity Was Bound Up With Conflict and Corruption for Decades — Then It Qualified for the World Cup.
On our podcast, how a country scores two goals in the soccer tournament and finds redemption.
Until qualifying for the World Cup this year, Peru had gone 36 years without playing in the global soccer tournament. During that interminable draught, the country also experienced political turmoil: a violent insurgency, corruption, and economic uncertainty. On our podcast this week, the writer and political scientist Elda Cantú describes how sports and politics seemed to move in tandem in Peru and how the World Cup this year helped change the country’s own notion of itself.
Until qualifying for the World Cup this year, Peru had gone 36 years without playing in the global soccer tournament. During that interminable draught, the country also experienced political turmoil: a violent insurgency, corruption, and economic uncertainty. On our podcast this week, the writer and political scientist Elda Cantú describes how sports and politics seemed to move in tandem in Peru and how the World Cup this year helped change the country’s own notion of itself.
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