Felipe Chávez has been one of the best players at the FC Bayern Campus in the first half of the 2024/25 season, as the 17-year-old battered in 6 goals and 10 assists in 13 appearances. This form has seen the Peruvian forward promoted to Bayern Munich’s U-23s.
However, it was not enough for Peru’s U-20 team.
On January 23rd, 2025, the South American U-20 Championship, held every two years, will start. Peru’s U-20s will be there, but without Chávez. The youngster has 4 caps for the U-20s, but will not be joining the team in this tournament. The decision was made by coach José Guillermo del Solar, who addressed Chávez’s absence, via ESPNDeportes: “I have considered that, due to his age, there are players who are better prepared than Felipe at the moment.”
However, espndeportes also captured Chávez’s agent and brother, Fabián, openly disagreeing with this assessment: “In my opinion, he is the best player that the team would have had in the South American Under-20 Championship. But we have to respect and accept Chemo’s decision. At Bayern, he’s been gaining experience every day with older players since the start of this season. I don’t want to say that the other kids are bad. I’ve seen a squad that has potential (with some kids who haven’t been called up either), that has the chance to qualify for the final phase of the tournament and with a bit of luck can qualify for the World Cup [as the U-20 Championship acts as a qualifier for the U-20 World Cup].”
Chávez will have the chance to compete in the next edition of the tournament in 2027, but this was shaping up to be a special tournament for the youngster as Peru had been chosen to host the 2025 edition of South American U-20 Championship. On November 15, 2024, however, Peru were stripped of the right to host the tournament by South American football governing body CONMEBOL and Venezuela were confirmed as the new hosts. Why? Well, via footboom1, the alleged criminal activities of the head of Peru’s FA might have had something to do with it:
Peru lost the opportunity to host the South American U-20 Championship just days after local police arrested the president of the Peruvian Football Federation, Agustín Lozano, who is accused of leading a criminal organization and committing alleged fraud in management, corruption, and money laundering.
With the charges against Lozano and worries from Argentina’s Prime Minister, via batimes.com, that the Argentinian squad would get kidnapped in Venezuela, the controversy surrounding the tournament is simply unbelievable.
Chávez, however can take heart from looking at fellow Bayern youngster Adam Aznou. He was controversially snubbed by Morocco for the most recent edition of the U-17 World Cup, only to make his debut for the senior team in a matter of months. Not making it to these tournaments can be a blessing in disguise, if the motivation from the snub is used properly.
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