Retirement. One of the greatest Peruvian footballers retired this year without much of a notice. Hugo Alejandro Sotil Yeren was born in 1949 made his professional debut in 1968 for Deportivo Municipal (Lima). His club was in Second Division then, but earned promotion to the top league and not without the help of the young talent.
Playing for Deportivo Municipal was fine – the team was talented and Sotil became the star of the team with which he stayed until 1973.
The young striker was instantly noticed, praised and included in the national team, which in turn sensationally qualified to the 1970 World Cup finals.
The national team of Peru 1970: Standing: Campos, Challe, Chumpitaz, Rubiños, Risco and De La Torre. Bended: Del Castillo, Sotil, León, Cubillas and Gallardo.
Peru had impressive World Cup and the key players became known around the world – Sotil was not yet regular starter before the finals, but really established himself in Mexico and became one of the three stars of the team along Chumpitaz and Cubillas. In a sense, he was discovered during the 1970 World Cup. He was one of the key Peruvian players after that, making strong duo with Cubillas.
‘El Cholo’, as he was already nicknamed, was transfered to Barcelona in 1973. He was the first foreign player Barcelona bought after the lifting of the ban on foreign players in Spain – before Cruijff!
Cruijff arrived soon and the two stars became instant friends.
Number 9 and number 10 had great understanding and played well together, winning the title.
Sotil played and scored a goal in the legendary annihilation of Real Madrid at Bernabeu 5-0 this season. It could be said that 1973-74 was the peak of Sotil’s career – he was the top Peruvian player playing for the top club not just in Spain. No other Peruvian player of his generation reached such a position: Cubillas, for instance, went to play in Portugal and later in Switzerland. Not the same exposure. But going to Barcelona was also the undoing of Sotil.
In 1974 Barcelona bought Neeskens and although the smiling pictures of the three great foreigners were great, reality was cruel: the rules allowed only 2 imports to play, Sotil became one too many and out of the team. In 1974-75 he did not play a single official match for Barcelona. The next year he came back only because fans demanded his return to the starting squad after terrible performance of the team. It was too late and not real return… Sotil was unable to handle his sudden relegation to the bench in 1974, he lost form for lack of playing time, lost confidence and turned to drink. His last season with Barcelona was pathetic – he played only 5 games in 1976-77, scoring one goal.
Playing for Peru was bitter-sweet experience too: after Neeskens’ arrival in Barcelona, the national team of Peru was more than matter of patriotism and loyalty – it became the only chance to actually play for Sotil. But in that times clubs were more than reluctant to release players for national team duties and South Americans playing in Europe suffered the most because of the distances. Yet, Sotil reached the peak with the national team in that time, winning Copa America in 1975. It was fantastic event: Sotil was permitted by Barcelona to join Peru only for the final in Caracas and he arrived not even in the last minute, but after the last minute – travel was such, that he entered the stadium when his teammates were warming-up on the pitch already. It was exactly from the airplane to the field, hardly the best circumstances for strong performace. However, Sotil made a miracle – he scored the only goal of the final against Colombia and thus Peru won Copa America. Hero again and at least to the general public, there was nothing wrong with ‘El Cholo’ – but there was…
Barcelona let him go in 1977 and by now European clubs were not interested – Sotil lost his lustre, he was yesterday’s news, and very likely he did not want to stay longer in Europe after the bitter experience in Spain. He returned to Peru, joining Alianza (Lima).
It was lucky strike – Sotil was again in great company, between old buddy Cubillas and bright new star Cueto. It worked, Sotil recovered his form, but in a new position: age, inaction and alcohol combined did damage – Sotil lost speed and moved back to midfield. But he shined there and enjoyed playing – and was included in the Peruvian team for the 1978 World Cup finals.
This was his second World Cup, but it was bitter-sweet experience – Sotil was regular this time, a key player, and Peru played again well. Here is El Cholo in the middle against Scotland, a match Peru lost, but the bitterest pill to swallow was yet to come: it was not that much the huge loss from Argentina itself, but the never ending accusations that the match was fixed and Peru was bribed. Nothing directly related to Sotil, but he was part of tarnished team… and also he was no longer prime star: Cubillas and Cueto were, El Cholo was just one of the lesser boys. Not so impressive.
His next move was entirely miserable – like many South Americans, he went to play in Colombia, joining Independiente (Medellin) in 1979. He stayed with them two years, but did not play well. He was in and out of the team, scored only 8 goals, and considered retirement.
Going downhill is tough road: wrong decisions and foul habits often drive players to new efforts largely in hope of making some money. Sotil decided to make one more try and joined his original club Deportivo Municipal (Lima). He stayed with them two years, but it was only getting from bad to worse and in 1982 he retired. It was bitter end – nobody noticed his retirement at the age of 33 in the year when Peru was playing again World Cup finals. His old friend Cubillas was in the squad – he and Sotil were ‘discovered’ at the 1970 World Cup, became international stars, but Cubillas stayed at the top. Sotil was going steadily down, reaching obscurity at the end. Almost farsically El Cholo repeated his other great friend, Cruijff, who came back after official retirement: in 1984 Sotil returned to the field and donned the shirt of small Los Espartanos (Pacasmayo) – it was full circle: he started in Second Division and ended in Second Division. He stayed 2 years with Los Espartanos, playing a little, scoring a little.
In 1986 he went to Deportivo Junin and that was the real end – again in the obscurity of second division, this time full obscurity: how many games he played Deportivo Junin is unknown. His final moments left no record, only a photo.
As a whole, the story of Sotil is unhappy one – it was a story of destruction and downhill, akin to the life of Garincha and George Best and pretty much for the same weakness: alcohol. It could be traced to 1974, when Sotil, a prime star, lost his place in the regular line of Barcelona with the arrival of Neeskens. No doubt, Sotil was weak character, but the rules contributed pushed him on the wrong path as well: he was suddenly reduced to play occasional friendly, a top star at his prime reduced to forced idleness. Was it another club, it would have been easier for Sotil to make his mind and leave – but a member of Barcelona… who wants to go elsewhere?
Sotil and Cubillas – what a great duo and how different careers. Compared to Sotil, Cubillas had it worse in 1973 – he was already bigger star than his friend, but went to relatively smaller club and inferior championship: FC Porto. Sotil went right to the top – Barcelona and the Spanish championship. And immediately shined. Cubillas was in the shades somewhat – FC Porto was not yet the great club known to everybody and played secondary role in Portugal. From there Cubillas moved even further down – to Switzerland. But he played regularly, he was local star, he maintained high form. Sotil was at the top of professional football, but sitting on the bench, losing form and value. It could have been different if Sotil, realizing the hopelessness of his situation in Barcelona demanded to be transferred – but he did not and the club chose to keep extra player just in case, diminishing the value of Sotil this way. By 1976 very likely there were interested buyers, so the only thing for Sotil was to go back to Peru and more or less starting from scratch. It was only brief recovery of form, bad habits taking their tall as well. Like Garincha and George Best, Sotil lost money and needed more to feed his habit, thus plunging further down, going to play for whoever was willing to pay him, but unable to impress even in lower levels of footballing world. Cubillas made the most of his talent, Sotil – the least, he destroyed it and became pitiful and painful site. He quit playing anonymous, forgotten, and miserable.
But unlike Garincha and George Best, Sotil did not destroy himself entirely and managed to come out of his demons – eventually, he became a coach and returned to normal life. And he is still alive and regular. His story as a player is sad and bitter one, but at least his life after retiring from playing was not lost. We lost the player, but not the man.