Paolo Guerrero should be the happiest man in the world.
Peru, after a 36-year absence, will be at soccer’s World Cup in Russia next month, and Guerrero, in the twilight of a peripatetic career, was to be there to lead the team out as its captain and star striker.
But instead of daydreaming about opening the scoring against Denmark in Saransk, the 34-year-old Guerrero is consumed with angst. A six-month drug suspension he thought he had completed was instead extended to 14 months this week, dashing his dreams but also those of a nation whose adoration for him had only grown during his exile.