Ramiro Rocca, the Argentine who scored more goals than Lionel Messi in 2020 and was highlighted by FIFA

12/29/2020 2:19 PM

• Clarín.com

• sports

Updated 12/29/2020 2:19 PM

Numbers.

Around them this note turns.

There is no qualitative evaluation, but a quantitative one.

Having clarified this, in order to immunize those who are easily frightened, here is the data: the most effective Argentine scorer of this anomalous year was not Lionel Messi.

It was not Sergio Agüero.

It was not Mauro Icardi.

It was not Lautaro Martínez.

It was

Ramiro Iván Rocca

, who scored 26 goals in 27 games with the

Municipal

de Guatemala

shirt

.

The record

caught the attention of FIFA

, which highlighted him as one of the five surprise gunners of 2020 along with Cuban

Marcel Hernández

, from Cartaginés de Costa Rica (he scored 31 goals in 40 games);

Kenyan

Michael Olunga

, from Japan's Kashiwa Reysol (28 in 32);

the Danish

Kasper Junker

, from Norway's FK Bodø / Glimt (27 in 25), and the Estonian

Rauno Sappinen

, from his country's Flora Tallinn (26 in 28).

And who is this surprising scorer who caught the attention of the mother house of world football and of which there was not much record in the country?

Rocca, 32, was born in Hughes, a town of 5,000 inhabitants located in the south of Santa Fe and that gained visibility because Ignacio Scocco is also a native of there.

Like

Nacho

, the other Hughense striker was trained in the lower divisions of Newell's, but did not make his debut in First Division.

Ramiro Rocca played a season for Central Córdoba de Rosario in the First C.

The forward, who in his town had also worked as a meat delivery man, worked for different teams in the area such as Puerto San Martín Fútbol, ​​Studebaker from Villa Cañás and Sportivo Rivadavia from Venado Tuerto, and also wore one season, 2016/17 , the jersey of Central Córdoba de Rosario.

After scoring 12 goals in the Primera C tournament, he returned home to play at Hughes Foot Ball Club, of the Venadense League.

In July 2018, he received a proposal to travel to El Salvador.

The club that wanted him was the modest

Chalatenango

.

“It took a lot for me to make the decision, but it is an opportunity that I couldn't pass up.

I'm going to play it.

If I'm right, good things will come.

And if not, I will return to my town, "he said then, after saying yes.

The Salvadoran Chalatenango was the first foreign club in which Ramiro Rocca played.

In less than six months of stay in El Salvador, the left-hander who as a boy idolized Enzo Francescoli (he is a River fan) and who later took Gabriel Batistuta and Luis Suárez as models, scored 11 goals, which earned him a transfer to

Deportivo Iztapa

from Guatemala.

His first semester was not entirely auspicious, as he managed only 5 goals in 19 games.

But for him, the second semester was a success and not a simple promise thrown into the air: he screamed 16 times and was the top gunner of the Apertura Tournament.

His performance caught the attention of Municipal, the most winning team in the history of the Guatemalan professional league, and of his coach, Argentine

Sebastián Bini.

As in much of the planet, in Guatemala soccer tournaments were altered this year by the coronavirus pandemic.

Even with limited competitions,

Rocca left his scoring mark

.

In the Clausura, which ended when only 13 dates had been played, he scored 5. And in the Apertura, whose regular phase ended on Monday, he scored 20. In addition, he was the only one of his team in the 4 to 1 defeat against the

Costa Rican

Deportivo Saprissa

for the Concacaf League.

So he totaled 26.

Ramiro Rocca was the top scorer of the 2020 Apertura Tournament in Guatemala.

The count could have reached 27 had it not been for an administrative impediment: the National Football Federation of Guatemala declared Municipal lost the game that had won 1 to 0, precisely with a goal by Rocca, against

Cobán Imperial

on October 14 Because the multi-champion included goalkeeper

Kenderson Navarro

in his lineup

, who six days earlier had tested positive for covid-19.

If the Federation had not corrected the result of that match (and, therefore, invalidated that goal), the Santa Fe would have equaled the record for goals in a short tournament in Guatemala held by the Costa Rican

Rolando Fonseca

, who scored 21 for Comunicaciones in the Closing 2000.

Not a minor detail: Fonseca reached that mark in a contest of 22 dates and Rocca did it in one of just 16 days.

The Argentine still has a chance to fatten his scoring quota this year, since on Wednesday his team will play for the first leg of the quarterfinals against

Deportivo Iztapa

, a rival who had four on November 29.

That afternoon, four days after the death of Diego Armando Maradona, Rocca celebrated the first of his poker by displaying an Argentine jersey with the number ten on it.

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