A Selection from another world: the Retegui case and the stories of Argentines who play for other countries

For years, the

has been working to seduce and bring the national teams closer to a large group of young people born mainly on European soil and sons of Argentine parents, such as

,

,

and the brothers

.

But it is not the only federation that works in this line.

And several search in this part of the world.

This practice was evident these days with the calls that came from Italy for two men who play in the

(LPF).

For the

, it is not a novelty to look towards Argentina, the country in which the largest colony of Italian migrants in the world resides.

Almost a century ago, in 1925, Julio Libonatti from Rosario was the first to wear the blue shirt.

He was followed by

,

,

and

, champions in the 1934 World Cup. The flow was never interrupted:

,

and

, in the 1960s, built the bridge so that in this century

(2006 German champion),

Gabriel

,

,

and

.

This week, and given the difficulties in having several of his usual forwards (

,

,

), Roberto Mancini decided to call on Mateo Retegui for the matches that his team will play against

in Naples (March 23 ) and against

in Ta'Qali (March 26).

Bruno Zapelli, a figure from Belgrano, was summoned by the coach of the Italian U-21 team.

Photo: Club Atlético Belgrano Press.

The decision caused surprise in Italy

, especially since, unlike all the compatriots called up previously, the striker does not play in that country or in Europe.

In fact, he spent his entire short career (he is 23 years old) in Argentina: he made his debut in Boca and went through Estudiantes de La Plata and Talleres before joining Tigre.

His great letter of introduction has been his goals: he was the top scorer in the last edition of the LPF (he scored 19) and he is achieving the same merit in the current one (he has 6).

That was not the only call that came from the peninsula at this time.

from Cordoba

for the friendlies against Serbia in Backa Topola (March 24) and against Ukraine in Reggio Calabria (March 27) as part of the preparation for the European Championship of the category that will take place in Georgia and Romania between June 21 and July 8.

The talented midfielder born 20 years ago in Villa Carlos Paz, who was one of the key players in the Belgrano team that won promotion to the LPF last year, represented the Argentine under-15 and under-17 teams, which It will not prevent you from doing this experience and will not prevent you from wearing the albiceleste again in the future, if you decide to do so.

Chimy Ávila, figure of Osasuna, awaits his chance with the Spanish team.

Photo: Salvador Sas / EFE.

The Italian Federation has not been the only one that in recent decades has used Argentine soccer players : other men such as

(France),

(Croatia),

(Switzerland) and

also represented European teams.

(Spain).

The Spaniards were precisely the ones who gave the note last week by summoning

.

The man from Rosario, who was trained in

and played for a couple of years in

, has been working in Spain for five and a half years (first in Huesca and since 2019 in Osasuna) and last year he obtained his national identity document from That country.

With this, he was included by Luis de la Fuente in the pre-list for the matches against

and

for the qualification for Eurocopa 2024.

, he assured this week.

Four months ago, on November 17 of last year, the overwhelming majority of Argentine soccer fans counted down the hours until the start of the World Cup.

However, one family, that of

, was much more attentive to a friendly that Slovenia and Romania were playing in Cluj.

That day, the striker from San Lorenzo made his debut for the Balkan team, which won 2-1.

Andrés Vombergar represents the Slovenian team, the country of his ancestors.

Photo: Silvana Boemo.

Vombergar was born 28 years ago in Villa Luzuriaga, but his grandparents were Slovenian and his parents preserved the traditions of their ancestors in the family home and even the use of the language.

"At home we spoke Slovenian to maintain customs and I learned that language first," he told Clarín in August 2022. That made it easier for him to play almost three years at Olimpija in that country and opened the doors of the national team.

Two other Argentines represent a European team these days, although their aspirations are far from the World Cups and Euro Cups.

and

are writing their history in the

, the oldest sovereign state on the planet.

The team of that small country of 33,000 inhabitants is the last among the 211 that are staggered in the FIFA ranking.

Hirsch, who was inferior in

, played a year in Juventud de Pergamino and then ended up in Conesa de San Nicolás, settled in San Marino in 2009 and debuted in 2014 in the national team whose colors he has already defended 57 times.

Rossi traveled in mid-2019 (at that time he was playing for San José de la Esquina) and joined the team in 2020. Both followed in the footsteps of Nicoleño striker Danilo Rinaldi, the first Argentine to represent the micro-state team located in Italian territory .

Adolfo Hirsch has represented San Marino since 2014. Photo: Jennifer Lorenzini / Reuters.

A few years ago Norberto Briasco and Esteban Saveljich also had their experience.

The Boca striker played 10 games between 2018 and 2021 for Armenia (his mother's family is from there) and the former Racing defender, who currently plays for Rayo Vallecano, wore the Montenegro shirt four times between 2015 and 2016.

Not only in Europe have they resorted to Argentine soccer players: several American federations have also done so.

One of those that has come to the fore has been the Mexican, although in this case without appealing to family roots, but to residence in its territory.

More than a dozen players born in this part of the world have played for El

, including

,

,

and

.

Who currently does it is

.

After his debut at River and a short European experience (with steps through the Portuguese Benfica and the Turkish Eskisehirspor), he found his place in the world in Monterrey, where he has been playing since 2015. Although he had represented the Argentine Under 17 teams and Under 20, and even in 2012 he played a friendly with the senior team led by

against Brazil in Goiás, in 2021 he made the leap.

Rogelio Funes Mori played the World Cup in Qatar with the Mexican national team.

Photo: Alfredo Estrella / AFP.

Summoned by

, he made his debut for the Mexican national team on July 4, 2021 in a 4-0 victory against Nigeria in a friendly.

He started in the six games of the Concacaf Gold Cup that year, in which El

was runner-up, and had a good participation in the Qualifiers for Qatar 2022. He was included in the squad for the World Cup and played four minutes against Saudi Arabia in the third group game they shared with Argentina.

Another World Cup representative in Qatar was

: he guarded Ecuador's goal in the three group A games against the Netherlands, Senegal and the host team.

Sixteen months earlier he had made his debut in the 2021 Copa América in Brazil and very quickly Gustavo Alfaro granted him ownership of the fence.

The 35-year-old from Rosario was formed in the lower ranks of Rosario Central, with which he had his debut in the First Division in 2008 and was relegated to the First B Nacional in 2010. After a stint at Quilmes, he settled in Ecuador, where he works for more than a decade, with a short hiatus of six months at the University of Chile.

Goalkeeper like Galíndez,

from Neuquén has represented Chile, the country of his mother's family, since Reinaldo Rueda made him debut in June 2018 in a friendly with Serbia in Graz. Thus he followed in the footsteps of other Argentines who defended the Trans-Andean team like

at the beginning of this century and, closer in time,

from Tucumán , champion of the 2016 Copa América Centenario.

Gabriel Arias, goalkeeper for Racing and the Chilean national team.

Photo: Paulo Whitaker / EFE.

Since his debut, the Racing goalkeeper has had to fight for the position with a heavyweight like

and was also sidelined for almost 10 months due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

That did not prevent him from adding 14 presences.

The last, after overcoming his injury, was in September last year in a 2-2 draw with Qatar in Vienna.

from Santa Cruz gave the gift, who at

the At the age of 15, she had started the procedures to obtain the nationality of the country where one of her grandmothers was born.

The 19-year-old boy, who can play as a defender or central midfielder, was born in Río Gallegos, began playing in his city's Boxing Club, went through the Comodoro Rivadavia Children's Activities Commission and in 2020 joined Racing's lower ranks .

Just a few days ago, on February 27, Fernando Gago made him debut in the First Division in the 2-1 victory over Lanús at the Presidente Perón stadium.

Andrés Cubas chases Lionel Messi during the match between Argentina and Paraguay for the Copa América in Brazil 2021. Photo: Evaristo Sa / AFP.

The Paraguayan is the largest migrant colony in Argentina (900,238 according to data from the National Registry of People of August 2022).

Several of the children and grandchildren of these migrants have chosen to represent the select of their ancestors.

The list in recent years has been very long and has included players such as

,

,

,

,

and

, among others.

Currently the

has

.

The former Boca midfielder (today in Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer) was born in Aristóbulo del Valle (Misiones), but his parents are Paraguayan and thanks to this he obtained nationality in 2019. On November 19 of that year he made his debut in a friendly against Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, called up by

.

's departure

,

has also taken him into account for his calls.

The Argentine presence is not limited to Europe and America.

In the distant United Arab Emirates, a man born in Olivos and trained as a footballer in Colegiales represents and contributes a good dose of goals to the team of this oil monarchy:

.

Sebastián Tagliabúe has represented the United Arab Emirates team since 2020.

The 38-year-old forward has been in the Middle East for more than 12 years: the first three in Saudi Arabia (he played for Al-Ettifaq and Al-Shabab) and since 2013 in the United Arab Emirates.

Most of his career was spent at Al-Wahda, with whom he scored 170 goals in 207 games.

That made him the club's all-time goalscorer and the second in the history of the Gulf Arab League.

With more than 300 shouts from him, he is the 11th highest Argentine scorer in history and the second in activity,

At the beginning of 2020, after almost two years of waiting, he obtained his Emirati passport and that opened the doors of the national team, with which he made his debut (and scored a goal) on October 12 of that year in a friendly against Uzbekistan in Abu Dabi.

Since then, he has played 18 games and celebrated 5 goals with the team that was two steps away from qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar (they lost to Australia in the Asian Football Confederation play-off).

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