It is necessary to place ourselves in 2011 at the
under 17 soccer World Cup that was held in Mexico
where the most promising young soccer players from each team met.
The tournament was made up of two phases: in the first, six groups of four teams each were formed and the two best from each zone and the four best third places advanced to the next round.
The 16 qualified teams made up the round of 16 in which the number of teams was reduced to eight for the quarterfinals, to four for the semifinals and finally to two for the final at the
Azteca Stadium
.
The two finalists:
Mexico, the local team, against Uruguay
.
In the match that before the eyes of almost 99 thousand spectators,
the Tricolor beat the Celeste by 2 to 0
.
The curious thing is not the match or the World Cup, but a particular soccer player:
Sebastián Canobra
, the promise of soccer in 2011, who at the age of 17 entered to play the last minutes of that final against the Mexicans.
The one trained in
Atenas de San Carlos
was one step away from playing for Peñarol in Uruguay:
"I went with desire and expectation. It was a different moment, I went with euphoria, another mentality. With the desire to grow and aspirations,"
he recalled at the time.
But, unfortunately,
a torn cruciate ligament and torn meniscus
cut short his dream.
Sebastián Canobra in Curacao.
The months of recovery turned into years and it is at that point where the person begins to rethink whether it is really worth continuing to try at football.
Sebastian did so.
Curacao received him, more precisely the
RKSV Scherpenheuvel
where his last appearance in football was recorded in 2018.
At present,
12 years after being the young star of the Uruguay national team, Sebastián is a man who is homeless
, due to an addiction, in the city of Minas, department of Lavalleja.
In recent days, the news emerged through a Facebook user:
"He is a 29-year-old young man, who is wandering in our city of Minas, he is homeless. Speaking with him, he told me his life story, “He asked me for help and says he wants to have a job, a place to live
. ”
In that same publication he added a quote from the player, who asked to dignify himself as a person and
expressed his desire to play football again
.
This user called a group to find a place where Canobra can live, a job and find a soccer club in which the former youth team player would have minutes.
“I know that it can be interpreted as very crazy to believe that you can help someone who fell into addiction, but we must believe and trust in the gurises who want to get ahead
,” he explained about his action.
Sebastián Canobra today.
A few hours later, that post was deleted because, due to its enormous impact,
it reached one of Canobra's brothers.
On the same social network, the man asked for respect for the family
:
“No one but us knows what we have been through and the help we have given him until the last day he asked us for help.
“Everyone has the right to comment, since it was made public, but I ask for respect and, if you don't know about the subject, spare yourself the comment
,” he expressed.
In December 2023, the department's Ministry of Social Development also made itself available to Sebastián and offered him a place in a shelter for people who were in his situation, but the former soccer player withdrew from the center.
“I'm upset
,” was the response he gave.
The latest news about his present came this Friday, when the family made the decision to travel from Maldonado to Minas to admit him to a rehabilitation center, as reported by
El Observador
.
The place where Sebastián will remain will be private at the request of the Canobras.
On the other hand, the
Uruguayan Mutual of Professional Soccer Players
also made itself available to the Canobra family.