While
Chubut
was repositioning itself on the map of Argentina due to the funds that the National Government tried to cut,
Shunsuke Murakami
adapted his dreams: to the Argentine time zone and to being a soccer player in this land.
He arrived in the country after a season in the promotion of
Australia
with one purpose:
“to succeed in South American soccer
. ”
Murakami is Japanese, he is 23 years old and plays as a right winger.
He did so at
Heidelberg United , with five matches in the
National Premier League – Victoria
tournament
, and two in the
Australian Cup
, all as a starter.
He arrived in
Rawson
with a suitcase and the pass in his possession, focused on what was at stake: they were waiting for him in
Germinal
for a series of tests to evaluate him as a possible reinforcement for
this year's
Federal A.
His brothers, he is the middle one, played soccer but never professionally and Shunsuke is the only one in his family who dedicated himself to ball.
The distance from his country, the hotbed of Chubut due to issues of co-participation and the promise that not a drop of oil would leave the territory, aspects that Murakami hardly grasped, allow us to prejudge a loneliness on par with that of the characters of
Bill Murray
and
Scarlett Johansson
in
“Lost in Tokyo”
.
-How are you Shunsuke, how do you feel?
- Everything cool, everything cool.
Murakami is a right winger and arrived after a season in Australia's promotion.
Apparently, Murakami has no adaptation problems.
In a chat via
with
Clarín
, “todo piola” is one of the few words that does not arrive in English.
That, for now, is the language he uses although he studies “Spanish.”
The
slang
comes out of the locker room.
“I have problems with my Spanish, but my Argentinian colleagues are all very friendly and always willing to help me.
And they always invite me with yerba mate!
ha ha"
How did a Japanese come to Germinal for Federal A?
Technically it is managed by
Damián Escudero
, that midfielder from
Vélez
and
Boca
, among others, who after his retirement is dedicated to representing players.
Although he has not yet signed a contract, during his trial period, Shunsuke has already raised a trophy: the
"City of Trelew" Summer Cup
organized by
Independiente
of that city, a litmus test in which he was a starter in the semifinals - he scored a goal - and came on as a substitute in the final.
“I'm happy to have scored a goal. “It was nice to show something good in my first game at El Verde
,” he says in English except when he says
“El Verde
.
Of all his objectives, the first is to sign his contract.
The maximum is to build a distant career, which places him in the national team of his country.
But for that transit, he has other expectations:
“I want to move up with Germinal, try to be number one and increase my personal value
.
He drinks.
For Murakami there is no abyss between
Professional League
football
and
Federal A.
This year, Germinal will be - of the 38 teams divided into four zones - the team that will have to travel the most kilometers in the first phase:
15,722
to face nine other teams, including Olimpo from Bahía Blanca or Kimberley from Mar del Plata.
The shortest distance that the Chubut team will travel to reach its rival's field will be 506 kilometers and the longest will be 1,190.
You may not know that most of those trips will be by bus.
Or maybe you do, and you don't care.
Shunsuke Murakami in action: He is on trial at Germinal and played in the Rawson City Cup.
“I want to play in front of a big crowd, entertain the crowd and make my family happy with football.
The audience here is also fascinating.
Since I was little I dreamed of being a professional soccer player and I am grateful and very excited to be able to sign a professional contract in South America, a place that I have watched on television since I was a child.
I also
saw a documentary video about the history of Boca
. And I used to watch a lot of videos of Diego Maradona! “He tells and talks about what he likes, what he would like and what he wants.
In his childhood, in Japan, he used to go to FC Tokyo
matches
in his hometown.
From what he saw here, he believes that his teammates
“have a very high knowledge of football”
and assures that
“they are capable of improving each other in training
. ”
He believes that the training mode is different from what he knows.
Not because of the physical aspect, in fact Murakami is a physical education teacher -
"I graduated, but I never practiced, I want to be a soccer player
," he remarks - but because of the concepts that he grasps.
“In addition to learning greetings in Spanish, I understood soccer terminology
,” he expands and unintentionally gives an account of how soccer was also deconstructed: unlike the first Japanese player in Argentine soccer,
Yasushi Kawakami
, or the most marketable,
Naohiro Takahara
, no one nicknamed him “Ponja” or issues like that.
“Here in the club everyone calls me Shun or Mura
,” she says, somewhat surprised by the question and in an accelerated “Argentinization” process.
-You said that they invited you mate: Do you like it?
-Yerba mate is very healthy and I like the flavor... but I like roasted more.
"Asado", of course, in Spanish and along with an emoji that reinforces the matter.
The first date of Federal A for Germinal will be at home.
On March 24 he will host Círculo Deportivo de Otamendi,
El Papero
, and that day is already marked on Murakami's agenda as the first step of his South American dream.