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Messenger to Christ: The miraculous story of Junior Macias excites Italy
Until the age of 25, he still worked as a refrigerator carrier, playing in an amateur group with Peruvian migrant workers.
Now at 29, he is in the midst of a great Serie A debut season in the Crotone uniform, which culminated with one of the goals of the season
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Crotone
Junior Macias
World football
Michael Yochin
Wednesday, December 23, 2020, 12:30 p.m.
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Junior Macias hovered in the air, gently stopping the ball on his chest, and on the second touch sent him a maddening arc over Parma goalkeeper Luigi Sofa.
It was one of the goals of the season in Italy, and Crotona's Brazilian striker completed a double on the way to a 1-2 victory - 20 minutes earlier he also scored with a great flat kick to the corner.
He's the hot star of the favorite team from the poorest southern city on the boot sole.
Even 10 days ago, when the newcomer recorded its first victory of the season, 1: 4 over Spezia, Macias allowed twice.
When Crotone scored his first point of the season two months ago, in a sensational 1-1 draw against Juventus, he was named the outstanding player on the pitch.
In total, he has already scored five goals this season - like Ladin Dzeko and Lautro Martinez, more than Driss Martens or Albero Murata.
As its name implies, Macias is the Messiah of Crotone, and he is a special Messiah.
It is not God's messenger who is a junior, but a messenger to the house.
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The Messiah of Crotone.
Junior Macias (Photo: GettyImages)
The brother returned to Brazil, Junior stayed to work
Because his story is extraordinary on every scale.
Macias not only advanced to the Premier League for the first time in his life at the age of 29, not only played for the first time in his life in the Premier League at the age of 28 - it's nothing more.
Until five years ago he worked transporting refrigerators and vacuum cleaners to private clients across Turin.
His dream of making a living from football was light years away from him, and only a rare coincidence allowed him to revive hope and advance in a strange and bizarre way, until he got the spotlight he deserved his talent.
Macias' fate highlights how many potentially good players get lost and lead routine lives, in completely routine jobs.
If you are not located at a very young age, your chances of succeeding in football tend to be zero.
But, as Macias proves, he is only close to zero.
It is not a zero round.
In his homeland, where almost every child dreams of becoming Pele, Ziko or Neymar, it is not easy to stand out and be accepted into academia.
Macias, who was born in Blue Horizonte and tried to fit in with Cruzeiro but was disqualified, decided at one point that it would be worthwhile to cross the ocean in search of a career.
In 2011, when he was 20, he flew to Italy with his brother, and they both believed for some reason that it was there that they would be noticed.
This thought was, of course, illogical.
The brother soon returned to Brazil, Jr. remained in Turin, but was forced to make money in casual, easy and material jobs when his son was born.
See in the revelation of Junior Macias a sign from heaven.
Enzo Rossi (Photo: GettyImages)
"what are you doing here?"
In short, he was just a hand-to-mouth migrant worker.
Happily, he met a bunch of other South American migrant workers - Peruvians who set up a moving company.
They also had a football team called Sport and Erica that played in various amateur tournaments, and they offered Macias a deal that could not be refused - we will have a reinforcement player, and we will provide you with a livelihood.
Thus, for three years he carried refrigerators from morning to night, and on weekends enjoyed kicking the ball a little.
He did it well, and the Peruvians won quite a few games thanks to him.
One day Sport and Erica faced off against a refugee group, helped by Ezio Rossi, a former Torino player who even coached her without success at the start of the millennium before disappearing into the depths of the lower leagues.
Rossi was amazed at the performance of the Brazilian, who in his opinion did not have to run on the rickety mud surfaces.
Immediately upon the final whistle, he burst onto the pitch, walked over to Macias and wondered, "You are an excellent footballer. What are you doing here?".
The guy just smiled shyly.
"What is your name?" Rossi asked.
"Junior," the amateur star replied.
"Do you know that I once played in Turin with another junior?" Said Rossi, who collaborated with the legendary left-back of the Salsa in the 1980s.
In this, too, he saw a sign from heaven.
He was determined to arrange for his new friend a slightly more normal group.
"I earn more as a messenger, and can not give it up. I have a family."
Macias with his wife and children
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by walter messias junior (@ messias_w_jr30)
The first salary - 1,500 euros
Rossi knew the owner of Pusano from the sixth division well, and immediately picked up the phone.
The club showed interest, but the salary offered to Messias was appallingly low.
"I earn a lot more as a messenger, and can't give it up. I have a family," the Brazilian told the coach.
He no longer really believed that football could be his main occupation - and rightly so.
However, in 2015, when Rossi himself was appointed coach of Casala from the fifth division, Junior's life changed nonetheless.
The president was persuaded to give the Brazilian 1,500 euros a month to make him abandon the vacuum cleaner and stoves.
It was not a significant financial upgrade, but Macias went for it.
With Rossi on the lines, there was still some hope here.
Thus, at the age of 24, he finally began his career in real Italian football.
After tearing up nets at Casale, Macias was recruited in 2016 by Kyrie from the Fourth Division, and was successful there as well.
He turned out to be a quality department store player at the front - both a striker, a playmaker, an extremist.
Also dribbling in grace, and also a team player.
Pro League second-team scouts Racheli spotted him in 2017, and the enthusiasm was immense.
The Brazilian had already summed up the terms of the contract and prepared for the dream promotion, but then it turned out to be impossible.
Under the rules of the Italian association, teams from the second and third leagues are not allowed to sign players outside the EU.
The deal was canceled, and Messias returned to the fourth division, this time in a Guzano uniform.
He soon became a car player, but the goals did not come.
Junior Macias in Crotone (Photo: GettyImages)
From the far north to the far south
However, there was still a small window of hope.
Regulations allow non-union players to play in the third or second division provided their team finishes in first place in the fourth division.
This is primarily to prevent a situation where players are required to leave their club following an increase.
Therefore, Macias knew that a "championship" in his province would allow Peru Vercelli to return to him - and he achieved the goal in the most dramatic way.
Towards the final round, Guzano enjoyed a two-point advantage over Como, and a home win over Arconata would promise her an increase.
She lost, but at the same time Como only ended in a draw against a team that lost interest, and this result was fatal for Macias.
After hearing the news, he got down on his knees and thanked God.
Pro Vercelli has not called, but in early 2019 he was signed by Crotone from the second division, in order to join him in the summer.
It was a dramatic change for the Brazilian who was excited to live in the mountainous north of Italy, and citrus suddenly to the other end of the country - but the feeling about the move was good.
In the Calabria region he was welcomed with open arms, and he soon became a key player in the squad, but the goals did not come.
Gutsano, too, was not known for being a big scorer, and Crotone had to wait until the end of December to find the net.
"You've finally done it," Ezio Rossi told him at the time, not stopping to keep track of his progress.
It was a fantastic graduation chord for 2019, and 2020 turned out to be a thousand times more amazing for the Brazilian.
Trust him with his eyes closed.
Giovanni Strofa (Photo: GettyImages)
"It's hard to believe it's real"
The corona did not stop its ascent either.
Six goals and six assists may not have been an incredible statistic, but they helped Crotone return to the Premier League, and the refrigerator messenger to fulfill the secret dream for which he came to Italy almost a decade ago, and which he managed to abandon more than once.
At 29, he was on the big stage, and coach Giovanni Strofa trusts him with his eyes closed.
He is the only Crotone field player to start in the squad in all rounds, and the attacking game is built around him.
In the first five home games he has met AC Milan, Juventus, Atalanta, Lazio and Napoli.
After the draw against the old lady, the Brazilian said: "It's a little hard for me to believe it's real."
You can understand it.
So now came the gates too.
And what more gates!
"Junior is a wonderful story," said Strofa after the celebration against Parma. .
And who knows, maybe 2021 will be even more magical for him.
In this legend anything is possible, and Crotone may not be the last stop in the unique career of the Messiah who was until recently just a messenger.
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