It seems like yesterday when I was a child and everyone on the sports news started to talk about a kid who played for River Plate in Argentina and at less than 20 years old amazed the world: every European Team wanted him. This kid was Radamel Falcao Garcia. He amazed River Plate fans with his goals until 2009, when good news came.
The summer of 2009 brought Falcao, the Colombian promise, a 23-year-old kid, the opportunity to achieve what every kid who dreams about being a football player wanted: to play in Europe. Thousands of children dream about it but only a few achieve it. The city of Porto was his destiny, and with FC Porto, he won everything. He played and left the club as an idol. Madrid was his next city. Falcao arrived like a star and Diego “El Cholo” Simeone (manager of “Atletico de Madrid”) received him with open arms.
With “Los Colchoneros” he became the best, and he shone around the world. During the 2012 season he was part of the FIFA XI (the team of players who were the best of the year in each position). Imagine that: the best forward in the world was born in Colombia. “El Tigre” chose another path; he became Colombia’s top scorer and was the star of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
He went to A.S. Monaco despite everyone believing that it was the right time for Falcao to sign for a big club. In France, he had the worst experience that a football player could have: on January 22nd of 2014 he left the field with an injury to his left knee. The fear of every Colombian football fan was that Falcao would not be able to make it to the 2014 World Cup in the summer. He couldn’t, and not only that, but the next 2 years were disappointing, even though he went to England, one of the best tournaments in the world and played for one of the best teams in the country. However, injuries didn’t allow Falcao to show his talent because there was a lot of pressure coming from his environment. Even the Colombian Journalist Ivan Mejia called him an “ex-football player.” With this total lack of respect, these were tough times for Falcao.
Back in Monaco in 2016, “El Tigre” had time to recover and shone again. He won Ligue 1 and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. The current season is no different; he is the top scorer and the MVP of August in the French League. He hasn’t been a regular in the national team since his injury in 2014, but in 2017 as a result of his effort, his discipline, and his desire to never give up, he has made a magnificent comeback, and we can see the joy on his face of returning to glory when he scored the equalizer against Brazil. Falcao teaches us that dreams come true with hard work and discipline. Falcao deserves to play in the World Cup, and the World Cup deserves to have Falcao for the joy of everyone who admires heroes like him who make football the most beautiful sport.
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