-Pa, they summoned me!
-Where to?
– To the selection!
-Which team?
–The Colombian National Team, that of Professor Lorenzo, that of James, that of Falcao…
“How so, son?” But right now there are no parties.
–But they called me, pa, for a microcycle…
–…
–Pa?
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That was the news. Untimely as big news usually is. And Don Richard was speechless, or the ones he had ran over in his throat with emotion. And since they did not come out, he opted for the force of silence: he dropped to his knees and thanked God because Kevin Castaño, his 22-year-old son, a flyer made in Golden Eaglesa boy who grew up without realizing it, that he raised with his grandmother and that he trained as a footballer, fulfilled his dream in the national team.
–Pa, this is thanks to God and to my mother (her deceased grandmother), I have asked a lot for this opportunity to represent my country.
Don Richard, who was listening to him in a state of shock, could only speak in his mind, where the words did come out, and in his prayer he asked God to fill Kevin with wisdom, as if he had a premonition that after the microcycle he would fulfill his other dream : play with James and Falcao and all their other idols…
Is Thursday. Don Richard awaits the return of his son from the last trip with the National Team to Asia, where he was a starter and surprising figure against Korea and Japan. Meanwhile, he removes the memories of him. His voice, so paisa, so kind, sounds vibrant to her, a mixture of emotion and nostalgia. His dialogue is full of silences in which he swallows, as if not to break when he tells how it all started. He recounts that when Kevin came into the world his joy at being a father contrasted with the rapid break with his mother, and when she had to leave for work, he decided to be mom and dad at the same time, raise him, educate him with the help of grandmother María Noelia. Kevin grew up with them in a house in the humble Santa Cruz de Itagüí neighborhood, he studied at the Diego Echavarría school, but the field quickly called him and his father was key in that.
(Read also: Colombian team, remarkable victory: this is how they played one by one against Japan)
Don Richard was a coach at a soccer school and from the age of 3 he already had Kevin, there he gave him his first lessons: he became a father-mother-coach, in everything. In 2008, Águilas Doradas arrived in Itagüí and Don Richard ran to look for a job as DT, they gave it to him and he began to train children, including his son, whom he took every day; sometimes they came walking, when the motorcycle failed them. Kevin, 7 years old, was the one who helped him carry the bags of balls. By then they were already talking about dreams. Don Richard, with the same devotion with which he raised his son, decided to make him a great footballer: he taught him to kick, to move, and he also taught him to score goals, because Kevin, that seasoned midfielder who devoured himself with bites the field with the National Team, he was a striker, he was a scorer.
Kevin was passionate, he played municipal tournaments and he stood out, I put him as a striker and he always scored goals, he had power to kick and a lot of leadership
“Kevin was passionate, he played municipal tournaments and he stood out, I put him in the forward position and he always scored goals, he had the power to kick and a lot of leadership,” recalls the father, who had put together a team with the best children in the 2000 category, that of Kevin, and they participated in tournaments they don’t forget, in some they won titles and celebrated together and Kevin did not stop scoring goals. But something key was missing in his career: becoming a midfielder.
One day, in a match, Mr. Richard noticed that Kevin not only was too tall for him, at 1.68 meters tall, but that he had a lot of aggressiveness in the mark, bravery, that he liked to recover the ball vehemently, so he started to delay him, first at midfielder 10, then further back, and there he stayed, like a courageous midfielder of those who take away, of those who roar first so that no one roars at them.
At the age of 15, the coach of the Águilas sub-20, Samuel Vanegas, asked for it, and Don Richard released him to make his flight with another coach. And he did so well that he quickly made it to the first team, and it was already a matter of days before his professional debut.
The debut and the drama
Year 2020. It was the day of the debut. Kevin was nervous, normal, but not only because of the possibility of debuting, but because that same day his father was bedridden, where death was haunting him. The disease attacked him as he knows best, unpredictable: kidney stones gave way to covid. He had two respiratory arrests. The doctors were not optimistic. “Miraculously still alive”, they said, and whoever believes in miracles will know that this miracle was called Kevin, who entered his first professional game when Don Richard had surgery. When he woke up and saw himself among the living, he thought of his son, asked for the videos of the game, saw the final 12 minutes he played against Leones in the Colombia Cup, and cried… and convinced himself that if he was still alive it was to see him fulfill other dreams
Kevin became a vital player for Águilas, even their captain. In 2021 he played 23 league games. In 2022, 35. Then a light bulb lit up on Néstor Lorenzo’s radar, who quoted him for a National Team microcycle in October last year, it was when Don Richard got on his knees to remember all this history. Kevin was then called up for a friendly against the USA in January, coming on in the 83rd minute. And the best was yet to come: the recent call-up in which he started alongside their greatest idols.
“It was a dream for both of us and I admire him because he had to grow up as a child and understand the problems that faced us. I was very strict with him, perhaps I was exaggerating. But today I thank God because he has given me this opportunity to see his achievements, and with my feet on the ground, because I tell him, ‘you have not won anything, and when you have, humility must prevail.’
(Also read: The South American Cup: glory and booty (last tango, opinion))
Selection Player
-Son, are you going to play?
-I don’t know, dad.
–But if there is half an hour left for the game against Korea. Haven’t they told you?
-No, dad.
Kevin already knew. He was going to make his debut as a starter for the National Team on March 24, but he did not say anything, perhaps because his nerves made him think that Lorenzo suddenly regretted it at the last minute, or perhaps he thought he was sleeping and if he told the dream he would he woke up before the game and didn’t play it, or it was because he wanted to take his dad by surprise.
“It’s just that Kevin is very reserved,” explains Don Richard, who couldn’t believe it when he saw him on the field singing the anthem, and when he saw him venting his talent, with struggle, with character, even with veteran shouts, as if I would have lived the dream a thousand times and already knew what it was like. And yet Don Richard was not satisfied. His demand as a coach, that discipline that he instilled in him as a child, when he wouldn’t even let him play in the neighborhood so he wouldn’t go astray, won over his pride as a father.
I know him and he could give more.
–But he was the figure of the party…
But he could give much more. She had stage fright: I know him, I know what kind of player he is. And it was what he showed us in the second match against Japan.
Since then this dad-coach and his son have not stopped chatting while they meet again. Kevin told him that he felt good, that Korea seemed huge to him, that the language is difficult, that Japan is cold, he told him that James is “a lot of quality”, and that “Falcao is a gentleman”, and that “everyone is a cracks”, and that “they are not as seen on TV, but rather they are better…”, and told him, with the strength of his young voice, the voice that has already made itself felt in the National Team, that he is going to work double for Lorenzo to call him again.
PAUL ROMERO
Editor of EL TIEMPO
@PabloRomeroET
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