2022-09-05
Valerio Marinacci and Keyrol Figueroa They are the youth legionnaires that sound the most in Honduras. Both have the footballing conditions and the age to play with the U-20 National Team next Indonesian World Cup which will be held from May to June 2023.
The coach of this squad, Louis Alvaradotalked with DIEZ On the subject of feeling around the Mini H, which has nine months to prepare for the upcoming World Cup.
The progressive strategist affirms that he is following up on all soccer players of Honduran origin who play abroad who are suitable for military service in the U-20 team, since his priority is only to have players born in 2003 and 2004, not minors, in order to respect the U-17 process.
Fenafuth He is already in communication with Lazio in request of a possible call for the footballer Marinacci. The same happens with Keyrol at Liverpool. This Luis Alvarado told us exclusively in our first part of the interview.
– THE INTERVIEW –
We have learned that they are already in the process of summoning the Italian soccer player of Honduran blood, Valerio Marinacci, left back of the Lazio U-19 team. What can you tell us about it?
“We want to strengthen this team. Coincidentally, someone recently approached me and said: ‘Teacher, there is a player there, although I know you don’t like foreigners’, and right there I stopped him. No, this has been misunderstood. At no time did I say that I do not want legionnaires, I simply said that for the Premundial I played it with catrachos because I had to present a list and those young people were the ones I knew.
We went with them and got the ticket to the World Cup, but now it’s up to them if they stay in the next nine months or if they give the gap to another player who takes away the quota. If a goalkeeper comes who is better than we have, he is welcome, as well as a central defender. If a player like Valerio and it is better than what we already have, without a doubt it is welcome. We want to put Honduras at the top and for that we need the best warriors”.
Valerio comments that he wants to play with Honduras. How real is this possibility?
“He’s on the radar as well as all the eligible players we can get. In these nine months we can see players who have not been in this process. To play with Honduras you have to know the pitches and the atmosphere there. There is no date when he could come, all that is handled by the federation, at the time it will be known when a player comes. The most important thing is to have them in person. With Valerio, the language is still a distant one to have fluid communication, already having him close you can talk, find a translator, etc, so that he can feel comfortable, show his talent and be part of the team”.
How closely do they track Marinacci?
“Follow up to Valerio like all the players you have seen through digital media. I’ve only seen five full matches of him in his category. He seems to me to be a physically important player; living in Europe he has a different type of diet and training, so he is well endowed there. He started as a striker, then moved to left wing and now he is a winger, which are aspects to take into account where he can be more useful with Honduras if he is taken into account either in this selection or in future ones.
So it is with everyone. We cannot mention names because false expectations are created about the players. We do our work silently and at the right time they will come. It is important to let them know that we cannot bring them all, we have to observe them. When they come they will show themselves and when that happens, they either stay with the position or go back to their teams”.
Valerio doesn’t need to have his passport ready to be summoned to a microcycle and keep him close…
“Whether from any country, the important thing is that he comes and is with us. Sometimes it goes beyond being a good player, but also how you get involved in the group part. If he’s a very good player and makes a difference over those we have, we’ll need him, but we can’t bring someone from abroad to be a substitute, because they should be the solution”.
Who handles the issue to facilitate its call?
“I only in the administrative part, I only observe the players. If I see that they have the characteristics that we need, I pass the report to the administrative part and they do their corresponding part there”.
Do you maintain direct communication with Marinacci?
“Not at all”.
Fenafuth has been in communication to facilitate the call for Keyrol Figueroa… but Honduras wants him for the U-17 process.
“It is a complex issue. There are ages that must be respected and we believe that Keyrol is in a phenomenal ascending step, but it should not be rushed. Although it is true, it has a lot of potential, it is important that it has a U-17 process, that breaks it in that category and then step by step that it militates in the U-20, from there it rises to the U-23 and the Major. This is if he and his family decide that he play for Honduras because you have to take into account that he has options to play with other countries and you have to see which one he is going to decide for.
So you rule out Keyrol for the U-20 that will play the World Cup?
Yes. For now they are the players born in 2003 and 2004. Eventually a couple of 2005 as the case of the goalkeeper Juergen Garcia (Lone FC, Second Division) and Afronit Tatum who plays with Real spain in the National League and Concacaf. They are players who are one step ahead of their corresponding age; They, like Keyrol, are old enough to play in the next Under-20, so there is no rush. Right now the priority is Marco Aceituno, Jefryn Macías and Dimitri Gordon”.
Johann Chirinos, soccer player for the youth Orlando City and Joyner Castillo from the second team of the Houston Dynamo are also eligible for the U-20…
“I had Johann in the last process when I directed the U-17; at that time he was playing for Atlanta United. His case is the same, he was born in 2005 and is old enough to play in the next U-20.
Joyner was in a double friendly against Guatemala in February, but unfortunately, as I told him, they were not his best games and here we take care that when you come, you break it. He is a very good player, he has conditions. Just this week I was talking to him and at any moment he could appear.
All the names of the legionnaires that they mention to us are not unknown, we have already had contact with them or we have brought them, or we are there, like Julian Martínez, who for the microcycle that occupied him in Siguatepeque had gone to Uruguay a week before. He has been playing in Uruguayan football for six months and is on the radar”.