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2024-04-22 21:28:00
Reinventing oneself is not a foreign word for Raziel Garcia. He knows what it’s like to be on the brink of retirement and reach the pinnacle of Peruvian football. After a short-lived but high-profile passage through Peruvian team between 2021 and 2022 he failed to repeat notable performances in Sports Tolima from Colombia y Carlos Mannucci. Faced with adversity, he decided to return to his roots, find himself, step down and with nobility – or courage – make the decision to compete for Peruvian promotion with the club that lifted him up as a professional footballer. San Martín University. It does not seek glory, it is the healthy process of achieving a noble goal: to be the architect of the return to League 1 2025. Nor is it an upturn in his career; but a revenge for life, feeling the same sensitivity with the ball that one day made him happy.
The midfielder, with three decades under his belt, spoke to Infobae Peru, about their tribulations, the recent promising past, the excitement of the present and the faith in their future. From the criticism for playing in the second division, the task of being a father and mother, to the long-awaited return to ‘white red’. This and more the left tells us.
– How do you feel in the first weeks with San Martín, your youth club?
Very happy to be home again, I feel very comfortable. There is a good group, there is a good coach, a good environment, which is essential and the basis for being able to do a good job.
– You told us you felt a bit nauseous, what is your injury and how long will it be before you are back on the pitch?
I had a bruised heel, so I have a cracked calcaneus that will keep me out for at least three weeks.I hope it is less, but we have to take it in the best way, look at it on the positive side, that it happens at the beginning of the championship and not in decisive cases.
– The collective goal is to get promoted to League 1 no matter what, but on an individual level, what is planned?… A moment ago I heard you joke that for every five assists they should give you a prize.. .
My individual goal, the first thing is to add, as much or as little as I can from where I am, to the group, to give my best effort which I have always tried to do and to advance. To be a main character, that if they trust me, I have to make it worth it, the efforts they make for me. To help with the experience I have and lead this group, which is made up of very good people and that makes me very happy.
– Although there are recognized footballers in the category, with a past in the national team, because of a recent past, do you feel that you are the top figure in the competition?
Not so much figure, I have a bit more experience, maybe I’ll be a bit more active, but yes I have the responsibility, yes I feel the weight of giving a little more, of being more responsible, important and decisive in more complicated cases. I think that’s why they brought me in, but there are also very important players like Damián Ísmodes, who has played abroad, in the national team and last year had a good campaign here. I come to add, which is the main thing.
– Your signing for San Martín attracted a lot of attention, not because of the club, but because of the division… What was the reason for your move, did you prioritize staying in Lima?
You are right, the decision to come to San Martín is because it is a serious institution, one of the few in Peruvian football, unfortunately it is in League 2. Another is a personal matter, There are many people who criticize me, that how I will play in Colombia, on the national team, now I will play League 2, but for me family is very important. It was a decision to think of them, of my children, of being able to be here in Lima. I don’t want to sound too big or how you want to take it, but I had ten first division teams wanting my services, but I prioritized the family aspect and try to return this team to the place it deserves. San Martín is a club that has a place to train, that pays on time, that cares about what you need, if the group requires something extra they make an effort and everything is organized. It is what a professional footballer needs to be able to work in the best possible way. I decided to bet and trust this club.
– After two years, how do you classify your time in Colombian football? You went to Deportes Tolima at a time when you were shining in the local tournament, and by going abroad you rejected some proposals. Unfortunately things did not turn out as you expected, what was the context for your football not being able to develop?
The pace of competition was a bit difficult for me, but above all it is a matter of taste. The coach I got just didn’t like it. although he did things well, sometimes. Football is like that and you have to understand that every coach has certain weaknesses due to certain characteristics or players. Suddenly they didn’t like me, I didn’t end up playing and I also had injuries from strokes. I have experience again, I already enjoyed it, I already lived it, I already experienced it there and it was time to return to the USMP to return it where it belongs and why not, return overseas. I still have a contract there, I am on loan and the possibility of returning is not closed.. Now (2024) I couldn’t go because of the foreign quota, they were full and they had to lend me another loan, but I always see the bright side, the well-being of my family, try to do things well and work.
– It speaks well of the appreciation they have of you at the institutional level, because it was easy to terminate your contract and let you go free with your passport, suddenly they see in you a potential to return…
We just talked about it, unfortunately they had to hire a foreign goalkeeper and that’s why the foreigner quota is full, but the possibility of returning is not closed, I hope it can be done, so the only thing I have to do is to be prepared in case it happens. Have a good league, promotion with San Martín and we’ll see what happens.
– After ups and downs, you got to taste the satisfaction of wearing the national team shirt, but not for a very long period… Do you feel that that chapter has already closed or do you think it is possible to come back with Jorge Fossati?
You will always be there, since you were little you imagine it or when you play in the neighborhood with your friends you thought you were a player on the national team. That possibility is not closed, Fossati was clear, saying that anyone could playno matter what age or team you play, just that you perform. I have to make an effort to come back in the best way, better than previous years. I have more experience and still have the same desire to come back. It has been a unique experience to sing the national anthem with a full stadium or outside the country, it is a feeling that cannot be described and I dream of getting it again.
– How did you take the media impact that the exposure that the Copa América gave you, both you and your family were besieged by the press and they came to your home…
Happy above all for my family, because you like to make your family feel proud. Thank God it happened that way, I took it very easy, I’m not much of a social media user, I upload some stories there because times have changed on that subject, but I’m happy because my family liked the. My mother appeared everywhere, many also wrote to me and congratulated me, but always be careful because at these moments everyone is closing in on you. I have always dedicated myself to my family, I have been with them, I am a homebody and I liked it with my children because they are more interested in football, as they like it a lot.
– In 2022, you decided to go to Colombia, rejecting the proposal to go to Alianza Lima, a team you have a special feeling for. Do you still persist in your desire to wear the “blue and white” or as a result of your refusal was all about it decided?
Football goes around, you never know where it might go. Obviously, I am a fan of Alianzabut that doesn’t mean I hate the other teams, I’ve ruled it out because I even like how they’re playing now. university. I had to decide, suddenly There was no more money in Colombia, but there was the experience of leaving the countryto have it in my rolls, which was one of the goals I had. I would like to play in Alianza, why not, but now I’m focused on my family. For me, 2023 was a very difficult year. Currently, I have custody of my childrenI think I am the only footballer in the country, if there is no one else out there, who has full custody of his children, I am dad and mom. Being on the theme of school, the lunch box, take them to school for their activities, with a lot of help from my boyfriend. It has been difficult for me in 2023 to dedicate a little more to myself, but this 2024 I am very focused on my family and the future. I’m already 30, I have six or eight years left in my career, and I have to go as far as possible to secure the future of my children and my family.
– Did Ricardo Gareca mark a before and after in your career, what do you think of him now directing Peru’s classic rivals, Chile?
It’s workLike I said recently, I’m an Alianza fan, but if they call me off ‘U’ and they offer me to go, for the work I must do it. Gareca has great affection for Peru but he has to go to the other side and that is valid. It’s a shame he’s not in the Peruvian team because he achieved a lot. Personally, he gave me a lot of confidence, he always helped me to see the positive side of things, to make an effort. Now we have it in the archenemy, but we have to take it in the best way. We already know how it works, hence the weaknesses we had as a team to exploit them. Every pro has its cons. Happy because he works and does it very well.
– Have you communicated with him after he signed with Chile?
I haven’t had much contact with him personally, mostly with Nestor Bonillo He was the one I talked to the most, even when he was in Alianza, I wish him luck, because he is a great person, a great professional and he deserves the best.
– Now 30 years old, is there any goal for Raziel García for the final years of his career that he still needs to achieve?
Return to the national team and consolidate myself. I would like to end up playing for the national team in the last years of my career and be more of a main character. I had that thorn in my side because I know that I can do it, that I can stand out and now we have to calm down and make an effort to fulfill that dream, more than all my children, because they are the ones who like to see me play on TV the most.
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