“Los pibes de Quinteros” (Quintero’s kids) is what Jordan and his friends from the neighborhood of Belgrano—where he grew up and still lives—like to be called. Most of them attended the same elementary school three blocks away from the square on Lidoro Quinteros street where they would play soccer and drink the tea-like mate beverage every afternoon—two equally strong Argentine passions.
Barefoot, Jordan performs tricks with the ball on the same sidewalks where he has for years played soccer. It is Sunday afternoon and there is no match at River Plate stadium—only four blocks away. Whenever there is a match going on at River, the usually quiet neighborhood turns into fanatic madness. Today, most of Quinteros’ kids are sleeping. They went dancing last night and went to bed almost at noon. But Jordan didn’t go; no more going out, he is now determined to improve his physical fitness and concentration completely, and is fully committed to being a professional player.
Quinteros’ kids grew up. Some of them work, some others go to college. Jordan is one of the few doing both and also training. He has just changed his soccer mates. He now plays with a group of young players whose dream is the same as his: to be hired by a Premier League club. They train together in Jugadores Libres group (free-agent players) coached by Guillermo Villa, who trains them physically and technically as well as helps them handle frustrating situations and anxieties arising from pursuing that goal. All in all, they are 50 players. At 8 every morning, they get to Sarmiento Park on the northern border of Buenos Aires. They come from different parts of Argentina and the world to train often harder than professional players. “It’s a clash of civilizations,” jokes Villa to describe the group. “There are players from Japan, France, Senegal, Cameroon, Colombia and Paraguay.” He adds: “If they want to become professionals they have to live up to the level.”
Sarmiento Park is one of the green areas in Buenos Aires, but it is poorly maintained. A failed drainage project meant to ease the flooding, caused by recent heavy storms lashing the city, has completely ruined the three soccer fields where they used to train. Now they do it in an uneven field, which forces the players to be more careful than usual to avoid injuries that may result from stepping into the holes. But Jordan does not seem to care much about this when he gets ready to enter the field and play a training game. He kneels down next to the goal and puts on his soccer shoes. He looks up without moving his head and sees the field surrounded by ancient eucalyptus trees. His eyes sparkle and he smiles as if the trees were a crowd of frantic fans ready to watch their team. He enters the field and immediately dominates the ball. He passes it to Axel Salinas, 17, who got there after one-hour commuting. The rebound takes the ball near the goal area but the goal is missed only by a few inches. Jordan goes on running as if nothing had happened, looking for another chance, as always.
