Shunsuke Murakami, the globetrotter who arrived from Australia to make history in the Federal A

While Chubut was relocated on the map of Argentina due to the funds that the National Government tried to cut, Shunsuke Murakami It shaped his dreams: to the Argentine time zone and to being a soccer player in this land. He arrived in the country after a season in the promotion of Australia with a purpose: “succeed in South American football”.

Murakami is Japanese, he is 23 years old and plays as a right winger. He did so in the Heidelberg Unitedwith five matches of the tournament National Premier League – Victoriaand two of the Australian Cupall as a starter.

Came to Rawson with a suitcase and the pass in his possession, focused on what was at stake: in Germinal They were waiting for him for a series of tests to evaluate him as a possible reinforcement for the Federal A of this year. His brothers, he is the middle one, played soccer but never professionally and Shunsuke is the only one in his family who dedicated himself to ball.

The distance from his country, the hotbed of Chubut due to issues of co-participation and the promise that not a drop of oil would leave the territory, aspects that Murakami hardly grasped, allow us to prejudge a loneliness on par with that of the characters in Bill Murray y Scarlett Johansson in “Lost in Tokyo”.

-How are you Shunsuke, how do you feel?

– Everything cool, everything cool.

Apparently, Murakami has no adaptation problems. In a talk via Whatsapp con Clarion, “todo piola” is one of the few words that does not arrive in English. That, for now, is the language he uses although he studies “Spanish.” He slang leaves the locker room. “I have problems with my Spanish, but my Argentinian colleagues are all very friendly and always willing to help me. And they always invite me with yerba mate! ha ha”

How did a Japanese come to Germinal for Federal A? Technically it is a management of Damián Escuderothat midfielder from Velez y Bocaamong others, who after his retirement is dedicated to the representation of players.

Although he has not yet signed a contract, during his trial period, Shunsuke has already raised a trophy: the Summer Cup “City of Trelew” organized by Independent of that city, a trial by fire in which he started in the semifinals – he scored a goal – and came on as a substitute in the final.

“I’m happy to have scored a goal. It was nice to show something good in my first game at El Verde”tells in English except when it says “The green”. Of all your objectives, the first is to sign your contract. The maximum is to build a distant career, which places him in the national team of his country. But for that transit, he has other expectations: “I want to promote with Germinal, try to be number one and increase my personal value”. Tomá.

For Murakami there is no abyss between football Professional League and the Federal A. This year, Germinal will be – of the 38 teams divided into four zones – the team that will have to travel the most kilometers in the first phase: 15.722 to face nine other teams, including Olimpo from Bahía Blanca or Kimberley from Mar del Plata. The shortest distance that the Chubut team will travel to reach its rival’s field will be 506 kilometers and the longest will be 1,190. You may not know that most of those trips will be by bus. Or maybe you do, and you don’t care.

“I want to play in front of a big crowd, entertain the crowd and make my family happy with football. The audience here is also fascinating. Since I was little I dreamed of being a professional soccer player and I am grateful and very excited to be able to sign a professional contract in South America, a place that I have watched on television since I was a child. Also I watched a documentary video about the history of Boca “And I used to watch a lot of videos of Diego Maradona!”, he says and goes over what he likes, what he would like and what he wants.

In his childhood, in Japan, he used to go to football matches. FC Tokyo from his hometown. From what he saw here, he believes that his companions “They have a very high knowledge of football” and ensures that “They are capable of improving each other in training”. He believes that the training mode is different from what he knows. Not because of the physical, in fact Murakami is a physical education teacher –“I graduated, but I never played, I want to be a soccer player”he remarks, but for the concepts it captures.

“In addition to learning greetings in Spanish, I understood soccer terminology”expands and unintentionally gives an account of how football was also deconstructed: unlike the first Japanese of Argentine football, Yasushi Kawakamior the most marketer, Naohiro Takaharano one nicknamed him “Ponja” or things like that. “Here at the club everyone calls me Shun or Mura”he says, somewhat surprised by the question and in an accelerated “Argentinization” process.

-You said that they invited you mate: Do you like it?

-Yerba mate is very healthy and I like the flavor… but I like roasted more.

“Asado”, of course, in Spanish and along with an emoji that reinforces the matter. The first date of Federal A for Germinal will be at home. On March 24 they will host Círculo Deportivo de Otamendi, The Paperand that day is already marked on Murakami’s agenda as the first step of his South American dream.