Claudio's small and cozy home.
You wouldn’t have guessed it just by his looks, but Claudio is actually a very shy man, always preferring to steer clear of interviews and the general public eye. It was a hassle just trying to convince him to sit down with us, let alone convincing him to be the topic of our newest newsletter. He just turned 21 this past week.
“The lads threw me a little birthday party in the gym when I came in.” Claudio told us sheepishly, “It’s a little strange, though. Everyone has the same birthday as I do, so instead we just have a birthday week. It’s a little bizarre, but it’s alright, I suppose.”
Claudio was born out of the arid Atacama desert in Chile. “I was born in a small town called Vallenar. My dad worked as a miner and my mom worked cleaning houses. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, so I helped my parents by cleaning cars.” He and his family are of Diaguita origin, a group of indigenous people located in northern Chile and Argentina. This would help explain his bizarre last name. His highest level of education is 8th grade.
The quiet town of Vallenar, Chile
“If I wasn’t cleaning cars, I was playing football.” Claudio told us with a huge grin. “Umm, I absolutely loved the freedom of running around and kicking the ball.” Through his early youth days, he played on his local neighborhood team. He helped them reach the final of the regional cup, the one which they eventually ran out as winners for the first time in their history. “I was about 16 or 17 years old at that time. After the match, I was about to bike my way home when I was approached by these two men in suits. I was a little wary at first, but they told me they were scouts from the brand new F4Football league, and they wanted me to participate in the exit trials as there were numerous new professional clubs that were interested in me. They gave me proof of their words.” He was incredibly excited and nervous at the same time. “I’d never even left my hometown before and now I was going to wander to a new place all by myself...I felt very nervous.”
Following a grueling month of intense training, brutal matches, and a persistent case of homesickness, Claudio caught the eye of Leonardo’s Flusao, a rising team that was in the Portuguese Division 2.4 at the time. He signed for them in Season 2, and thus the humble boy from a small village from Chile flew to brighter horizons in Portugal.
Unfortunately, he never could quite get comfortable with life in Portugal. Mixing that with having only started in 1 match for Flusao, Claudio started to doubt his decision to move to Portugal. “I was honestly thinking about going back to Chile. I missed my family a lot as well.” But after having an extensive call with his parents, they urged him to pursue football no matter what. “They told me ‘no matter what, you cannot have a better future if you come back to Chile. You have potential to be a wonderful footballer, and you’ll always have our support.’ That gave me the energy to continue, and the next morning I submitted a transfer request to try and find a new home.” Union Omaha was the only one that responded to that call.
“He had already been on my radar when we sent scouts to South America,” told us 元気さん, “We were on the lookout for a young center back with lots of potential, and Claudio was at the top of our list. We made sure his move from Portugal to the United States was as smooth as possible.”
We asked how Claudio felt about playing in the United States for Union Omaha. “Oh I feel much better now,” he told us, “I like that there’s a form of an implicit hierarchy that everyone is respectful of. For example, we know we have to be respectful to 元気さん, but there are moments when we all go out for dinner together and we just enjoy our time with one another just as human beings. Plus, I feel much more at peace having Martín around.” Being from the same country, Martín was able to be Claudio’s friend that he longed for for so long.
Having fellow compatriot Martín Muñoz at the club allowed Claudio to open himself up to the rest of the team, thus allowing him to feel more at home.
“I feel so grateful for Mr. Leonardo for giving me the chance to enter the footballing world and 元気さん for opening another door for me, just as I thought my only one was about to close.”
While Claudio has yet to make his senior debut, he has proved to be a sturdy defender in reserve matches. We wish him all the best as he continues his footballing career.
Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. Sincerely,
-T