Chile and England united by the goal

For many, if not all, it was a surprise. An Englishman playing for the Chilean national team? Who could have thought of such a mixture, right?

He drew attention when he played for a little while (13 ‘) in the 1-1 draw against Argentina, at the beginning of the Copa América 2021. Not to mention when he turned this Friday into the Arena Pantanal de Cuiabá, in Mato Grosso, well away from its uses and customs, the winning goal for La Roja’s 1-0 victory over Bolivia for the second day of the oldest continental national team tournament in the world.

But… To what extent could we be astonished at the link between trans-Andean and British? The story is very clear …

Where did you come from, Brereton?

His name is Benjamin Anthony Brereton. Brereton Diaz actually. 22 years old, 185 centimeters tall and not a single word in Spanish beyond the native language of his mother Andrea (Chilean from Concepción), He was born in Stoke-on-Trent, raised in the Lower Stoke City and moved to Nottingham Forest in 2015. Three years later, he moved to Blackburn Rovers where it made a difference.

And despite having worn the England shirt in youth tournaments (such as the Eurocopa Sub 19 2017 in Georgia), coach Reinaldo Rueda – a month before resigning from La Roja – convinced him to defend his mother’s colors. Uruguayan DT Martín Lasarte picked up the glove, took advantage of the move and put him on the court.

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First, and in moments, Big Ben Brereton became famous on the other side of the Cordillera for debuting with an unprecedented pilcha, then for a tweet that fell badly for these payments, and now for getting three valuable points. However, had a precedent 111 years ago.

An English pioneer named Frank Simmons

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It happened in Argentina. In its capital, Buenos Aires. In the Buenos Aires field of the Belgrano Athletic Club, for example, current participant in URBA tournaments. In the framework of a friendly homerun on the occasion of the first centenary of the May Revolution, Chile traveled to Argentina to play what would become its baptismal international match.

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May 27, 1910, less than 48 years after leaving by train from Santiago de Chile and arriving at the Retiro station, La Roja (which at that time was not such but rather white and blue), fell 3-1 before our Selection. Even so, beyond her virginity, she made a good impression among the almost 2,000 spectators who witnessed a historical event: Chile’s first goal. His actor? An English. Like Brereton, of course. But his name was Frank. Frank Simmons.

Simmons, a pioneer

Born in England in 1885, he came to Chile at the age of 22 as an insurance inspector for a British company. He wasted no time and, in Valparaíso, the port area par excellence, he put on shorts and defended with much amateurism the badminton FC (who contributed three players in the afternoon from Belgrano), a club founded in 1898 by English immigrants.

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In this area, and in a general casting between teams from Talca, Santiago and Viña del Mar to form the team that would travel as a guest to Baires, he was selected as a relentless scorer. Even if, of high socioeconomic power and Mason, his was cricket, another island sport.

After having slept on the floor of the car for a good part of the trip, Simmons played the 2-3-5 proposed by Chile in the first game of his life. At 11 ‘just, according to the chronicles of the time, he beat Enrique Rojo, goalkeeper of Estudiantes de La Plata, with “a beautiful shot, neither high nor low, but strong.” Then came the Argentine comeback (3-1) and the anecdote of the first Anglo-Chilean goal.

Legend has it that later, in that same 1910, he will play just two more games with the national team and that he would continue to play at Badminton for three more years, when he even became the president of the institution. Low profile, in 1920 he got back on a boat and returned to England, without a wife, without children, where he died in 1970 12,000 kilometers and 60 years after that goal cry that Brereton knew how to refresh already in the 21st century.