Juan Ferney Otero received sad news this Friday when he was called off from the Colombian National Team for the Copa América 2021 after testing positive for covid-19.
The player from Santos Laguna, from Mexico, had been included in the final list of 28 players on June 10, but the unexpected contagion prevented him from joining the concentration of Reinaldo Rueda’s team in the city of Barranquilla.
Faced with the situation, Otero said that he got out of a dream, because, like every footballer, his great desire was to wear the shirt of the national team.
“I am very angry, because it is the dream that one has as a child to represent the country, when one begins, all he wants is to put on the National Team jersey. But unfortunately it was not possible, I will always continue working for this and I will wait for a new opportunity, “said the attacker to Gol Caracol.
Likewise, Otero, 26, revealed the moment in which he found out about his call to the National Team, assuring that it was Reinaldo Rueda himself who gave him the news.
“I was sitting talking with my brothers, when suddenly a call came in from an unknown number and it was Professor Rueda, telling me that he was summoned. I didn’t believe them, I was very excited. Now with this news my spirits are lowered “-he says with a broken voice- but I will continue working and preparing“, he pointed.
Finally, Otero said that he did not meet with his family due to the call of the National Team, so he headed to Barranquilla and it was there where he learned that he had tested positive for coronavirus.
“To my brothers. I told them to take the test so that they would not be near my mother, I do not want to put her at risk. Fortunately, I did not travel to her, because or if not, it would have complicated them. Exactly, I was going to go on Thursday and that same day I received the call from the National Team and I had to go to Barranquilla immediately. One of my brothers was with me, so I told him to do it for him at once, “he concluded.
.
