Newsletter

from street vendor in Paraguay to being the “Haaland” of Argentine soccer

The scorers are presented for what they are, for their essence. And the business card Alex Arce has a piece of information that has already captured the attention of all Argentine soccer: he has 15 goals in 16 games from First Nationalthe very difficult tournament played by 37 teams and in which only two are promoted to A.

With the jersey number 9 of Independent Rivadavia de Mendozaone of the entertainers of the contest, this 27-year-old Paraguayan harvests an average of almost a goal per game0.93, and is on track to equal the records of Erling Haaland in the Premier League (36 in 38, 0.94). But there is no need to cross the ocean and compare it with the Norwegian.

If you look at the table of the Professional Leagueshocked to see that Arce He has more goals than several A teams: Unión de Santa Fe (10), Banfield (12), Arsenal, Atlético Tucumán, Central Córdoba and Instituto (14), and the same number as Belgrano and Huracán (15), with the addition that almost all of them have played 18 games, two more than the Paraguayan.

More information about Arce and the mirror with the Professional League? The four names that lead the A goalscoring table (Martín Cauteruccio, Mateo Retegui, Michael Santos and Pablo Vegetti) each scored 10 goals, 5 fewer than the 9 who dream of promotion.

And if the goals of the one who put it in the most are added River (Beltrán, with 6) and that of Boca (Merentiel, with 5), we still need to add those of the one who dunked the most in Saint Lawrence (Vombergar, with 5) to reach 16 and surpass the records of the “umbrella” of Mendoza leprosy. A true beast of the goal.

Arce is the great figure of the team he leads Alfred Bertiwho is second in Zone B of the First National and this Saturday from 7:30 p.m. he will look for the lead when he receives the leader, Deportivo Maipú, in a new edition of a provincial classic that, with so much expectation, promises to have 20,000 to burst locations of the Bautista Gargantini stadium.



Alex Arce, scorer for Independiente Rivadavia and the First National Photo Telam

Goals are loves… and millions

The First National It maintains a trend in recent years: the team that has the scorer rises. Belgrano achieved it last year, with a great campaign thanks to the cries of Vegetti, who scored “barely” 17 in 34 games. The same thing happened a season before, with Pablo Magnín in Tigre (he made 22 in 30). For this reason, if you dream big, having a good goal quota seems essential, almost an obligation when it comes to building a squad. However, Arce’s arrival in Mendoza was a gift for leprosy.

The Paraguayan net breaker appeared on Cuyo land last January from the Sportsman Amelian of Guarani soccer, a team that is not very well known outside the borders of Paraguay but that appears in the Guinness Book of Records for leading the party with the largest number of expelled (in 1993, two years before the birth of Arce), with 20 red cards blown through the air.

Arce arrived in Mendoza almost in silence and without generating too much expectation, for the modest sum of 300 thousand dollars for 100% of your pass, an “outlet” price when compared to what some greats in the category spent. However, the bet has been turning out well for the Cuyos since the present scorer is added the promise of a negotiation: signed for four years and they say his pass is now worth no less than 3 million dollars.

Alex Arce, champion with Sp. Ameliano.


Alex Arce, champion with Sp. Ameliano.

“I’m not looking out for my future, I’m focused on continuing to score goals and win with Independiente. We want to go up,” Arce told Clarín. Here they will call him “umbrella” but in Paraguay they know him by another nickname, “Kanú”, a nickname he earned in the lower ranks of Cerro Porteño due to his resemblance to the historic Nigerian star.

Arce does not fantasize about the future, he lives day by day, he knows that his goal is goal by goal. He was always like that. When he began to stand out in his country and they talked to him about some millionaire pass to Europe, he replied that he had only one goal on a professional level: to raise money to buy a house for his mother. He already did it.

A story of struggle and dreams

Alex Adrian Arce Barrios, such is his full name, he was born in Carapeguáa Paraguayan city that is sadly connected to a crime that shook Argentine society. The parents of Fernando Báez Sosa are from this small city of 36,000 inhabitants., the 18-year-old boy murdered in Villa Gesell, at the exit of a nightclub, by a group of young people. “It was a shame what happened, it hurt all of us a lot; I think we have relatives in common with our parents,” says the soccer player by telephone, from Mendoza.

The humble origins of 9 Independent Rivadavia he carries as a postcard the trips of almost two hours each way that he made by bus to Assumption to train in the training divisions of Cerro Porteño. He had a hard time earning a place in the Ciclón de Barrio Obrero and went free to Rubio, a promotion club. The idea was to take one step back and two forwards, break it and come back with everything. But in the middle he suffered an injury and the pandemic appeared.

Alex Arce and his mother, the great pillar of his life.  Photo: Instagram.


Alex Arce and his mother, the great pillar of his life. Photo: Instagram.

“The pandemic stopped promotion football in Paraguay. I was left without a club and without income, so I had to go out to work on something else like so many colleagues to have daily breadIt was very difficult but it was also a lesson for me”, Alex recalls about those days when he seriously considered leaving football, also affected by a fracture in the instep of his foot that prevented him from training.

The pot had to be stopped and the best alternative was given to him by a friend, who suggested that he get on a motorcycle and go out together to sell hammocks (the famous “Paraguayan hammocks”) through the interior of the country. Yes, the “Haaland” of Argentine soccer has a recent past as a street vendor, or “macatero”, as the Guarani brothers say.

“We were doing quite well, it helped me at home,” says Arce, a boy who does not exactly stand out for being very loquacious in his words. “It was my friend who was speaking, I was accompanying”, he accepts today with a shy smile.

Alex Arce and his girlfriend, enjoying the beauty of the city of Mendoza.  Photo: Instagram.


Alex Arce and his girlfriend, enjoying the beauty of the city of Mendoza. Photo: Instagram.

When he talks about his family, the striker names his mother but not his father, who abandoned them “when he was very young,” he briefly comments. “I am an only child and she did everything for me, she took me to play, she bought me the boots, what I am I owe to her,” he highlights.

His girlfriend was also fundamental in this whole process that today has him making a living as a footballer. They have known Clarissa since high school and she recently traveled to Mendoza for a few days to visit him: the striker uploaded a photo of him to Instagram from Cerro de la Gloria.

Because not everything is football in Arce’s life. While he continues adding goals and games with the Independiente shirt, he crosses out the days until the arrival of winter. It’s that as soon as he has a few days off, he will take advantage of it to take a getaway with his mother to a nearby ski center to live an unprecedented experience in his life: to know the snow.

look also

2023-06-01 09:56:16
#street #vendor #Paraguay #Haaland #Argentine #soccer

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending