canadian midfielder Julien de Guzman has caused a sensation in recent hours by making controversial remarks about what he allegedly suffered a few years ago while playing in Honduras and the rest of the Central American countries.
In the preview of Honduras vs. Canada Organized this Thursday, January 27 by the octagonal Concacaf, Julián de Guzmán commented from his point of view on the fear he felt every time he landed in our region, where he was the victim of the scandalous 8-1 en route to Brasil. 2014.
“Whenever someone says something about Honduras, Panama, El Salvador or Costa Rica, my (smart) watch tells me to take a deep breath because it really hurts.“began the former player.
He added: “These are beautiful countries with beautiful people, but if you are an opponent, be prepared. I’ve played in places like the Santiago Bernabéu and the Camp Nou, both are tough environments, but when you play in Central America, God, you have to figure out how to survive.”.
The full story of Julián de Guzmán
“Sometimes when you land in these places, you don’t land in an airport, you land in open fields. There is security, weapons, suddenly everything changes and it becomes the most intense moment of your life.”.
Do you transfer to hotel? There are weapons. On each floor of the hotel, there are guys with guns. You see more guys with guns than footballs. When we were going to eat, someone would come and say “don’t eat that” or “don’t drink that”, it’s half the snack, and then you want to sleep, but someone thinks of setting up a caravan in the streets “.
“When we were at the hotel in Panama, relaxing, people were singing outside, lighting fireworks, playing music until two in the morning and you wonder how to avoid this? The protections Hearing aids, really, hate tampons. And all of this happens before they reach the stage.
“When I was young and watching Canada’s games in Central America on TV, I would look at the atmosphere and the faces of the players in Canada and I was like, what’s going on there? The footballers told me it was because of the fans, the players, the noise! It gave me butterflies in my stomach.”
“Traditional football doesn’t prepare you for this, you have to live it. Everything you hear is true: coins, bags of urine thrown at you. Before playing in Spain, I couldn’t speak Spanish, so I didn’t understand what they were saying to me, but when I learned and came back, I started to hear the insults, the racism, this what the fans said about my mother and the players said about my sister.
“You have the fans, the footballers, the whole country, throwing that energy at you. I once saw a statue of Mary in the stadium saying “This is your final destination!”.
“Almost ten years have passed since the 8-1 in Honduras for the qualifiers. It was one of the darkest moments of my career. But this version of Canada is different, these guys have played in the most hostile arenas and the coach is preparing his players to go there to win. We didn’t fall in Mexico City, or the United States, and we’re undefeated at home, and we’re still touring all of Central America. We still have to live that, but one more take-off, one more, and we will go to the World Cup”, he concluded.
“Gamer. Introvert. Problem solver. Creator. Thinker. Lifelong food evangelist. Alcohol advocate.”