Luciano Gondou knows that his name will be remembered as the hero of Argentina’s qualification for the Olympic Games which will be held in July in Paris. He also understands that he was the unexpected protagonist of a debate that took place around his initial substitution in the Under 23 team led by Javier Mascherano. Because in just 20 minutes of action in his first two games he scored two goals: one to tie Paraguay 2-2 on the hour mark and another to sentence Peru to 2-0. To those two goals, another was added to decorate Chile’s 5-0 win and yesterday’s, where he started for only the second time in the tournament.
Aware that The forward paid with goals every time he had the chance to enterMascherano acknowledged: “He has an enormous hierarchy and we are very happy with him. We know that he didn’t play as much as he wanted, but The important thing is not the number of minutes that each one plays but the quality of those minutes of action”.
The revenge of the last scorer of the 2023 League Cup went to the trick. Together with Federico Redondo and Marco Di Césare (all from Argentines) they beat the trio made up of Javier Mascherano and two assistants.
For Gondou, learning to overcome obstacles is not new. In fact, nothing was easy in his sporting life, since Last year he found in the first division of Argentinos the opportunity that was denied him in River. Before, in 2017, he had done a test in Sarmiento de Junín and was incorporated into the lower divisions.
Born in Rufino (Santa Fe), homeland of two icons of the Núñez club, Bernabé Ferreyra and Amadeo Carrizo, he started in the same club as them: Jorge Newbery, who received 20 percent of the transfer when El Bicho gave him He bought 80 percent of the pass from Sarmiento de Junín in exchange for US$3,500,000.
In the beginning it was a hook, but two virtues teleported him to the heart of the area: his goal-scoring nose and his bearing (he is 1m89). Although he is far from being a traditional beacon of attack. In fact He is defined as “a No. 9 who goes out to play and doesn’t go to the crash as much. I like to enter by knocking, knocking down walls and forming small societies.”
In the second half of 2019, destiny prepared something special for him. During a friendly in Ezeiza between the fifth division of River and Sarmiento, Luciano had an outstanding performance, which included a goal and an assist in the resounding 3 to 1 of the Junín team. Surprised, Hernán Díaz, coordinator of the Millo youth teams, took note and in a short time they finalized a loan with a purchase option. “My parents are River patients. When I told them I was going there, they didn’t understand anything, and neither did I. Because he was coming off an injury and had not played for two and a half months. I just came back in that friendly and it changed my story,” he declared at the time on River’s official website.
He joined the Millonario’s fifth division with the enormous expectation of reaching First Division and the dream of debuting at the Monumental. Furthermore, aware that Marcelo Gallardo He was a regular in the lower league games, he took advantage of every moment. “That motivates you, because you know that he notices the kids. The day after being champion of the Copa Libertadores he was watching the Reserve. He already made many debut in first class,” he highlighted.
Gondou also likes to observe and learn. Around that time He paid attention to Lucas Pratto’s movements (“He does enormous physical work in favor of the team and exhausting for the rival. In addition, he goes out to pivot and scores goals.”) and in another interview he acknowledged that His other references are Sergio el Kun Agüero, the Colombian Rafael Santos Borré, the Uruguayan Luis Suárez and the Brazilian Roberto Firmino.
In the millionaire fifth division he scored three goals, He played with Enzo Fernández in the Copa Libertadores Sub 20 (he scored a goal in a victory over Cerro Porteño) and played only one Reserve game, against Atlético Tucumán. That day he shared a team with Santiago Montiel (today his teammate in Argentinos) and Santiago Simón.
An unexpected event cut short their hopes in March 2020. The break came due to the Coronavirus pandemic and River decided not to use the option to purchase 50 percent of the pass. He returned to Sarmiento without fulfilling his dream.
Far from getting down, he focused on getting the most out of everything he learned. She explained it like this: “The difference is felt in the pace of the game. In Sarmiento I could resolve the play in two or three touches, in River you almost always have to play first. I saw the first division training and everyone was flying, it’s always three against one, in any sector of the field. They press like crazy and play great. They are from another level, it seems that they play something else”.
Life began to return everything he had sown. In 2021 he was the scorer for the Sarmiento Reserve who surprised by being crowned champion. Among his many goals, he scored one against Argentinos, and in the Paternal club they wrote down his last name to follow him closely. Mario Sciacqua made him debut in the first team in April 2021 and three months later he scored his first goal. It was 1 to 0 against Platense. With Israel Damonte in the technical direction, he had to adapt to a more conservative approach and fight for permanence. In total, in two years with the green shirt he played 86 official matches (49 starts in leagues and the Argentine Cup) and scored 17 goals.
Last July, during the winter transfer market, Boca showed some interest in its services. But he was not as fast in the negotiations, while Argentinos negotiated faster and announced him as a reinforcement. He had a difficult debut: it was in the round of 16 series of the Copa Libertadores against Fluminense, in which El Bicho felt that he was harmed.
Days later he had another performance that changed his life: it was figure of the night and decisive in the great victory of Argentinos by 3 to 2 against River. Far from taking the two goals scored as revenge against the club that stopped taking him into account, he assessed: “I am grateful to River, I met people who helped me. I learned a lot during my time there.”.
Although in Sarmiento he had already scored against two other greats (San Lorenzo and Independiente), Since that Sunday in August it gained more notoriety. In fact, his performance against Millo allowed him to be considered by Javier Mascherano as a possible member of the Sub 23, who achieved last night qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, precisely with a goal he scored in the decisive 1-0 win over Brazil.
Happy for his leading role, he declared before the TyC Sports cameras: “The setting was perfect to be able to win it. It is a huge happiness and a goal achieved to qualify. You have to add from wherever you are, it is a dream to be here and I try to make the most of it.” And he fueled a new dream for his list, which is gaining followers in Argentina: ““It would be an honor to play with Messi in Paris.”.
Themes
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