Sergio ‘Chiquito’ Romero makes his debut as Boca goalkeeper: a last chance or time to move on?

“This is the moment you move on from everything this year has been for you”she told him Javier Mascherano a Sergio Romero in the middle of the San Pablo stadium, before the penalty shootout against the Netherlands, in which he saved two shots and helped the Argentina national team to enter the final of the World Cup in Brazil 2014. They passed 3110 days from that point until this Friday, where that sentence seems to be in effect again for the 35-year-old missionary goalkeeper who will make his Boca debut and recover the confidence to stay with the property after confirmation of the departure of Augustine Rossi to Flamengo from Brazil.

It will be the last friendly in San Juan land, against Everton from Chile (21:30, broadcast on Star+ platform) to the Bicentenario stadium and for the Triangular de Verano which also included Independent, with which ‘Xeneize’ drew 0-0. Everything seems to indicate that the time has come ‘Lowercase’who since leaving Racing at a very young age has gone through the leagues of Holland, Italy, France and England, as well as becoming the most capped goalkeeper for the Argentina national team.

It is also, perhaps, the last chance to revive a career that has known how to have him at the top, but which has punished him in recent seasons. Is that since August 10, 2020, when he cut the 120 minutes of victory in extra time of the Manchester Utd against Copenhagen for the quarter-finals of the Europa League, everything seemed like a nightmare.

It is gone over a year before he returned to stop an official matchafter ending his relationship with the ‘Red Devils’ and signing with the Venice, just promoted to Serie A in Italy. Lui took possession in the eighth round, winning against the Florentine (1-0) and stopped twelve consecutive games. “Chiquito” was back.

But the arrival of 2022 complicated him: he contracted the coronavirus, missed five games, returned to goal in the next three (without a win) and in March he had to go into surgery for arthroscopy on his right knee. He did not bail out again in Venice.

His fate was uncertain, until the possibility of Boca and a return to Argentina appeared. His family, as always in this journey, supported him in the decision. What better place than one of the two biggest sides in the country to regain confidence and show your level?

Shortly after signing, he had to have surgery again on his right knee (a meniscus arthroscopy to clean the area again) which delayed his preparation. But he never gave up: He didn’t take vacations and worked double shifts to make it to the start of the preseason without problems.

This Friday is the main novelty of the training that plans to put the Ibarra black. It’ll take all the flashes, because the goalkeeper theme is hot in the Riverside club. Agustín Rossi signing a pre-agreement with Flamengo opens the door to Xeneize goal for Romero, even if he competes with Javier Garcia Y Leander Breywhich would go into the second 45 minutes.

The good news before getting on the plane to Cuyo was that Chiquito is capable of dealing despite the fact that he’s been lugging around a nuisance these days. It will be a good test by fire for him since he comes from a long period of inactivity.

Total, Romero has played in just 37 games in the past eight years. In between, also due to a knee injury, he missed the chance to stop his third World Cup in Russia 2018. His last match was on 6 March 2022, in his then club Venezia’s 4-1 defeat against Sassuolo in the Italian Serie A.

Now, unless Boca decides to consider Rossi until the end of his contract, ‘Chiquito’ will have the opportunity to settle in the position after a long time.

For their part, Everton de Chile have already faced Independiente and lost 2-0 on Wednesday evening, in a match also played in San Juan. If Boca will repeat the victory against the Trans-Andean team for the same result, a coin will decide the champion of the Triangular International.

On Sunday, the Boquense team will travel to Abu Dhabi to play Racing against Racing for the International Super Cup on Friday the 20th, following the agreement between the AFA and the United Arab Emirates to play a trophy in that country for the next four years.