Garnacho, pizza in Corrientes Avenue and an emergency call: the unknown story behind his Argentine passport

Alexander Garnacho it is present and future. The 18-year-old footballer is having a great time with Manchester United and fans are thrilled to see him make his debut in the Argentina national team. The player is Spanish by birth, but his mother is Argentinian and has decided to wear the biancoceleste shirt. Although, in order to be considered, he had to process a national passport and an unprecedented story remained in the process.

Omar Souto, national teams coach and employee of the AFA for more than 25 years, shared an unusual anecdote of what it was like going through the process with the striker. “Most of the players want to play for Argentina. Garnacho has arrived, who is not Argentinian, he is Spanish. We have already taught him to drink mate, we have a passport. Garnacho is a good story“He began the story in a chat with TNT Sports.

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“Scaloni wants to call him up against Venezuela (for qualification for the Qatar 2022 World Cup). He had come on leave as a minor and I don’t know how they made him leave England Do you know what it was? All badly written, badly written. Alright. I tell them ‘let’s go to the airport’ and they’ll get your passport in an hour. When they read it, they tell us ‘this is wrong’. It was already late, it was after six.’

“I tell him, ‘Look, we have to do the passport another way. Why didn’t you do this right (the permit)? Your old man should have done it better.’ He looked at me and said: ‘Why my old man? My mother and father are eating pizza on Corrientes street. they came to visit‘. AS? Give me the phone. I call them, they tell me they are eating. I tell them to come urgently. Let them take a taxi, otherwise we can’t do the passport. they came and we did it“Souto closed in laughter and added:”We need to be aware of these things so that when players need them, they can use them“.

Garnacho had his first experience in selected with Spain’s sub 18s, but then he was called up by the Argentina coach for the matches against Venezuela and Ecuadorin March 2022 for qualification and played a number of games for the Sub 20’s Javier Mascheranoincluding the Toulon Hopes tournament, where he scored four goals.

However, andthe fact that he has not yet made his debut in the Major keeps alive the rumors that he will end up opting for the Europeans. Although Souto is very clear. “Scaloni talks to Garnacho, talks to his parents. I think senior selection will start taking this into account. Especially now that Sub 20 hasn’t qualified for the World Cup. They are going to see I think and I hope he stays in Argentina,” she commented.

Due to the player’s great present, he was one step away from being called up to replace Joaquín Correa for the World Cup, but in the end the DT chose Thiago Almada. Now, He is expected to be part of the next squad for the friendlies to be played on 21 and 28 March at the Monumental, with rivals to be confirmed.. It will be the first time La Scaloneta has played in the country after being crowned in Qatar.