The story of Josecito, the boy with wise words who moved La Scaloneta

While Fito Páez popularized love after love, José Andrada will go down in history for being the viral after the viral. Is that this 12-year-old boy who had become a celebrity on social media during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is now, three months later, a celebrity again on the networks – and in newspapers, web portals and on radio and television channels – for his captivating participation in the Tribute of the Champions That conmebol arranged it at Lionel Messi and company last Monday in Asunción.

Josefrom here to the end of the note Josécito, surprised the audience with his maturity to take the stage, hold the microphone, face the players and the coaching staff of the Argentina national team and give emotional and emotional speech. All with the fluency and charisma of a professional announcer. To the point of making Lionel Scaloni and Enzo Fernández cry as he pronounced the right wordsone after another, to thank them for the joy they have staggered he infected people with his adventures in the Middle East.

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Days after going viral again, Josecito chats via video call with clarion from his beloved Salta, well north of Argentina. And she reveals once again the most genuine side of her. What was visible to everyone in the middle of the World Cup when he was the child who cried with joy because the national team was advancing in the tournament and at the same time with sadness because the retirement of Messi was inexorably approaching, who in those days ensured that he was giving his last functions in light blue and white.

Josecito is originally from Embarcación, a small town located about 40 kilometers south of Oran. There she lives with her parents José, who is a mechanic, and Martha, who works as an administrator in the municipality. Sitting a handful of meters away is Antonio, his 73-year-old grandfather, who he has as an idol. “For me he is like Messi.”

“The city is 6 square kilometers and there are several places of attraction such as the Bermejo River. It is a place where almost everyone knows each other. Sure, one crosses the street and you have the dangerous side of a boat, because It happens in every city. The part where I live is the quietest. The other part is dangerous with robberies and drugs. Even so, despite that, it’s a beautiful city.”he tells revealing that his whole family lives there and that he is never absent on Sundays “a good grill” as an excuse to get together to eat together.

The twice-viral boy is also the illustrious student of the Juan Carlos Dávalos school, where he spends his first year of high school and shares a classroom with 30 of the 300 kids who attend the school in the morning shift. While continuing his studies, does not lose the will to be a professional footballer. This is your main goal. “I love football. I’m one of those people who idolize football as a sport. I train at the River club here. How do I play? I shoot more like Julián (Álvarez)”he says with a lucidity and conciseness unsuitable for a boy of his age.

“It was a lot to attend school performances. I danced folklore to patriotic acts and offered to read or dance or whatever I could”reveals to explain his personality when speaking from atop a stage.

However, he still can’t believe what he’s going through these days. Free time doesn’t exist for José. His house looks like a call center and he doesn’t stop appearing in the media to give interviews. Josecito caused an impact. “I never imagined what is happening to me now would happen to me. Almost 30 phone calls a day. The day I spoke at the ceremony there were many interviews, phone calls… Even going back I gave interviews. I received 970 requests to continue on instagram”to confess.

And be honest: “I haven’t fallen for it yet. Neither these constant reminders, nor having met the players of the national team. I’m not falling for it. I am very happy to remember meeting them”.

But Josecito isn’t just a rock star in the networks. Also in her city he reached the peak of popularity. “I went to buy some bread and a drink for lunch and the kiosk was taking pictures of me. I couldn’t believe it… Crazy. Last year, while the World Cup was being played, I signed autographs in the graduate school sweater “comments incredulously.

Back from Asunción, after his speech in front of the national team players, he was welcomed as a hero by the school. “They told me to go to school later. When I arrive I see that there was a play and lots of blue and white T-shirts. Then I start to hear that the fifth ones sing “Muchachos”. And, suddenly, I see the whole school to do the same thing. myself. Everyone was jumping, singing… That’s when they grabbed me and started throwing me upside down. Crazy thing.”.

The unconditional love for the national team began with the first great impact of La Scaloneta, with the title won by Argentina at the Maracanà by beating Brazil in the 2021 Copa América final: “The fanaticism was born from the Copa América when we came out champions of the tournament. My uncle was in a motorcycle race and we hit the road with the motorcycles on the flatbed of the truck. So I told him to give me the keys to the motorbike. And, when it hits me, I started it and gave it full throttle until it exploded. This is how we celebrate that title”.

He already heard the coronation in Qatar elsewhere as an extra fan. And, of course, he joined the cabals like millions of Argentines. “With my uncles we had some impressive cabalas. Imagine we got to the point of marking the glasses of who used it, where he should put it, what brand of soda was drunk, how many liters, marking the chair to have cabala. Not we wanted it to happen to us in the quarterfinals as it happened to us at the debut. In the first game we didn’t do cabala because I was at school. Then I said: ‘If there’s a game in the morning I’ll stay at home, I won’t let us same thing happens. I’d better stay home and let us win.”

“Always Argentinian, I never change”

“Nothing is missing to finish the World Cup and the greatest in the world is leaving. First Argentina, the champion. Tears for Argentina, my country, the national team. Always Argentina, I never change”Josecito moved the country with those words and while beating his chest covered by an alternative national team shirt. It was the exact moment that changed his daily life. The interview went viral and reached the bowels of the University of Qatar, the Argentine bunker in Doha. Yes, the video generated incredible emotion behind closed doors in the selection.

Due to all the repercussions that appearance had, Conmebol invited Josecito to be one of the fans who recognized the players in the Tribute to the Champions. It was a surprise for the members of Scaleneta and also for himas her father made sure she didn’t know anything until they arrived at the place where the event took place.

“I didn’t know why we were going. Dad invited me to spend a long weekend in Formosa and if we could we would go to Paraguay and I said yes. We spent the first day in the capital Formosa, the next day in Asunción, then in Luque. There we stopped in front of Conmebol. That’s when I said to him: “Look where we are. Dad asked me where and I said ‘outside the South American Football Confederation’. He was surprised, he didn’t notice, but I think he was pretending not to because he knew what he was taking me for. I thought it was a coincidence”Remember.

And goes on: “I entered with a Dibu (Martínez) jacket. Everyone looked at me badly because Paraguay did not qualify for the World Cup, but I entered happy for the three stars. When I enter, they tell me: ‘Monday, March 28 you will deliver an award to the players of the national team”. Several tears fell, I could not believe it. And I couldn’t believe it even less when they told me I would stay in the hotel where the national team was.”.

During the ceremony, the image of the child entering moved Enzo Fernández and coach Lionel Scaloni, whom he described as a ‘maestro’. “I called him maestro because he teaches with various words that I have heard him say. He seems like a maestro. This is why I turned to the great Scaloni. He is a fantastic person, apparently. He is very expert in football and even more so is a technical directorPraise without hesitation.

Enzo Fernández later said in an Instagram post that he saw himself represented in Josecito when he saw him enter the stage. “The truth is that it brings me great joy and happiness because, as he says, he remembers him as a boy and that excites me. It makes me feel that I have a better chance of making it to the national team. He is an inspiration.”

However, he still can’t find an explanation for the emotion he aroused among the Scaleneta players and the millions of Argentines who saw him live on television: “They will have heard that they are not losing their emotions. Now there are many people who are losing their emotions, their beliefs, believing in their Selection…”.

And he explains how he took heart when he delivered his speech in front of a crowd: “I said: ‘Whether it works or not, it doesn’t matter… I’m totally with people we don’t know. The truth is that I was very happy when I entered and I thought that everything would be fine. to end well. Everything is went well and I’m glad to think I got a lot of people excited.” At the awards ceremony, which was attended by several characters like him who went viral during the World Cup, Josecito had the privilege of embracing Nicolás Otamendi, Nicolás Tagliafico, Alexis Mac Allister and Germán Pezzella.

That moment was the only opportunity he had to be close to the players, because due to the busy schedule of the national team, which had to go to Santiago del Estero to play with Curaçao, he wanted to get closer to them once again. the party is over. But La Scaloneta made a gesture that Josecito will never forget and left him a present at the hotel. “It’s a small-waisted shirt, the first I imagine Messi is. If Messi drops it, it would be crazy,” he enthuses.

-What dreams do you have left to realize as a footballer?

– At the Selection level, a great wish has come true. But I’m from Boca, it comes from the family. I was in the same hotel where Juan Román Riquelme and his brother were staying. I have not found them. Once I went to visit the Bombonera and took a couple of photos. But I’d like to go to a game.”