Coronavirus puts poor Argentines' soccer dreams on hold

Updated Jun. 17, 2020 12:57 p.m. ET

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BUENOS AIRES (AP) — The apartment blocks of Fort Apache are emblazoned with murals of Carlos Tevez, the superstar forward for Argentina's most popular pro soccer team and its national squad.

“I come from a place where they said it was impossible to succeed,'' one mural reads, and Tiago Ruíz Díaz thought of those words all the time as he moved from his youth club in one of Buenos Aires' poorest neighborhoods to the second-division club Almagro. Success like Tevez's seemed obtainable for the 16-year-old midfielder. Until coronavirus came to Argentina.

Soccer has been cancelled for more than 80 days now, with no restart in sight, cutting off thousands of young players in Argentina's poorest neighborhoods from what many felt was their only shot at a better life.

“This pandemic has ruined everything,” Díaz said. “It’s terrible being like this, shut up at home.”

Argentina is far from the worst-hit country in Latin America — the toll here pales in comparison to the disasters unfolding in Brazil, Chile and Peru, among others. But the impact on the youngest players in the soccer-crazy country shows the subtle long-term damage being wrought by the pandemic outside the most affected areas.

Worried the lost time is costing them shots at professional careers, some young players are giving up and succumbing to the temptations of drugs and alcohol. Others desperate to stay in shape are playing for money in dangerous illegal games that have caused outbreaks of COVID-19 among players, spectators and people who live near soccer fields.

“There are a lot of dangers and temptations in the street. The kids sought refuge here and now they can’t anymore,″ said Daniel López, president of the Santa Clara club where both Tevez and Tiago started playing.

Santa Clara had 170 boys and girls in training until coronavirus came to Argentina. Now, Lopez has turned the club into a makeshift soup kitchen where volunteers cook meals in two huge pots and offer food to families who live nearly.

On a recent afternoon, Nicolás Suárez walked crestfallen onto a bare field in one of Buenos Aires' poorest neighborhoods. Two rusted metal arcs testified to its former life as a soccer field. It's become a wasteland covered in weeds and trash.

The 16-year-old midfielder was picked this year as one of the most promising young players in Buenos Aires and was set to join a team that would play games across the country, showing off his talents to scouts from Argentina's most important professional teams.

He dreamed of leaving Villa Fraga, north of the capital, and becoming a star like Tevez, Manchester City striker Sergio Agüero or even legend Diego Maradona.

But coronavirus has put his plans on hold.

To stay in shape and earn some money, Suárez and other athletes defy the legal ban and play games for money on a field hidden among the houses of Villa Fraga. Each player chips in a small amount and the winning team divides the pot. In a slum of 2,700 people with 30 diagnosed cases of the coronavirus, only some players wear masks during games that last up to three hours, he says.

An informal “lightning" game several weeks ago between players from Villa Azul and Villa Itatí, Agüero's hometown, was responsible for some 300 new cases among players, spectators and people living nearby, officials have said.

But the adults overseeing the illegal games say they're a risk worth taking.

“I'm more scared of them getting hooked on drugs than catching coronavirus," said Iván Mora, who coaches Suárez and about 100 other young players in the club called Playón Chacarita de Fraga. “If they aren't doing anything, the guys can get into drugs or alcohol."'

As Argentina has passed through repeated economic crises, Buenos Aires and other cities have become dotted with roughly 4,400 “misery towns” of brick and sheet-metal homes built on empty land without running water or sewer systems.

The towns are home to more than 4 million people, almost all at high risk of coronavirus because of the closely packed conditions and poor sanitary conditions.

Argentina has about 77 cases per 100,000 people, many times fewer than Chile, Peru and nearly a dozen other countries in the region. The relatively low figure is credited in large part to a strict quarantine put in place by President Alberto Fernández on March 20. At the same time, the economic damage from the disease and anti-virus measures has been severe — the Argentine government says the number of people needing food aid in the country has gone from 8 million to 11 million.

The Argentina office of UNICEF, the United Nations Childrens Fund, says child poverty in Argentina could reach 58,6% by the end of the year.

Soccer professionals are worried about the effect that's having on young players' health and the future of the game.

“It's going to impact their physiques without a doubt and that will be reflected in the game," said Luis Zubeldía, who coaches for Lanus, the professional club that's feeding children in poor neighborhoods. “Soccer players will keep coming, because it's a path to economic salvation for many families, but the question is how many.”

A few blocks from the field where Maradona played for the first time, Jorge Rocaro supervises volunteers cooking a meat and potato stew in two giant pots at Club August 16 in Villa Caraza in a southern suburb of Buenos Aires. Normally, 150 children practice the game there.

“Our club has become a source of nourishment so families can take a plate of food home," said Rocaro, the club president.

On the banks of the Riachuelo, one of the world's most polluted rivers, Caraza is home to families of informal workers who make a living with day labor like collecting recyclables, construction or sewing piecework, all seriously affected by the pandemic.

“Sport is a fundamental outlet for the kids,'' Rocaro said. “They get up, eat breakfast and go to school. In the afternoon they play soccer and get ready for the weekend games. The year is half lost already. It's very worrying."

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