THIS Thursday Gareth Southgate’s England may come up against a legitimate representative of football’s world champion.
That might seem strange. Opponents Italy failed even to make it to the last two World Cups.
But coach Roberto Mancini has sprung a surprise, including in his squad striker Mateo Retegui from Argentina.
There is nothing new in Italy calling up South American players.
Millions of immigrants flooded across the Atlantic in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and their descendants are able to play for Italy.
Back in the 1930s, when Italy won its first World Cups there were players in the squad who had been born in Uruguay, Brazil – and especially in Argentina.
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Buenos Aires is probably the most Italian city in the world outside Italy, where the local version of Spanish comes with a strong Italian intonation.
If Retegui makes his debut against England he will be the 24th Argentine to pull on the blue shirt.
But there is a difference. The typical route is for the South Americans to come across and play their club football in Italy – such as Arsenal’s Brazilian born midfielder Jorginho, also included in the squad, who made his name in Serie A before moving to the Premier League.
But this is not the case with Mateo Retegui. His only connection with Italy is his maternal grandmother.
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His entire career – so far – has been in Argentina, and he is 100% the product of Argentine football – and hockey.
Hockey is big in Argentina, and Retegui comes from a family steeped in the sport.
His mother was an important youth player in the 1990s. His sister won an Olympic silver medal in Tokyo, coached by her father.
Carlos Retegui won plenty of titles as a player, and has won lots more in charge of the Argentina women’s team.
Young Mateo inevitably spent time in the sport before dedicating himself to football.
He was once on the books of River Plate before coming through the ranks and turning professional with Boca Juniors.
He is still owned by Boca, although his first team experience with them is limited to a few minutes off the bench back in November 2018.
Since then he has been loaned out, first to Estudiantes of La Plata, then to Talleres of Cordoba.
But it was last year that things really started to take off.
He joined Tigre from the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires, close to where he grew up, and the goals have been flowing ever since.
Retegui has gained the tag of the Argentine Harry Kane, and it is not hard to see why.
Two-footed and strong on the ball, he is able to drop deep and combine while also carrying a goal threat on the ground and in the air.
The start of his career can also be compared with that of the Tottenham striker, with wandering loan spells before establishing himself as something of a late developer.
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Kane, of course, could have represented Ireland, the country of his father’s birth, but has gone on to become England’s joint top all time scorer.
On Thursday Mateo Retegui will hope to have the chance to open his account in the shirt of the country where his grandmother was born.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
