By Rogelio Adonican Osorio |
Panama City (EFE).- The Panamanian player Erika Hernández defines herself as a girl who loves soccer, likes to dance, is the spark of the dressing room and a dreamer who lives a reality that at some point she saw far away: playing in a World Cup soccer.
Erika, that 23-year-old girl from the viral dances after the classification, opened her house to the EFE Agency to learn a little more about that girl who one day said no to Barbies and hugged the soccer ball tightly.
“I saw my brothers and cousins playing in the street and I got involved… Actually, another sport never crossed my mind, just soccer and soccer,” said the player, who is currently a member of the Panamanian women’s soccer Club Plaza Amador.
World Cup dream
The soccer player scored her first goals on the red bridge court less than five minutes from her home, located in Samaria sector 4 in the San Miguelito district, in the Panamanian capital.
That World Cup path began with tournaments in the street, for a large container of soft drinks, now Erika sighs, smiles and says: “now I look and analyze that the trophy for which we will compete is not a big drink, it is the World Cup one” .
“It’s something different and great, with that childhood memories come to me and confirm that dreams come true,” he said.
Erika acknowledges that they are anxious to play in the tournament and that their debut against Brazil on July 24 will be special.
“Until recently it was something I saw on television and said: one day I will be there, although I confess that I doubted it just because it was Panama, but every day women’s soccer grows and now it has become a reality and we are together with powers like Brazil and France,” he said.
“The debut… I imagine, first listening to the national anthem, I feel that we are all going to cry, because it is a dream that we all had, the moment to listen to the anthem will be the best,” she specified.
Erika revealed that the tension was high before the game against Paraguay, but it was not for less, because only four years ago they saw how everything ended in the playoff against Argentina.
“Before the game against Paraguay we all met to talk about fulfilling the dream was in our hands, that we had it there with a closed hand and that nobody open their hand to let that dream escape,” she said.
He added that when they were on the field the general slogan was: “for our dreams, for our dreams.”
soccer gifts
Soccer has given Erika many joys, it has given her lessons and some sadness, but this girl with abundant hair treasures the places she has traveled with her friend the ball.
“Honestly, I never thought that soccer was going to take me so far, I sometimes imagined being part of the national team, but visiting so many countries did not cross my mind, especially when I started playing in the streets,” he mentioned.
The girls’ rankings are a catalyst for future players to want to be like them, practice soccer and represent the country.
“I think the ranking fell in an exact month… women’s month and that makes it stand out a little more, because women today go through a lot, they underestimate us, but we are slowly getting up and shouting at the four winds, that we also fight for our dreams”, he pointed out.