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Joaquin Piquerez (23 years old) perfectly fulfills that phrase that “football always gives revenge”. Just two years ago he had to leave Defensor Sporting, the club in which he had been trained, because the coach on duty did not take it into account. He ended up in River Plate and from there on, everything was on the rise, almost like a novel: the pass to Peñarol, the arrival at the national team and the transfer to palm trees.
On Saturday he was champion of the Liberators cup after defeating Flamengo 2-1 in a Centennial Stadium that had the same heat as a Brasileirao match. He started, completed a good game and lifted the most important trophy on the continent.
Gone was the shy boy, a fan of chess and ping-pong who until recently went to the Faculty of Chemistry, where he decided to make a stand to give football a chance.
Leandro Otormín (25), a forward from Cerro Largo and a figure in the Uruguayan Championship, is Piquerez’s cousin. He is not surprised by his present and remembers his beginnings with Ovation. “We have been together since we were very young. He was always a bit shy. Being a little older, I don’t tell you that he was the one in charge, but he followed me everywhere. When we were kids with our families we used to go to La Passiva de General Flores a lot, which had some games upstairs. Every time we went there we sweated more than in a game. Every time we went out to eat we asked to go there. We enjoyed it a lot, ”he says.
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Otormín, like the whole family, is happy for Piquerez’s present. “We always talk about ‘eternal glory.’ That is recorded in each footballer. Obviously it has been someone in the family that makes me very happy. We know how this football thing is: there are more losses than won and glory is rarely won. I told you before: this is recorded forever. Tomorrow they will talk about this team and their name will be there ”.
Piquerez exploded soccer in two years, but Otormín clarifies that “it was not by chance or by chance.” “Everything happened very quickly now, but we know how difficult it was to get here. Now we have to enjoy ”, he assures.
Meanwhile the dream of playing together, for both, remains latent: “It is something that we have pending. He recently said so in an interview. Either of us would give anything to play together. Hopefully it will happen at some point ”.
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Eduardo Acevedo, who made him debut in the First Division in 2017, remembers him as a “introverted, but affectionate and demonstrative” little boy. He hasn’t called him yet to congratulate him because he wants to wait a few days, but he has a “great desire” to talk to him.
The DT reviews in his mind the first practices with Piquerez and points out that “he was not a lateral.” “It was a steering wheel or tip on the left. I saw that he needed space to develop his football so we started working it from back to front ”, he adds.
On the future, he assures: “It depends on him, because he can play in any market. It has power, speed, start, punch, the centers are perfect. It is complete”.
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Job change
Already in river, Jorge Fossati started using him as a lane in a line of five. In Peñarol, Diego Forlan He asked him to play as a winger because he had many options for the middle. Piquerez talked about it with his family, his representative (Marco Vanzini) and gave it the go-ahead. They understood that it was a good possibility because it is a position where footballers are not abundant.
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Friend
Piquerez hit a good wave of entry in Palmeiras with Felipe MeloEccentric and controversial footballer known both for his conditions on the field and for some provocations to his rivals. At his father’s request, the player got him a shirt from the experienced Brazilian midfielder.
The Uruguayan generated a very good relationship with the footballer with a past in Galatasaray, Juventus and Inter Milan, among various teams. More than once they published images on their social networks sharing some moments outside of training sessions and concentrations. In the photo they are having lunch with their partner Benjamin Kuscevic.
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Trajectory
He played in Baby Soccer in Stockolmo and Rincón de Carrasco. In AUFI he defended River Plate and then made the Training Divisions in Defensor Sporting. In the Primera del Violeta, between 2017 and 2019, he played 26 games and won a title (Apertura 2017). With no place in the squad, he went to Darsenero where he played 21 games in a year. His good performances led him to Peñarol. His shirt didn’t weigh him down. He played 37 duels and won the citation to the senior team and the pass to Palmeiras where he has 16 appearances.
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Chickadee
Yellow and black blood runs through Piquerez’s veins. Even before reaching Peñarol, while defending other clubs, he continued to encourage the team. With his father he even traveled in the 2011 Copa Libertadores to Avellaneda and to the final with Santos.
