During the weekend, Costa Rica celebrated the classification of the Indoor Soccer (Futsal) National Team to the Lithuanian World Cup and also the three-time Concacaf championship. That team was made up of local league players, and mostly hard-working people, who have to sacrifice work and family hours to be part of the Tricolor.
Two examples of this are Gilbert Garro and Daniel Gómez, important members of the team and who have a history prior to their success with “La Sele”. Garro won his second title in Concacaf and already has a World Cup participation; Gomez, for his part, had his first experience of this type and hopes to go to his first World Cup.
Gilbert Garro: Football in the veins
At 30, Gilbert Garro aspired to dedicate himself to football. He reached the High Performance of Herediano, but a call in 2009 to the Futsal Selection made him change the direction. He is the fourth of 6 brothers, one of them with a career in the highest category. Gilberth is the brother of José Garro, a defender who was at Herediano, Santos and is now a Grecia player.
He has been playing this sport for 13 years and already knows what it is to play a World Cup. He was in 2016 at the tournament in Colombia. Of course, he does not lose the illusion of what it means to represent the country at an international level.
“It means a lot, to be in this sport and in the National Team is a lot of sacrifice, effort, discipline and whoever does not feel proud of what they do to be in La Sele, has no spirit or love for the sport they practice”, he said.
Garro achieved his second title in the area. With around 11 teams in his career, Garro is called “The Barboza Arrow of Futsal”, a nickname that bothered him before and now he enjoys. He currently plays with Barrio Peralta-San José de la Montaña. Jorge Barboza is a Brazilian who came to Costa Rican soccer and played in many top-flight teams.
Married and with a son named Saúl, this neighbor of San Pablo de Heredia knows that what is done by La Sele is not easy and more so for a sport that is not professional in the country.
“It is not easy, the road is not easy. We are not professionals, we each work in different companies, many study and then we take the time to play,” he said. Garro works for a company called Global-Motion, which sells and assembles wheels and rims. He is part of the logistics and vehicle control area. Gilbert was at the World Cup in Colombia in 2016.
Daniel Gómez: Hardware store and student
Daniel Gómez lived his best moments in the World Cup in the semifinal against Panama and in the final against the United States. He scored 4 goals in both games to guide La Sele to the area title. It was Gomez’s first time in an official tournament and now he dreams of being in Lithuania.
At 26, this man is married and works in a hardware store in Orotina: Ferjuca, but also, he is a student. At this moment he is at the Orotina Night School where he is in his third year. His dream is to get the baccalaureate and then continue studying a career.
Gómez thanks his employers for the possibilities they give him to develop in this sport, which involves a lot of sacrifice. Check in at 7 a.m. and leaves at 5 p.m., to later head to Project Gol to train. “One sacrifices many things, mainly to the family because the schedules are complicated,” said this player.
Daniel Gómez enjoyed his first Concacaf World Cup. Gómez along with Diego Vargas are the two players from the National Team representing Orotina. They teamed up for training., traveled by bus, sometimes by car and sometimes by motorcycle. During the preparation process, they had an accident on the motorcycle, which left Gómez with five stitches on his hand and incapacitated for a few days.
“We all arrived crazy at Project Gol, and there they gave us assistance. I was away for a while, but we came back with great enthusiasm. In the end they are all anecdotes that are humorously remembered,” said Daniel.
Now Gómez is getting ready to work hard and be part of the team that is in Lithuania for the World Cup, which will be played from September 12th to October 3rd of this year. “Lithuania is a dream, since childhood one thinks about going to a World Cup,” he concluded.
