From Ecuador to the Whole World
I still remember the day when the Brazilian world cup started in 2014. I was in high school, and I told myself I had to wear my Ecuadorian jersey since my team qualified, and I wanted to rep my country that had made it to the world cup. Pretty obvious if you ask me. Usually, when I wear my Ecuadorian jersey, people mistake it with a Brazilian jersey or even a Colombian one, probably because it is covered in bright yellow, which makes sense. Still, this time people were getting the country right. I started getting shouts at me with the words "Antonio Valencia" "Manchester United" over and over again. Although my face turned red because I hate attention, it made me feel like, 'damn, these dudes know about one of my players that play for my country?' That is crazy, I thought, because never in my life did people I was surrounded by knew about an Ecuadorian footballer and remembered he was Ecuadorian in the first place.
Antonio Valencia was the exposure of Ecuador in my times and with the people, I grew up with. Playing in such a vast and respected club like Manchester United impacted all of us Ecuadorians. We would not miss a Manchester United game, especially if 'Toño' were playing in it. We were cheering for him and his team, of course. As many of us say, he put Ecuador on the map.
Like most footballers, Valencia came from a poor background in Ecuador. To be specific, he was born in Nueva Loja, Ecuador. Nevertheless, he came out of a small town in Ecuador to winning a Europa League title, two premier league titles, two league cup titles, and one FA Cup in his ten years playing at United.
Now with his announced retirement, I look back to all he has done for United and his country of Ecuador, serving as captain for both. As I was discussing with my father the other day, Antonio pretty much did everything a little kid dreams of doing:
José Mourinho to Antonio Valencia: "Antonio a pleasure working with you and I wish you all the best. You have been a champion and I only have good memories of my captain.. 3 cups that you have lifted cannot be taken away. big hug" pic.twitter.com/OSEtQOyDYz
— utdreport (@utdreport) May 12, 2021
Congrats for your amazing career! Enjoy your retirement, hermano 🇪🇨
— David de Gea (@D_DeGea) May 12, 2021
We miss you! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/26ZBoMKqBf
What a career, what a player, what a man....One of the most humble men I know. Painfully shy but always made me smile with how shy he was!
— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) May 12, 2021
What a professional too, always doing extra training in the gym (so he could look like me)
Pleasure to play with you. Enjoy retirement Tonio pic.twitter.com/f3QBxv6C99
1) Become a professional footballer
2) Work your way up, especially in ending up in Europe for exposure. He did that when he arrived in Spain and ended up in England
3) Play for one of the most prestigious teams in the world and become captain, which also includes playing with one of the best coaches of all time (Sir Alex)
4) Being Manchester United's footballer of the year 2011-2012
5) Becoming the most expensive Ecuadorian footballer in football history
6) Play in many World Cups and become captain of your own country's teams
And so much more to add on. I mean, he did it all, saw it all, lived it all. What else could a kid from Ecuador want? As an Ecuadorian myself, I will always be so proud of Antonio Valencia. Everything he has done has been with immense humility like his colleagues like to describe him as, and he has never forgotten about where he comes from, Ecuador.
From Ecuador to the whole world.