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Poznajmy się – Kevin Romero

  • autor: stalny, 2015-11-05 16:11

Strzelcem pierwszego gola dla biało-niebieskich w niedzielnym meczu z Doxa był Kevin Romero, dla którego był to dopiero drugi występ w barwach biało-niebieskich. Mimo młodego wieku przebojowy Kevin moze się pochawalić bogatym piłkarskim resume (NY Red Bulls, szeroka kadra Salvadoru) – ponizej obszerny artykuł o naszym pilkarzu z  BigAppleSoccer.com

If there is one thing that Baruch College's opponents have learned the past two years its that Kevin Romero can be one persistent player.

After all, he is a Division III player who has professional national team ambitions, making him a rather rare commodity in that level of college soccer.

But first things first -- Romero Baruch must take care of some business before the 3-year-old senior midfielder can start to truly pursue his dreams. The Bearcats will take on the top-seeded College of Staten Island in the City University of New York Athletic Conference men's championship game at Brooklyn College at 2 p.m. Saturday. The winner will advance to the NCAA Division III tournament.

Regardless of the result, Romero will be a step closer to his intended goal.

"Oh, my God, I would hope it to be my life," he said in a recent interview. "College I understand that it is something that is very important for me. But there is nothing close what it is to me, soccer. Since I was kid, since I was back in the U-14 academy in El Salvador. It's not that I want to brag about it. People are just telling me that I do have the potential that hypes me up even more ... more to make my dream come true."

Romero's journey to America has been a cyclical one, born in the United States to El Salvadoran parents. Because his mother did not have the papers to leave in the USA, they moved to El Salvador when Romero was three before living in Mexico for five years returning to the Central American country when he was 12.

His life soccer career experience have been defined punctuated by his patience persistence.

"When I was 18 my idea was always to play soccer," he said. "At the same time, you go to school in El Salvador its one or the other. You cannot pick both. You either play soccer or you go to school. Since I had my passport everything the U.S. because I was born here, I decided to come here for vacation live with my aunt here in New York."

He discovered the Red Bulls asked about a tryout. When he received a positive response, Romero already had returned to El Salvador. But he decided to pursue one of the most unusual trips he would take, a trek that would define the teenager at the time.

That was in October, 2008. He flew into Newark airport on a Friday night with $80 in his pocket a credit card that would not work, which he discovered when he had arrived. Romero met someone at the airport who also was El Salvador he the teenager to Penn Station in Newark at 11 p.m. that night.

Romero called the train station "one of the most dangerous places on the earth I didn't know that back then."

"When I got there, the guy who drove me there didn't know they closed at 1 a.m." he said. "So I got kicked out of the station that night. I went inside of the lobby in a hotel because I [didn’t have] the money to pay it. The next morning I just took a cab to Rutgers-Newark. It was eight minutes away. I went to Rutgers at 7 a.m. to make sure I was at the right field to practice."

It was a success.

"The coaches loved me," he said. "I killed it. I scored like three goals. I didn't know where I got the strength for it. Thank God."

That Saturday night, a parent drove Romero back to Newark Airport.

The Red Bulls accepted him into their Academy Romero returned to the land where he was born to play with the club's Under-19 team.

"They loved me they said they wanted me, but they didn't know I lived in El Salvador back then," he said. "They were like, 'If we would have known that you were El Salvador, that you came El Salvador, we wouldn't have called you.' They didn't know because I put my aunt's address."

Romero wound up playing for the Red Bulls Under-23 that won the National Premier Soccer League crown. He wasn't one of the 18 players selected the 30-player to play in the championship game at Red Bull Arena this summer, but he did not complain.

To pursue his dream, Romero had to make some sacrifices at Liceo Ladislao Leiva, his high school in San Salvador.

"The last exam I did in my school I did on a Friday," he said. "I finished at 12. I had everything packed I left a couple of hours after my last exam. So I never got to go to my graduation ceremony or go to my prom. My mom picked up my diploma in front of all of my classmates. So I never had the experience of graduating. That was one sacrifice I had to do to come here. Yes, it was crazy, but it was exactly what I wanted. I had to say no to everything in El Salvador. I had to come here make a new life."

Not everybody in Romero's family was in his corner at first.

"My mind was set that once I graduate, I try will go to the U.S., I knew that," he said. "I just didn't know where when. It happened the Red Bulls liked me that's why I went to New York. If not, I would have gone to Houston because my uncle's there. But because of Red Bulls, I had to do it. I could not let this go. If I got here, even my grandmother didn't trust me on that. They were like, 'Your mother is getting $1,000 to pay your trip for two days in Newark. She got that money under the rocks.' My grandmother was like, 'If they don't pick you, you should decide on something else.' My own grandmother told me that."

English was barely a second language for Romero at the time. He didn't know it. When he worked at Johnny Rockets in Hoboken, N.J. to help make ends meet, Romero admitted that he didn't know what a straw was in English.

"The people laughed at me," he said. "I didn't know that forks knives had four more names like utensils. It was tough. It was funny at the same time, but it was very tough. God helped me to go with the right people."

Romero wound up attending Borough of Manhattan Community College, where he had to take remedial English classes while becoming a soccer standout a junior college All-American. When it came time to look for a Division I or II school -- he said he had been in contact with the University of Connecticut, among others -- the NCAA told Romero that he did not have enough credits so he was ineligible.

That did not deter Romero. He found a Division III school that would suit him academically -- his major is in graphic communications -- athletically -- Baruch College. It has worked out well as he has earned All-CUNYAC honors two seasons running was the conference's pre-season player of the year before this season.

Despite his rather unusual journey, Romero said he would not change anything to pursue his dream.

"I played in the top academies in El Salvador," he said. "Now all my friends who I used to play with are with the National Team. I'm going to try to go back play for El Salvador’s national team next year. I just need to find a contract with some team to hook me up with a contract to go back to El Salvador. I definitely will be able to play professionally in El Salvador. That's like my last resort to go back there. I'm trying to get a contract outside of El Salvador first."

He is planning to go overseas next year for some tryouts. If not there, there might be a tryout opportunity with the Red Bulls.

Kevin Romero will keep on pursuing that dream.


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