Once upon a time, children who played amateur soccer had a little dream of their own...
On June 23, 2021, Copa America Group B, Colombia played Brazil. It was a disappointing day in Colombia, but in the darkness, there was always some hope. In the 9 minutes of the opening match, Juan Cuadra's cross from the polygon was just right, only to see a man in the penalty area sinking at the waist, and a thunderous upside-down golden hook shot the ball in, surprising all the Brazilians present. Luis Díaz's pounding celebration after the goal, which swept away all the encounters of his childhood, was the effort that gave him what he has today.
Once they also had a golden boy, facing Uruguay on the same pitch, a chest stop and volley, a star goal that made the world feel crazy. That was the winner of the Puscas Prize for 14 years and a huge fan of Colombia, James Rodriguez.
Luis Díaz's goal gave Colombia a surprise that has not been seen for a long time, after experiencing the "tiger" Falcao, the "golden boy" J Ronaldo, and then Colombia's flag bearer Luis Díaz may see the whirlwind of the "third force" in South America again in this year's World Cup...
One of the most assiduous environments in the world
Colombia, one of the world's first chaotic countries with a large gap between rich and poor. Most people live in silence, and few people can turn over on other things.
Luis Díaz was born in such a special country, but more seriously than J. Ronaldo, he was born in Barrancas, almost the most barren place in Colombia. In terms of UN research, 5,000 Vayo children died of starvation from 2008 to 2016, and has been a key UN area focusing on human rights, hunger and crime.
Luis Díaz wants to escape from here to start a new life, which seems like a distant dream...
"Maybe it's all thanks to football, there's not a moment in my life that I'm not playing football."
Treat the streets and alleys as blank drawing boards, use footwork to enjoy the play, gently pick birds like excited birds, jump on the paper; delicately observe everyone's movements, step by step is to make this picture vivid, carefully complete each classic painting.
Luis Díaz never gave up on his biggest dream, like Neymar in Brazil, even if I am poor, have no shoes, or even no stadium, as long as I have a ball, I can enjoy it.
Happy football was played until the age of 18, and just when Luis Díaz wanted to step into society and work hard to support his family, the god of fate quietly knocked on the door of Luis Díaz's life.
A twist in everything
In 2015, Barrancas gathered Indigenous players from all districts to help the Colombian national team compete in a Cup for Native Americans in South America, Copa Americana de Pueblos Indigenas. Luis Díaz, who has long been famous in the local game, also ushered in the first turning point in his life, when the coaching team went to visit Luis Díaz's game, saw the exaggerated foot skills, almost all the players were treated as wooden people, the ball did not leave the feet, and all the coaching teams unanimously agreed to immediately let Luis Díaz enter the 22-man roster. After a long period of "informal training", Luis Díaz finally had the opportunity to put on the jersey of the Colombian national team, which is also the first local player to have the opportunity to stand on such a big stage to perform.
When you know Colombian football, maybe it's "Golden Boy" J Ronaldo, maybe tiger "Falcao", but everyone will always forget the big predecessor who inspired them, the "Golden Retriever King" Carlos Valdlama. Former 2-time South American Footballer of the Year and a member of Fifa100.
He is the godfather of all Colombian players and an important motivator of why Colombia has been producing super strikers all the time. This time, while serving as assistant coach at Copa Americana de Pueblos Indigenas, Carlos Valdlamar discovered Luis Díaz, an offensive genius.
Why Luis Díaz will be called "Colombia Messi", of course, in addition to the same perverted dribbling ability, for the dominance of the game, the entire tournament 2 goals, as the captain, Luis Díaz also single-handedly led the team all the way to the final.
This is the first time he has the opportunity to stand on the big stage, but also his 18 years of fantasy stage, his life has played large and small games, this time for the glory of the country to succeed, will take him to a different world of football.
But this match brought Luis Díaz to tears for the first time in football, and in Santiago, Chile, Paraguay took the match 1-0, which was the first time Luis Díaz was lost. Unwillingly, he knelt on the ground, washed his face with tears, and secretly in his heart, he planted the seeds to win glory for the country.
These determinations to win are silently seen by many Colombian fans and teams. Luis Díaz did not yet know that these moves of not accepting defeat could bring him many changes.
"Uncomfortable weight gain experience"
"You need to gain your weight and muscle mass", that's the first words luis Díaz gave him after he was finally signed by Colombia's Barranquilla youth, and of course that's what "Golden Retriever" Carlos Valdhrama is going to do before he goes into the professional arena. Although Luis Diaz's skills are outstanding, his overly thin body does make him suffer enough, and as long as there is physical contact on the field, Luis Dias can usually be seen showing an uncomfortable expression. Increasing muscle not only allows Luis Díaz to express his skills more flexibly, but also protects his professional longevity.
Just a diet to know how much Luis Díaz needs weight, and how much does the Barranquilla youth actually arrange for Luis Díaz to eat "pasta" in the morning?
After a year of recuperation and appearances, plus being loaned out at Barranquilla (a team in the Second Division), Luis Díaz, who was getting closer and closer to the physique of a "normal player", was ready to return to play in Colombia's highest temple.
Returning to Barranquilla Juniors, Luis Díaz played a total of 86 games, handing over 20 goals, with his call-up to the 2018 World Cup being the starting point for his fame.
Who would have thought that a country boy who lived with poverty would change his fate in just 4 years, using nothing else, luis Díaz's persistence from childhood to adulthood, football.
Ordinary people, after experiencing success, may begin to lose themselves, whether it is fame or profit can make people mad. But I promise we should also say that Luis Díaz is not an ordinary person, in the face of this world full of money, he can guard the most important self in his heart, how he should carry out his next step, and also know that football can not go to the sky one step at a time, but step by step, there will be the most solid success.
At the World Cup in Russia, Zenit, the first landlord powerhouse to pay attention to Luis Díaz, offered a fairly high salary to recruit Luis Díaz. But by this time, Luis Díaz already knew what he wanted in his heart, he wanted to progress, he wanted to be discovered, and he wanted to climb to the top of Europe step by step.
Everything also connected him to Porto.
Portugal's most beautiful port has also produced many of the best stars in South America, and perhaps everyone will say that Porto has brought in the best players in South America from Brazil, but many people have ignored the highland country in the west of South America, Colombia.
Falcao, J Ronaldo, Jackson Martinez, these elites from Colombia, are the best players brought out by Porto, and they are also the idol players that Luis Díaz has seen since childhood. Who in Colombia wouldn't want to be like Falcao, using speed and skill to eat other people to death? Who doesn't want to be like J Ronaldo, using the pass to dominate the whole game. With the successful experience of the predecessors, coupled with a careful plan for their own cultivation. In the end, Porto and Luis Díaz reached an agreement to sign him for 7 million euros for 5 years, not only to bring a new generation of talent to themselves, but also to help the team find the best record after losing Yasin Brahimi.
In the 19/20 season, the newcomer Luis Díaz immediately showed the momentum of dominating the entire league, and after the departure of Yassin Brahimi, the original main force on the left, everyone felt that Luis Díaz needed a period of adaptation to take over the task of top scorer. But Luis Díaz told everyone that he wasn't adapting! The 14 goals and 3 assists throughout the season perfectly connected to Porto's firepower gap and revived the Portuguese Premier League and Portuguese Cup.
Everyone who has watched the NBA knows that usually very strong rookies usually encounter the so-called "rookie wall" in the second year of the season, although this is rare on the football field, but this time Luis Díaz faced such a problem.
In addition to the fact that many of his skills were examined by his opponents, his original ability to break through was completely cracked, and the playing time was also divided up by many rising players in the front, and The time of Luis Díaz, who had somewhat reduced his ability, was also reduced, and from the 2927 minutes of the 19/20 season to the 2602 minutes of the 20/21 season, there were gradually some doubts.
Of course, Porto had a hard time in the 20/21 season, although beating Juventus in the Round of 16 of the Champions League, but the league lost to Sporting Lisbon in 2003, and the Portuguese Cup did not even have a chance to reach the final, which was definitely a very failed season for Luis Díaz or Porto.
At that time, Luis Díaz seemed to forget that playing football should be happy, not blindly chasing everyone's eyes.
It wasn't until this contest that Luis Díaz regained his truest self.
The transfer of the Copa America from Argentina to Brazil, which was against the time of the European Cup, everyone was nervous about the epidemic, and could have had difficulties in childbirth, blurred the focus of this competition for various reasons, as if this cup is a big competition that few people pay attention to...
Until the first game of the game, Brazil versus Colombia, the upside-down golden hook described at the beginning once again pulled everyone's eyes back to the field of the Copa America, it turned out that the Copa America was so passionate! In this way, Luis Díaz brought back all the audiences in the world and told them with technology that South America is not only Brazil and Argentina, don't forget us Colombia!
Colombia, who have been through the barriers, have relied on Luis Díaz's outstanding performances to encounter one of their biggest difficulties in the semifinals, Argentina, which has the king Messi.
Soon after the start of the tournament, Colombia fell first due to defensive mistakes, and it seems that for Messi, advancing to the final is almost a necessary process.
However, Luis Díaz, who had performed well throughout the tournament, finally jumped out at this time, facing argentina's "logging team" defense, Luis Díaz single-handedly fought on the left side. Di Maria, the passing machine, was overwhelmed by himself, Rodrigo de Paul was played by Luis Díaz's footwork, no one could stop Luis Díaz's offensive threat, and that day he was like Neymar in the final, pulling hard and pulling hard was a piece of cake for him.
At 60 minutes, he cut all the way into the box, and Christian Romero couldn't affect Luis Díaz's footsteps, and the only thing that came to Luis Díaz's mind at the moment was "I'm going to try to get the ball into the box!" Even if he finally pushed off track, Luis Díaz still pushed the ball out of the way at the moment of the fall.
Romero used all his strength and Damien Martinez extended his arms, but still could not stop Luis Díaz's determination to score, and the game was equalized 1-1 at Columbia!
In the next penalty shootout, perhaps the most impressive thing will be Messi and Colombia's Yeri Mina choking! Then Colombia lost the game, but don't forget that it was because of Luis Díaz that everyone had such a beautiful penalty shootout to watch.
Consistently, in the third place against Peru, Luis Díaz continued his highlights, scoring twice throughout the game to allow Colombia to lock in the game, and two advance goal goals brought the game to the peak of the game.
In the 94th minute, Luis Díaz dribbled the ball on the side, and after a small match with the striker, he cut all the way to the outside of the box, just when the Peruvian player was thinking about life, Luis Díaz quickly got up in the semicircle position at the top of the arc, only to see the rocket ball rush to the dead corner of the goal, the current anchor was completely stupid, and the TV was nearly 3 seconds of silence, "Luis Díaz dominated the whole game!" The anchor, who suddenly woke up, yelled into the microphone. Just when everyone thought they were going to see another overtime match, Luis Díaz used his goal to tell everyone, "No, we are not working overtime today!" ”
The excellent performance of the whole competition, he and Messi tied for the Golden Boot of the tournament, after the game of the player selection, he is tied with the world's best strikers Messi, Neymar the best 11 people in the tournament.
Continuing the excellent performance of the Copa America, Luis Díaz finally got unlimited firing rights in Porto in the 21/22 season, and this season he has already handed over 14 goals and 5 assists in the league, and the season has only been in 18 rounds, Luis Díaz's goals are already the sum of the previous two seasons! He scored two goals in the Champions League, giving Porto a chance to qualify for the knockout rounds "once" in the group of the dead.
In the third round of the Champions League, the Portuguese dragon home, facing such a strong opponent as Milan, Porto showed fearlessness, whether it was the possession rate (53%) or the shooting opportunity (20 times) was pressing Milan in the attack, but no matter how to attack, Milan's gate has always been guarded by a strong defender line and they are dead. Until the 67th minute, the high ball in the penalty area, Taremi "accidentally" stopped the ball at the foot of Luis Díaz, who was ambushed on the edge of the penalty area, only to see that it was not hurried, Luis Díaz pushed the ball to the dead corner with his precise shooting skills, and completed the only goal of the game; in the fourth round to San Siro, Italy, Luis Dias was still brave, and when he was in the gap in the penalty area in 6 minutes, he did not hesitate to raise his feet, and in an instant, the Milan fans faced only the endless abyss, They couldn't resist the onslaught of Luis Díaz and could only watch the Colombian in silence, standing by the flag of the corner, singing and celebrating with ease.
As a Atletico fan, of course, he is also impressed by Luis Díaz, whether it is Marcos Llorente or Kieran Trippier to defend him in two games, he feels quite difficult, "attack is the best defense" is shown vividly under Luis Díaz's playing style, he can be the overlord of a whole wing, but also can be a superstar who carries a whole team forward!
The final missed promotion to the Champions League knockout round certainly made Luis Díaz quite sad, after all, he is now the captain of Porto, and he must shoulder the team's victory and defeat. Since losing to Atletico Madrid, Porto have achieved nine consecutive wins in all competitions, six more points than Sporting Lisbon and a nine-point gap between their rivals Benfica.
Perhaps there will also be such a day, the captain of Porto also needs to soar higher in the sky.
When Liverpool announced that they would sign Luis Díaz for 50 million euros, many people were in disbelief, because of the many transfer rumors that came out, and the relationship with Luis Díaz was another bird in London, Tottenham.
This cut-off didn't just make Liverpool's own fans feel incredible: "Our boss is willing to spend money on people in the winter window? It made Tottenham fans look stunned: "Our boss paid for it but was tricked?" ”。
The transfer of Colombian striker Luis Diaz, who has sought Portugal giants in Portugal Giants Porto, is in the final stage, with the two clubs reaching an agreement and the players signing their contracts, with Liverpool officially announcing on Monday at the latest.
But behind this transfer, there is someone who is very unhappy, this person is Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy. According to the British Telegraph, liverpool and Díaz's agency team have reached a tacit agreement that as long as the progress of the transaction between Tottenham and Porto progresses, Liverpool will know the content and consider buying Dias early (Liverpool was expected to be ready to buy Díaz this summer). After the Liverpool team learned of Tottenham's attempt, with the approval of Porto, the Manager Jurgen Klopp and Díaz held a Facetime video conference to confirm the tacit understanding between the two sides to join, and finally Díaz also decided to reject Tottenham.
Tottenham chairman Levy was very unhappy about Liverpool's "black box operation" interception of Díaz, and raised the matter with Liverpool boss John Henry, but Henry was very satisfied with the Reds' strategy of recruiting the team.
Of course, I also doubted whether the Liverpool trophy cabinet was secretly displayed during the video of Klopp and Louis Díaz, after all, this is something that Tottenham does not have!
It does make sense, though, because Luis Díaz rarely has a chance to be a winner, from Copa Americana de Pueblos Indigenas to last year's Copa America, Luis Díaz has never lifted a major event trophy, and Liverpool did give him such an opportunity.
Of course, for Liverpool, such a signing not only takes into account the recent "Africa Cup of Nations" match period that needs to be faced, but also completes the layout of the future trident update in advance, want to see the current Mane 29 years old, Salah 29 years old, Roberto Firmino 30 years old, for Liverpool fans, their possible strong period is only 2-3 years, and now added to Luis Dias, the timeline of continuing to compete for Premier League opportunities will be stretched even longer.
Can be pressed or attacked, can you say he is not the best substitute for Mane?
Flying birds, you have to increase the height of the sky to show the best ability to fly.
On the plateau of Columbus, there are always eagles circling in the sky, not in a hurry, not panicking, always so calm in the face of prey, because they know that the final result will be successful and beautiful, and now there is an eagle flying over England, preparing for his hunt.
From having nothing, to now becoming the focus of the world, slowly growing step by step. Luis Díaz put in more effort and practice than anyone else, combined with his love of football, which led him to the stage of the world.
Colombia in every World Cup always makes people look forward to it, which of the Golden Retriever, Tigers, J Ronaldo is not a famous superstar?
Perhaps this year's World Cup South American fans are more than just concerned about Argentina and Brazil. Dressed in the yellow trench coat of No. 14 and descending into the scorching desert with the proud bones of the plateau, he is Luis Díaz, who will lead you to Colombia in November this year!