2021-08-22 15:55 · #141315
His most recent assignment, however, was a little different. “The analyst who scours the globe looking for players who could potentially represent Chile got in touch,” Corbyn explains. “He gathered from an interview that Ben gave to Blackburn TV a little while back that Ben could play for Chile. He said to me, ‘Ben, you’ve got to get through to Ben Brereton.’ He didn’t give me a choice!”
<...>got hold of Brereton’s agent. “I gave Olly (Henry) a call and said that potentially there would be some serious interest from Chile if Ben was able to get his nationality because that’s what would make him eligible, and that’s why there wasn’t an official approach from the Chilean Federation to Blackburn; it was more of a direct approach to Ben to get his documents done so that he could be eligible and then they could obviously go through the official channels.
“Then it was a long, drawn-out process where we had to go and register him at the Chilean consulate. <...> Once that came through he had to apply for a passport. In the end, the passport didn’t come in time but they gave him a temporary one, which enabled him to get over to Chile.”
Brereton, who had played for England at age-group level while coming through at Nottingham Forest, knew when that passport process started that there was no guarantee it would lead to a call-up. It was worth rolling the dice, though, especially on the back of an encouraging Zoom call in October, when he spoke to the Chile coach Reinaldo Rueda. <...> Come February, Rueda had left to take over as Colombia manager and been replaced by Martin Lasarte.
Although Brereton was not scoring freely for Blackburn — he had five goals to his name at that point — Chile really liked what they saw in his general play and, privately, had already decided they would call him up at the end of the season.
Andrea had never imagined she would see that day. “When he was little we always kind of joked, ‘Ben, you could play for Chile.’ We used to laugh about that. So there was a little seed in your mind, but I don’t think we ever thought it would come true.”
‘Surreal!’ – Ben Brereton-Diaz on becoming Blackburn’s Chile hero, facing Messi and starring in a Pepsi advert
https://theathletic.com/2743641/2021/08/01/surreal-ben-brereton-diaz-on-becoming-blackburns-chile-hero-facing-messi-and-starring-in-a-pepsi-advert
YouTube
https://youtu.be/v056UH3r7n8
<...>got hold of Brereton’s agent. “I gave Olly (Henry) a call and said that potentially there would be some serious interest from Chile if Ben was able to get his nationality because that’s what would make him eligible, and that’s why there wasn’t an official approach from the Chilean Federation to Blackburn; it was more of a direct approach to Ben to get his documents done so that he could be eligible and then they could obviously go through the official channels.
“Then it was a long, drawn-out process where we had to go and register him at the Chilean consulate. <...> Once that came through he had to apply for a passport. In the end, the passport didn’t come in time but they gave him a temporary one, which enabled him to get over to Chile.”
Brereton, who had played for England at age-group level while coming through at Nottingham Forest, knew when that passport process started that there was no guarantee it would lead to a call-up. It was worth rolling the dice, though, especially on the back of an encouraging Zoom call in October, when he spoke to the Chile coach Reinaldo Rueda. <...> Come February, Rueda had left to take over as Colombia manager and been replaced by Martin Lasarte.
Although Brereton was not scoring freely for Blackburn — he had five goals to his name at that point — Chile really liked what they saw in his general play and, privately, had already decided they would call him up at the end of the season.
Andrea had never imagined she would see that day. “When he was little we always kind of joked, ‘Ben, you could play for Chile.’ We used to laugh about that. So there was a little seed in your mind, but I don’t think we ever thought it would come true.”
‘Surreal!’ – Ben Brereton-Diaz on becoming Blackburn’s Chile hero, facing Messi and starring in a Pepsi advert
https://theathletic.com/2743641/2021/08/01/surreal-ben-brereton-diaz-on-becoming-blackburns-chile-hero-facing-messi-and-starring-in-a-pepsi-advert
YouTube
https://youtu.be/v056UH3r7n8
