Diego heard someone yell in the distance, but he paid no attention. He was more concerned about the attack of Barcelona, from Rio de Janeiro, in the match valid for the fifth round of the Carioca Cup.
“Kick because the goalkeeper only has two fingers!”
He didn’t get angry, but the others did. A confusion started in which athletes from his team, Grande Rio FC, and the opponent himself went to take satisfaction with the guy who was in the stands. He wasn’t a fan, he was a boy from Barcelona’s categories. He was taken out of the stadium.
The scream was provocative and prejudiced. Goalkeeper Diego Jeronimo Carmo, 31, has two fingers on his left hand and one on his right. On the feet, there are four, two in each.
He dreams of the club that will give him the chance to turn professional. A desire that gets stronger on dates like this April 26, Goalkeeper Day.
Grande Rio is a semi-professional team in Duque de Caxias, in Baixada Fluminense, the same region as the samba school of the same name.
According to Diego’s teammates and managers, the condition is only noticeable to those who see him without gloves or barefoot.
“He stood out in an evaluation we did in February last year. Nobody knew anything about him. Some time passed and our goalkeeper coach came to play with me. He said that Diego had three fingers, but he took more than another, who had ten”, says the president of the association, Maurício Pellegrini.
The manager thought that was not possible. He only believed it when the player gave him a hand to greet him.
“He always tried to get into clubs and never succeeded. We decided to embrace the idea so that he could be an inspiration for other athletes. If others had the willpower he has, our squad would be much stronger”, he adds.
Diego was born with a congenital malformation. Since childhood he wanted to be a goalkeeper. He was too lazy to run in the street naked and went to the goal. He fell in love with the position. He went through another semi-professional club in the state, EC Rio-São Paulo, but didn’t stay. In February of last year, he saw an ad on Facebook about ratings in Grande Rio for players aged 14 to 30.
“I was 30. Why not? I believe in myself, I know my potential. If you doubt, just watch me grabbing. For me, the issue of fingers is no difficulty. It never was. I’m very dedicated. Maybe people who listen of my problem, they underestimate me. But later, when they see me playing, that changes”, he notes.
Diego’s tone of voice is always confident. As far as he was concerned, nothing would even have happened to the boy from Barcelona’s base who asked for kicks on goal because the opposing goalkeeper had only two fingers. He wants to enjoy his football while he can. He knows he’s no longer the age of a boy, but for the position he’s in, it’s possible to be on the field for another ten years.
“I don’t know how far I can go. It may not last long, but I’m not thinking about stopping. Until 40 is the age that a goalkeeper can play. As long as I can, I’m going to help Grande Rio even more, a club that welcomed me a lot. I’m here in search of my biggest goal, which is to become a professional. It’s a worthwhile dream”, he believes.
The team is in the final of the Carioca Cup, a semi-professional tournament not recognized by Ferj (State Federation of Rio de Janeiro). The club has a plan to become professional in 2023 and compete in the C Series of Carioca.
“We have a talent acquisition project and we keep the costs of working with schools and revealing athletes”, says Pellegrini.
The Carioca Cup could be Diego’s second title. He won the Copa Grande Rio, another competition at the same level, last year. In the penalty shootout, he defended the decisive kick.
In the audience, there was his wife Beatriz and son Emanuel, 2. Because of the genetic problem, the child was born with three fingers on each hand.
“He’s fine. He has more fingers than I do,” jokes Diego because he can’t see how his problem could be called a disability. Or how this is a reason to suffer discrimination. “Prejudice is something that exists in the head of those who have hate.”
The desire to be a goalkeeper makes him arrive several times to train in the uniform of the hospital where he works in Rio. He is an employee in the clothing department. That’s it for now. In addition to the football dream, he is a student at UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro). He is studying a degree in Portuguese-Arabic.
“I like languages and this one is a little sought after”, he points out.
He himself finds that it is a course with little demand. And it feels good.
“Yes, it’s true. I like being different.”
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