Carlos Alberto Leon: The Greatest Player in Colombian History

[gregprude]

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Chapter 1 : The Beginning
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My name is Carlos Alberto León. When I was a kid, I never knew that one day I would become the most recognizable face in this country and Colombia's most capped footballer ever. But every story has to start somewhere... and mine starts on March 8th, 2006 in Giron, Colombia. It is a small town in northeast Colombia. It is located in the department of Santander, Colombia. Most of its residents are extremely poor. That was the case for me, as well. I always knew that wasn't always going to be the case though....




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The other day I asked my father, "How did I first start playing football?" He quickly answered by saying, "One day I came home with a football that I found in the town. I let you play with it and you would always kick it against the wall as hard as you could. Our neighbors started complaining about the noise..but I didn't care. I was just ecstatic that my little boy was enjoying the game that I loved so dearly. That was when you were close to 3 years old. A few years later, when you turned 5... I enrolled you in a local youth league. Each street in the neighborhood had their own squad.... From the moment you stepped on that pitch, I knew you would be someone special."




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I proceeded to ask him "How did you know I would be someone special?" He replied "I knew because even though you were the same age as most of the other kids, you were much stronger, faster, and taller. You just danced around the defenders and made them look like babies. You played so well that local teams from bigger cities in Santander were taking notice of you from a young age." After a few months of playing in the local youth league, scouts from Atletico Bucaramanga started showing up to my matches and every time I would display my amazing footwork, they would write something down on their clipboards.. I didn't think anything of it...





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[gregprude]

Bucaramanga

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Chapter 2: Bucaramanga
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The Atletico Bucaramanga scouts started coming to watch me more frequently. One day, after a long day and school and and match in our local youth league, I went back home as usual. I expected to see my parents and sister waiting for me at the dinner table to eat. I saw them sitting at the table... but they were not the only ones. Remember the scouts that I told you were always at my matches watching? Now they were sitting in my house. I looked over at my family members and they all had huge smiles on their faces. One of the scouts stood up and said to me "Hello Carlos, my name is Jose Suarez. I am the Head of Youth Development at Atletico Bucaramanga. We have been watching you play for the last few months and we like what we have seen. We would like you to join our youth academy in Bucaramanga. How does that sound?".... I let all that sink in for a moment and replied, "Bucaramanga? That is a big city...and it is quite far." My father cuts me off and says, "Yes it is far and it is a big city. But this is also a big opportunity for you and our family." After a short silence I said, "I know it is a big opportunity but I don't want to be away from you guys.." The Head of Youth Development cut in seeing this situation was going south and said "If you are successful, in a couple years your will be able to move you family into Bucaramanga with all the money you will earn!" At six years old, these people were asking me to make one of the biggest decisions of my life. I thought about it for a second.....and of course I agreed to go play for Atletico Bucaramanga! It was my dream to play for a club of that stature and I was one step closer to it.



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My first match with Atletico Bucaramanga was with the U8's side. They game me the number 10 kit. It was the most nervous I have ever been before a football match. I was sweating so much through my kit that they had to throw it in the dryer to get the sweat stains out. But as soon as I got on the pitch, I asserted my dominance. I expected these kids to be so much better than me because I came from a poor little youth league. I saw them in their fancy kits and boots and thought I would fail..but I didn't I dominated. I scored in the 13th minute off a freekick header. The coaches went crazy. It was like they had never seen any kid do that before. That was an amazing feeling scoring my first goal. After the match, I called my family and told them all about it....

I began to make friends at the academy and started to fill the void that was there from missing my family. I still thought of them and called them daily, but it just wasn't as bad anymore. After 14 games with the U8's, they promoted me to the U10's. I was still only 7 years old so all of this was a whirlwind. After a few years and a few promotions through the ranks, I got the call...


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[gregprude]

Millonarios

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Colombian wonderkid chooses

Millonarios
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The 12 year old Colombian U16s International Carlos Alberto Leon, has chosen stay in Colombia and sign with Millonarios. The transfer fee is reportedly the highest for any player under the age of 18 in Colombian football history. The player was born in Giron in March of 2006. He signed with Atletico Bucaramanga when he was seven years old from a local youth team that his father enrolled him in. He went on to star for Bucaramanga's youth teams against some of the best young talent in Colombia. He worked his way up from the U8s to the U16s in only 5 years. He scored a total of 86 goals and set up 24 assists. He received offers to join F.C. Barcelona's famous La Masia academy and also PSG's Youth Academy. But he decided it was best for him to stay home near his family. The Millonarios staff say that he will be playing and training with the U16s for the time being. We will update you on his progress and he goes along.
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