Jorginho is a player of the 2020/2021 season, and his confession for “The players tribune” can be an inspiration for everyone who dreams of the most incredible heights and does not have the conditions to get there.When you see where Jorginho started from, it is clear that everyone can succeed.Only if he wants it strong enough… (1.50) ROMA (4.30) UDINESE (6.50)”Our rooms were filthy. We ate the same food three times a day. The showers had no hot water, not even in winter. Outside, local gangs would try to rob us. But the worst part was when the cleaning lady stopped working. There’s no pretty way of saying this but, when you go to the toilet, right? And you do number two? Well, at this place, if you threw the paper in the toilet it could get stuck, so you threw it in a bin. But when the bin wasn’t emptied for several weeks, well … yeah, you get the idea. This was my football camp in Guabiruba, Brazil. I was living more than 100 miles away from my family. I was 13 years old, man. Thirteen. EXCLUSIVE Jorginho for Mozzart Sport Kenya: Tuchel has changed us, now we are in control of the gameIt was like the army. Train twice a day, then study. Fifty players sleeping in bunk beds lined up next to each other. Before I arrived I had been at trials with three clubs in São Paulo, but they had all rejected me, so I went back to my hometown, Imbituba, where this Italian football agent invited me to this camp he was running. He said that the players who did well there had a small chance to go to Italy. What kid doesn’t want to go to Europe, right? I had been at the camp for a while when the real problems began. One day the cleaning lady quit because she hadn’t been paid, so they split us into groups of five and gave each one a cleaning day. Cheap, sure. But one day, a group didn’t bother to clean. So what happened the next day? The second group didn’t bother either. That kept happening for weeks – and the filth just accumulated. The toilets were the worst. You had to hold your breath. Maybe this will surprise you, but living like that actually became normal to me. Seriously. I learned that humans could adapt to anything, no matter how bad. It’s insane what you can endure when you feel like you have no choice. When you want something so badly that quitting seems impossible. Nail-biting penalty shoot-out win sees Italy through to the Euro 2020 final!I was prepared to do anything. But a few weeks after the cleaning lady had quit, my mum came to visit me at the camp. She went to the bathroom. When she came back, she said, “Get your things. We’re going home.”I said, “Mum, I’m not going.”She said, “I know this is your dream. But my son is not going to live like this.” I told her that if she forced me to go home and I didn’t become a football player, I would blame her for the rest of my life.She said, “No, wait…please don’t say that…” Then she began to cry. Europe’s best players in 2021: Messi, Lewandowski and Jorginho?!I said, “This is my chance. I don’t care what I have to suffer. I can eat the same food for ten days. I can go to a dirty toilet. This is nothing!”She just looked at me. I said, “I’m serious.”Then she left in tears.That was one of the hardest moments of my life. You have to understand what this meant to her. She isn’t one of those mums who don’t get football. No, my friend. She’s the one who gave me all my talent. I know Dad gets angry when I say that, but, Dad, you know it’s true! She’s from a family of footballers, and she plays to this day. When I was five, she would play ball with me on the beach near our house. We would just have fun, and if I made an error, she would say, “Don’t put your foot this way. Do it like this.”##EDITORS_CHOICE##I spent two years at that place. And, thank God, it paid off, because when I was 15 I was signed by Verona. They put me in an old monastery. We were six youth players in a tiny room with three bunk beds. It wasn’t much, but I was so excited. Italy! Anything was possible now.The first three months were great. But then it got heavy because I had no idea when I would be able to go home. And I was living on 20 euros a week that I was getting from my agent, the same one who had invited me to the camp. I’d always spend it on the same stuff. Five euros to phone my family in Brazil, a few more for shampoo, deodorant and toothpaste. On the weekends, I’d spend the rest in an Internet cafe to chat with friends and family on MSN. ##NAJAVA_MECA_5838500##Sometimes when I really wanted a treat, I’d go to the main square in Verona and buy a milkshake at McDonald’s. It cost one euro. Fries? Burger? Forget it, man! Happy Meals were for the rich kids. Then I would sit on a staircase in the corner of the square and just … watch. I’d watch people come and go. I’d watch the birds and the tourists and just let my thoughts wander. That was how I spent my Saturday afternoons. Of course, I knew that I would not have been there without him and my mum. I would probably have been back in Imbituba, watching the game on TV. And I just really want to make sure that you understand the importance of my parents here, and also guys like Rafael and Joao. Sure, this is a story about pursuing your dream until the very end. But it’s also about having good people around you. People who care, who want the best for you. Man, you can be as good as you want. But I’m telling you: In football, and in life, you cannot make it to the top alone. It’s impossible. GRANADA – SOCIEDADThe weeks after the Euros were magical. I spent some time in Verona, where I had not been for a long time, and I visited the monastery. Unfortunately, everyone was on vacation, but it was really emotional to see my home from 14 years earlier. Then I went to the main square, walked into the McDonald’s and bought a milkshake. I sat down on the stairs in the corner, where I had spent so many afternoons as a teenager, and I just … watched.Then I closed my eyes and went back in time. And it was like I could see my 15-year-old self sitting there next to me. Nobody took any notice of him. Nobody knew about his homesickness or the conversations he was having with his parents. He was just a shy and skinny kid sipping a one-euro milkshake.But I knew about all the difficulties he had endured, and about those he was about to endure. So I leaned over and whispered the same thing that I would tell every kid who is chasing a dream. I said, “Don’t give up, man.”Whatever happens, don’t give up.”
