But what on Earth does the above-mentioned ‘Football Manager’ has to do with all that?Pretty much everything.One of their associates and scouts, Mark Hitchen, a longtime Blackburn Rovers fan, attended the club’s home game in the EFL Championship in the fall of 2020. While he was chatting with his friends, waiting for the kick-off, he read a matchday programme and spotted one curious little thing regarding Blackburn striker Ben Brereton Diaz.(1.40) CHILE (4.80) VENEZUELA (9.50)”Technically, I’m eligible for Chile. My mother is Chilean.”That one small line, only ten-words-long, has made all the difference. And magic.When Hitchen returned home from the game, he updated the ‘FM21’ database with this info – Ben Brereton Diaz, second nationality: Chilean.#Championship 🏴J-9El triplete de 🇨🇱@brereton, primero como profesional, en el triunfo del #Blackburn 5-1 ante Cardiff City. Los Rovers, son 6º de la clasificación. pic.twitter.com/Afc3KYHPDk— Fabian Estay (@FABIANESTAY10) September 26, 2021 From that moment on, it was a story of a snowflake suddenly transforming into an avalanche thanks to the game’s popularity and those wannabe tacticians and agents that have won at least two Champions Leagues with Shakhtar Donetsk and FIFA Club World Cup with Gor Mahia while sitting in their old armchair drinking coke for hours and hours.It was 5am in Chile when a guy, and a popular podcaster, nicknamed Koke spotted the info suggesting Diaz was his countryman, actually. Immediately, he kick-started an online campaign on social media called ‘#BreretonALaRoja’ with an obvious intention to Brereton Diaz receive a call up to Chile’s squad.And, like in every fairytale, it eventually happened. ¡INCREÍBLE!- Mark Hitchen, scout para Football Manager, descubrió que Brereton podía jugar para Chile y lo añadió a la actualización del juego.- ‘Koke’ lo encontró en el juego y creó el hasthag #BreretonALaRoja – Hoy, Brereton es la estrella de Chile en la Copa América 🇨🇱⚽️ pic.twitter.com/re41noaTZI— Fanbolero (@fanbolero) June 25, 2021 Despite representing England at youth levels – and even winning the U-19 EURO with the Three Lions in 2017 – he was never to return to the squad, but his luck changed dramatically at 21. The mainstream media in Chile picked up that social network story about Brereton, so he was called up by manager Martín Lasarte for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Argentina and Bolivia in May 2021. He was subsequently included in Chile’s squad for 2021 Copa America and on 14 June made his debut for Chile when he came off the bench against Argentina in a 1-1 draw. On 18 June, he was handed his first start as he scored his first international goal for La Roja against Bolivia in a 1-0 win.Ben Brereton scored against Bolivia on his first start for Chile in the #CopaAmerica#bbcfootball— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) June 18, 2021 Yesterday, he was anonymous with the second-tier English side; today, he fights with Messi and Neymar.Last weekend he netted for the second time for Chile in a 2-0 win against Paraguay and has reached double figures this season, although it’s only mid-October. He’s on a stellar tally with his Blackburn two, scoring his first hat-trick against Cardiff City a few weeks ago.”Choosing Chile was easy,” claims Brereton Diaz, born in England of an English father and Chilean mother.”My mum hasn’t got the smile off her face. She’s so happy… To put a smile on her face and play for the country she was born in is definitely proud.”BEN BRERETON IS IN A CHILEAN PEPSI ADVERT!!!!! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!!! pic.twitter.com/CPF3OC3s9x— The Second Tier (@secondtierpod) July 29, 2021 The only problem is that Diaz speaks Spanish poorly, so he needed lots of help from his Chilean teammates, and it came from none other than famous Alexis Sanchez.”On the pitch, players like Claudio Bravo, who speaks great English [were] helping me through it, and off the pitch, Sanchez speaks great English [he was] speaking to me.”To actually go out there and actually train with Sanchez, it was an unbelievable experience, just watching how he controls the ball, how he runs at players, his whole stature.”You can tell how tight-knit the group is, you know. They do the team talks, the training is so loud and aggressive. You can tell they’ve been together for a long time, they know how to play together, and they know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, ” Diaz points out.Brereton Diaz tackles Messi (© Buda Mendes/Getty Images)He’ll be there in the starting XI tomorrow for another qualifying tie against Venezuela, with Chile still hanging despite five points below the spot that provides two-leg play-offs for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.Chile’s new adopted son has become an icon. And with only 22, it seems they’ve got themselves a true gem that is yet to flourish in his mother’s homeland. By: Bojan Babic
