Panama Mundial Transcript (English)

David Samudio: [00:00:09] Here’s Cooper. Puts the ball forward, off the head of Tejada for Román, Román, Román, Román. [00:00:20] Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal ! Goal! Goal for Panama.  [00:00:39] What’s the referee saying? What’s the referee saying? Wait! [00:00:56] It’s finished! Panama is going to the World Cup! Panama is going to the World Cup! Panama is going to the World Cup! Panama is going to the World Cup! Panama is going to the World Cup! Panama is going to the World Cup! Panama is going to the World Cup! Panama is going to the World Cup! Panama is going to the World Cup! Panama is going to the World Cup!

Román Torres: [00:01:05] It was incredible. The memory of it remains in the hearts and minds of all Panamanians. Every day my kids watch the goal, the celebrations, everything.

David Samudio: [00:01:46] What sport! What football!

Román Torres: [00:01:51] In Panama everyone says “Román Torres is a hero”, but I don’t see myself as a hero. I consider myself just another person. Bit by bit, Panama is working hard. It’s a little difficult for Panama to change the identity that’s been attached to us.

James Aparicio: [00:02:21] Most countries view Panama as a place solely for laundering. Panama is a rich country, but it has a problem with the distribution of wealth. A tiny proportion of people have a huge amount of the money, and the rest of the country survives on what it can scrape together month by month. If I were to adopt an outsider’s perspective on Panama, what would I know it for? For the canal, Panama Papers and now for the qualification to the World Cup.

Eric Davis: [00:03:21] There were three of us that were always together. Today one is in the church – he is always with God – and the other is a thief. We’re always trying to help him, but it’s not easy to leave that path once you’ve started out on it. See there? That’s the most beautiful place in the World for me. I’ve been to a lot of beautiful places in the World but for me nothing comes close to this. For me it’s the most beautiful place in the World because it’s where I took my first steps. There used to be a lot of violence around here.

Hernan Ramirez: [00:04:02] Here we learned a little -.

Eric Davis: [00:04:07] It was tough, it was tough.

Hernan Ramirez: [00:04:09] – A little about maturity.

Eric Davis: [00:04:12] It was tough because there were lots of criminals and gangs around. Not everyone had the luck we had.

Abdiel Macea: [00:04:21] No, not everyone had the luck we had because in Panama it’s very hard to make a living as a sportsman. And growing up here you feel a responsibility to bring your family forward, out of all this.

Azucena Grajales: [00:04:41] They all grew up together playing football. There was Macea who plays now for Arabae. There are others who took a bad path and were killed, who got mixed up in violence and delinquency. I worked in a club. I had my kids and it was only me with them, so we all had to survive off the tips I got. Every day I had to come home with breakfast, lunch and dinner. This area used to be very beautiful, but now it’s what they call a “red zone”. It’s been scarred by so much violence. You’re walking your local streets and suddenly there are gunshots… It’s horrible.

Eric Davis: [00:05:29] Our mothers didn’t have the money to buy us what we wanted, so some turned to stealing, but others had the strength to resist.

Oso: [00:05:45] My name is Oso.

Chuchuneco: [00:05:55] And my name is Chuchuneco. In my area, all the kids love football. The beautiful game. And on the pitch, we never fight. That’s what will take us out of all this… That and studying.

Benjamin Mendoza: [00:06:20] Two times two?

Chuchuneco: [00:06:21] Four!

Jose: [00:06:21] Four!

Benjamin Mendoza: [00:06:22] Give me a second: two times two plus eight minus twelve. The answer?

Oso: [00:06:27] Zero! Zero?

Benjamin Mendoza: [00:06:28] Very good, this man knows his maths. A round of applause for him. Thirty six plus eight minus thirteen plus four.

Chuchuneco: [00:06:39] Forty two.

Jose: [00:06:39] Thirty six?

Josue: [00:06:39] Fifty?

Rosita: [00:06:39] Minus thirteen?

Benjamin Mendoza: [00:06:44] Thirty six plus eight minus four plus four?

Chuchuneco: [00:06:51] Ah, forty four no?

Josue: [00:06:57] Thirty six plus eight?

Tutor: [00:06:57] Forty two, forty four.

Benjamin Mendoza: [00:07:00] Forty four Chuchuneco.

Tutor: [00:07:02] Are you happy Chuchu?

Victor Murillo: [00:07:16] My name is Victor Armando Murillo. I train the kids in the younger categories. I live here, in Barraza. Here’s one pitch and there’s the other. Why do we use two pitches? Because we never know which one the gangs will be hanging out in. We’re working with humility, giving our teaching to kids here. So we keep going, bit by bit. It’s a rough, rough area. Police have to be here at almost all times. Everyone that lives in that bulding can’t come through here and the people in this one can’t go there. So we’re working, not only in football, to resocialise the kids.

Román Torres: [00:08:18] There are areas where there’s violence, drug addiction, all that. In Panama you see it so much. Panama is a poor, humble country. And the poor areas are the ones we need to help most because everyone knows the best footballers come from the poorest areas.

Chuchuneco: [00:08:42] My mother works in a beauty salon and I don’t know what my father does, because he doesn’t want anything to do with me. I keep trying to get to know him, and he sometimes calls but it’s only to tell me he doesn’t want anything to do with me. He used to live with us but he fought so much with my mother, so he doesn’t any more.

Benjamin Mendoza: [00:09:21] The other ball, you guys too!  [00:09:52] I’ve seen so much change. I’ve had players whose parents are in prison, who live with their grandmother, but now they’re going to school. They come to the academy, go to school, play matches, and from there keep going on the right track. If you give a group of one hundred children a football, those hundred children will play football. If you give one hundred children a baseball bat and ball, those hundred children will play baseball. Give them a microphone and all of them will give. Sport is the liberation of the true child inside you.

[00:10:53] *Canción*

Chuchuneco: [00:11:39] We cried of happiness because Panama had reached its first World Cup. That day we did so many pranks: climbing burned-out cars, burning trash and throwing rocks, running through the streets. This is my first National Team match – I wouldn’t miss it because it’s our last friendly before the World Cup. Children are born here with football in their blood. I’ve always had faith in God, and I know that one day I’ll play in the National Team, playing football in another country.

Announcer: [00:12:34] Substitution for Panama. Going off: number twenty three, Felipe Baloy.

Román Torres: [00:12:56] In some countries football has changed the whole country. And I have faith that the same could happen in Panama.

Announcer: [00:13:10] Coming on: number five, Román Torres.

Román Torres: [00:13:23] Singing the national anthem together will be fantastic. I think a lot of people will cry on the day of our first match. I think I’ll be one of them.