Fernando Villalpando, perhaps the strongest at the time of the coronavirus
The 1996 striker is getting noticed in a period like the current one in which the attention for the Nicaraguan championship is much higher than usual
We live in terrible times, our lives are turned upside down. The planet is upside down, hit by an emergency with an ancient flavor that has taken everyone by surprise. They say the world will never be the same afterwards. It may not be the same for the young Mexican striker Fernando Villalpando, but in this case there is something to be happy about him.
Thanks to his goals with the shirt of CD Walter Ferretti (Comandante de Brigada y Comandante Guerrillero) he rose to the world spotlight. A minimal limelight, of course. A miniature world, made up of Burundi, Tajikistan, Belarus, Taiwan and, indeed, Nicaragua. There are those who wrote that if a special edition of the Ballon d’Or, a sort of “golden ballon at the time of the coronavirus” was called, perhaps it would be he who won it.
A complete forward, capable of scoring, taking penalties and even free-kicks (as shown in this video), he has already scored ten goals since he moved from Mexico to Nicaragua in January.
It certainly cannot be said that the boy had an easy life. Born in Juchipila, in the state of Zacatecas, on 02.09.1996, Fernando Villalpando left the family at just nine years old to pursue his dream of becoming a professional footballer.
He started in the youth academy of Atlas Guadalajara before landing in Toluca where he stayed for 15 to 18 years when he made his first major stop. Surgery to resolve a pubalgia has kept him out for seven months. He later had two more knee surgeries.
After three early career operations, poor Villalpando even thought about quitting, also because physical problems were not the only obstacles he had to overcome.
He first landed in Mineros de Zacatecas II and later in Tuxtla, dissolved in the middle of last year, he finally went on loan to the Reboceros de la Piedad where, due to economic problems, he was once again without a salary for a period of three months. .
Finally the big chance at the beginning of the year. Sure, it was a small league like the Nicaraguan one but in this case the coronavirus, in spite of itself, played in its favor. He has got to be noticed and now perhaps he can dream of returning to his country from the main door.
In the Mexican top flight, the scorer ranking (tablas de goleo individual) is currently dominated by foreigners. Certainly the competition of the various Rodriguez, Mena and Gignac and something else, it is all to be seen whether Fernando will be able to deserve certain stages. However, what before was perhaps impossible even to imagine today is a goal to work even harder.
