Jordhy Thompson had managed to break through the encirclement. At just under 18 he had scored his first goal in Colo Colo, amassed 201 minutes on the field in the first eight dates of the Chilean tournament and became the great youngster hope for the attack of his club, which he had again been eagerly seeking in the foreign markets a striker , which would allow him to successfully face the Copa Libertadores.
Thompson was the card that broke the trend in Chilean football in recent years. The great young hopes have not been fulfilled and fade into promises that seem like sighs. Universidad de Chile’s Darío Osorio and Lucas Assadi failed to earn a place after their unexpected breakout last year, saving their side from losing the category. And at the Universidad Católica you saw how Diego Valencia (permanent substitute at Salernitana), Clemente Montes (in the alternative team of Celta de Vigo) or Gonzalo Tapia, who cannot convince and also has no international participation, wither. Compared to the continent, Chile offers no substitute. And look enviously at Europe, where the players are consolidated at 18.
The young team’s resounding failure in the South American Sub 20 confirmed that the future would have to wait as club owners paused the work of their smaller divisions first due to the social outbreak and then the pandemic. A whole generation of Chilean youth footballers remained without competition for more than two years.
Jordhy Thompson had no part in that failure simply because she didn’t go. He preferred vacationing with his girlfriend on the beach, which confirmed a strong and difficult personality. Now a few months later, he has been left out of the first-team for physically abusing the same teenager outside a nightclub, in another act of violence between the couple, this time confirmed by videos. The brutal and repeated aggression was condemned by Women’s Minister Antonia Orellana and other authorities, who indirectly accused the company’s owners of not curbing similar situations. “It’s time for clubs to take this seriously,” he said.
She was specifically referring to Colo Colo, who announced a containment and psychological support protocol a few months ago when an adult player, Leonardo Valencia, was reported for domestic violence. Thompson’s aggression caught them by surprise without a set procedure, forcing officials to hastily and through a statement announce psychological work for the player and his partner.
The urgency of having a replacement generation for the senior team is evident. There is a need to re-enchant the public with the process of La Roja – eliminated at the last two World Cups – and to source resources for transfers, a vein left behind by the golden generation, a group of footballers led by Alexis , was closed Sánchez, Arturo Vidal, Gary Medel and other cracks emerging from poverty and hungry for glory gave the only continental titles to the country that thrived on frustrations for more than a century.
This group managed to win victories and awards, become a member of the most important teams in the world and become millionaires, although they were involved in various group and individual scandals that did not overshadow their immense talent. The seal of Argentinian Marcelo Bielsa, the first driver of this great team, was crucial for a while to get them on the track, as some later derailed in their enjoyment of show business. Fans and journalists eager to undo the failures saw the indiscipline and excesses as a side effect of his bravery and irreverence.
Today, when the decline of this generation is already a fact, those responsible for the takeover are not consolidated because they are not focused, have delayed their maturity and, logically, have suffered the long hiatus decreed by the owners of the clubs that today They lament the lack of formative character – sporting and social – of their teams.
Contrary to the opinion of the authorities, the football industry is not solely responsible. A society that has seen the educational process collapse, that is filling a gap separating the poorest, and that is facing a distortion of social values - in search of quick success and instant pleasure – is watching the results in its most exposed showcase , since it is football, which at the same time endangers all the activities, with excessive violence, without meaning or control, that the young Barras Bravas have brought to the stands of the stadiums without being able to stop them.
Of course, Jordhy Thompson still has a future. But his presence, like that of many others, doesn’t offer many outlets.
Aldo Schiappass is one of the most important sports journalism companies in Chile. With a career in television, radio and written media, he is one of the conductors of País ADN. In EL PAÍS he writes columns about Chilean sport and social life.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits