Author: Amrit Santlani
Brazil is a hotbed of young talent. Felipinho, 16, born in Vinhedo, in the interior of São Paulo, is another player who is making a name for himself as one of the most potent strikers. However, instead of representing the national team, he was called up to the training camp of Argentina’s under-17 team.
The teenager hopes to represent La Albiceleste at the U-17 World Cup, which is a peculiar story in itself, considering the historic rivalry between the two nations. Only once has a player born in Brazil represented Argentina.
Aarón Wergifker, born in São Paulo in 1914, played five times for the Argentinian team from 1934 to 1936 and, although Felipe Rodríguez Gentile, whose nickname “Felipinho” couldn’t be more Brazilian, he hopes to play for the Argentinian team.
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The young striker is a big fan of Lionel Messi and is currently enjoying success at Preston North End in England.
Felipinho’s parents are Argentinian, so he can play for Argentina. After her father, Fernando, moved to Brazil for work, they had two sons, Felipe and Mateo.
Fernando and his family moved to Italy and then to Liverpool, where the young striker had a trial but, due to Covid, never signed for Liverpool. Instead, he joined Preston’s academy and has excelled ever since. In an FA Youth Cup match last year, he scored five goals against Rotherham.
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Felipe has since been called up to the first team, but has yet to make his debut. More recently, his rapid rise has prompted the Argentinian federation to invite the Brazilian-born player to Buenos Aires, where the U-17 team is preparing for the World Cup.
“He loves Messi too, he has an incredible admiration. At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, he dyed his hair blue. Imagine yourself: an Argentinian with blue hair in a Brazilian school. A figure. So he was always, through soccer and many other things, very Argentinian because of us. Even though I was born in Brazil” said the teenager’s father.