![]() He is clearly better than the rest in the air, but he’s also a defender with good passing, not just long balls”, said River manager Marcelo Gallardo in his biography, Gallardo Monumental.įunes Mori was sold to Everton for a record fee of $14m, the highest transfer ever paid for a River defender. He had no fear of mistakes, and if he made one, he would assimilate it quickly and naturally. ![]() “Ramiro was the one that caught my attention from my first day, due to his physical qualities, mental toughness and his personality. He also scored the winner in the 2014 Superclásico, the first River victory at Boca’s La Bombonera in 10 years. In just two years, he became an untouchable part of the River team that won the Copa Sudamericana and Copa Libertadores, South American’s equivalent of the Champions League. Funes Mori has the same tenacity and attitude as Batistuta: he’s not afraid of making mistakes, he doesn’t hesitate, and he doesn’t feel the pressure. It was his personality that transformed him into the quickest unexpected improvement since Gabriel Batistuta, who was seen as an overweight striker in the Newell’s academy in 1987, and later became a River reject in 1990, before erupting as a brilliant striker in Europe. Ramiro marked Higuain and Agüero without fuss and barked orders as if he was playing the World Cup in that isolated stadium in Hatfield, Pretoria. In 2010, he travelled to the World Cup South Africa with Argentina, as part of a kind of sparring partner team that played practice matches against Messi & Co. However, it was Ramiro –seen as the less talented twin – who emerged as the hidden gem of River’s academy a few months later, becoming a club idol in a few months of top flight action. He helped River win promotion to the Primera Division, after a catastrophic season that had seen them relegated for the first time in their history. As the brilliant goals rolled in, he was compared to the likes of Hernan Crespo and Diego Milito, adding a weight of expectation that eventually told. Rogelio (who now plays for Monterrey, in Mexico) was seen as the true star of the family. River Plate opened their doors to both brothers, who returned to Argentina, almost a foreign country after so many years in the US.ĭespite the fact they had never been part of an official club academy, the Yankees, as they were called, were physically outstanding and didn’t feel the difference with kids that had been training for five years. Their first day at Chelsea was 11 August 2008.īut without European passports, it was very difficult for them to remain in England. Scouts who had already completed the transfer of Franco Di Santo (also born in Mendoza) to Chelsea set a week’s trial for the twins. Now they are part of FC Dallas,” added Silvana Mori in that letter. ![]() “Ramiro suffered a knee injury and couldn’t compete until the end, but his brother would vindicate him, against more than 2,000 footballers from different countries. In March 2008, Sueño MLS, the reality show broadcast by Univision, crowned Rogelio as winner. It was there that the family settled, the twins learned English and lived the American life for eight years, attending the Arlington High School, making friends and learning to enjoy baseball, an intriguing – if unfamiliar – sport for most Argentinians. It wasn’t easy, it’s very expensive, but they made it,” wrote Silvana Mori, the boys’ mother, in a letter to El Gráfico in August 2008 sent from Arlington, Texas. “My husband’s self-imposed condition was that they didn’t quit learning football, or, as they call it in the US, soccer. ![]() The moment they boarded that plane to Dallas, they thought their dream would shatter. Their dream was to become professional footballers. Ramiro, originally a holding midfielder, was a good tackler. They left home with their parents when they were nine. They started playing football at four, at Godoy Cruz. Ramiro and Rogelio Funes Mori are identical twins born in Mendoza, Argentina. Another plane carried the Funes Moris to the United States, willing to start a new life. One plane carried 13-year-old Lionel Messi and his father, Jorge, to Barcelona, as none of his family in Argentina could afford the $900-a-month for his medical condition. Families were leaving the country every day. The Ezeiza airport was busiest than ever. ![]()
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