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Venezuelan migrant dreams of US national amputee soccer stardom / Photo: © AFP
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Venezuelan migrant dreams of US national amputee soccer stardom
Juan Carlos Vargas lost a leg in a road accident but that did not stop him from undertaking a perilous journey from his native Venezuela to the United States.
The migrant now dreams of representing his adopted homeland in amputee soccer.
Following a recent training session with his "Metro New York Amputee FC" teammates at their Long Island base, the athletic 41-year-old recounted his winding road to the United States.
Formerly a player in Venezuela's second division, he left the troubled South American country for Ecuador, before reaching Peru where he was involved in a truck crash that left him without a leg.
He then set off from Peru on crutches, navigating the arduous jungle crossing of the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, before finally reaching US shores 36 months ago and receiving legal status.
"They opened the doors to the national team, they want me to play. We're seeing what the paperwork situation is like," said Vargas, with a turbulent backdrop created by Donald Trump's anti-immigration policies.
"Venezuela also wants me to play with them," he said after training with several national teammates at a covered sports ground in West Hempstead.
Vargas remains hopeful he can play in the next World Cup for amputees.
As he awaits the possible nod from the US team, Vargas trains with the national side twice monthly.
Many of the team's members are also migrants, coming from El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Senegal, as well as the United States.
Some lost a leg in traffic accidents, others due to earthquake injuries, or cancer.
"The only person that could understand somebody living with a limb difference is another person who's also living with (the) difference," said the team's coach Jim Franks.
"The fact that they can come down and be together with somebody else who understands them and they're playing a sport, they're exercising and they're all happy."
Vargas said the team had helped him achieve more than he thought possible.
"I have no limits anymore," he said. "I've made it here, I'm alive and now, I'm moving forward."
F. Fernandes--JDB
