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local Friday 14 april 2023

Young soccer player Fabio Montilla’s dreams come true at the

Real Madrid Foundation World Challenge Tournament 2023

(Oranjestad)—Since last year, the young Fabio normally plays defense and dur-
soccer player, Fabio Alexander Montilla, ing the tournament, he scored two goals,
was preparing to fly to Madrid, Spain, so he which made him very happy, especially
can participate in the Real Madrid Foun- because he was a defense. He told our re-
dation World Challenge Tournament 2023. porter that he was also happy because he
From March 31st to April 8th of this year, received great feedback from different
Fabio was at the Real Madrid Sports City to people and coaches at the tournament.
play in this tournament. He sat down with “Everyone liked how I played. I hope to go
our reporter to share his unforgettable ex- there more often.”
periences there.
Claudia Merino, Fabio’s mother, flew to
It was last year that Fabio received an in- Spain with the soccer player and she also
vitation from the Real Madrid Foundation told our reporter her experiences during
to play in their annual tournament after he this exciting time for her son. “I thought it
participated in the soccer trial organized to be a beautiful experience for the kids.
by the foundation and held in Aruba. This They got the opportunity to play with kids
was his biggest dream come true. from all over the world and each one had
their own unique style of playing soccer,”
“I had a great time. The soccer over there she indicated.
is very good, and so was my team, but
they were short and the kids over there Merino remarked that it was not easy for
are pretty tall. They are stronger and since the children, seeing as this was something
the kids from my team were short, the big- completely new and difficult too, be-
ger kids kept pushing them aside. I think if cause no one in Fabio’s team really knew
we had played against kids our own size, each other, so they had to adapt quickly
we would’ve gotten much farther,” he ex- to able to play together as a team. De-
pressed. spite the short time they had to train to-
gether, she was happy with the results and
Fabio’s team placed 4th overall and what her son’s performance.
was most exciting for him was that he was
selected team captain. He shared that “I actually think they’ll never forget this
they played well and that everyone did experience, because they never imag-
their absolute best during the tournament. ined to be competing in an international
“We played well; we played with strength, tournament organized by the actual Real
passion, attitude and heart. I defended Madrid Foundation. I think it’s absolutely
the best I could and everyone else did beautiful and I’m so glad that Fabio got
their best too,” he said. his chance too,” she finalized. q