(MENAFN- The Peninsula) FIFA
Montevideo: In Turkey, while finding playing time hard to come by during his second season with Sivasspor, a lonely and dispirited Sergio Rochet had no idea what to expect from the next five years of his football career.
His dreams of regularly starring for his national team, or even just receiving a call-up to a side that had the iconic Fernando Muslera as its starting goalkeeper, appeared increasingly unattainable. It was as that point that he decided to return to his homeland.
It was a risky gamble to take. He did not have any name recognition back in Uruguay, where the press and fans on social media were quick to label him as an unknown quantity. Despite making several appearances for Los Charrúas' youth teams, Rochet had left Uruguay after two seasons without experiencing any first-team action at Danubio. Five years later, following three campaigns with AZ in the Netherlands and two in Turkey, he headed back to South America with his sights set on achieving the first of his goals: to play for the club closest to his heart.
Four years down the line, and loneliness is no longer the prevailing mood: the resilient 29-year-old is now the captain of Uruguayan giants Nacional, and he has displaced the iconic Muslera to establish himself as the new first-choice goalkeeper in the national starting XI.
FIFA+ caught up with the imposing Rochet at Nacional's windblown Ciudad Deportiva Los Cespedes training complex in Montevideo, where the atmosphere has reached fever pitch with the emotional homecoming of Luis Suarez.
Initially a back-up for Panama international Luis Mejia after signing for El Bolso, he was subsequently handed a berth in the starting line-up by Jorge Giordano. It proved to be a judicious decision by the Nacional coach, as Rochet proceeded to put in a series of fine performances, helping his club to win two successive league championships, earning the captain's armband and piquing the interest of the man in charge of Uruguay at the time, Oscar Tabarez, who called him up for the Copa America 2021.
After a run of poor qualifying results that put Uruguay's participation in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in doubt, Tabarez's long reign at the helm came to an end. His successor, Diego Alonso, appointed with four qualifiers still to play and faced with an injury to Muslera, opted to hand Rochet his international debut against Paraguay.
“I was pretty nervous as it was my debut and a pivotal match, but because he, the big players in the team, and Nando himself all showed they had confidence in me, that gave me some peace of mind. It was the realisation of another dream, being there with all the stars in that squad. Playing in the final few qualifiers, including the match that clinched our spot, was the icing on the cake.”
Rochet was one of the key components of the newly installed coach's revolution that generated two crucial victories over Paraguay and then Venezuela. In the run-up to the last two qualifiers, and with Muslera now recovered, Alonso stuck with his new keeper. This decision increased the pressure on Rochet's shoulders, given his predecessor's status of living legend, earned via his heroics at the last three World Cups.
Once qualification for Qatar had been secured via third place in the CONMEBOL standings, Alonso retained Rochet as his first-choice goalkeeper for five World Cup warm-up matches. Barring a major surprise, he will start the opening match against a Korea Republic side likely to feature Son Heungmin on November 24, and will have the responsibility of keeping Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo at bay in La Celeste's second Group H encounter.
“You know the kind of stars you might come up against in a World Cup, and I've been thinking about that a lot,” said Rochet.“You can already have a good guess about which strikers you might end up facing. They're all top-notch players, and any mistake or loss of focus can cost you dearly, so you have to be well prepared.”
In Qatar, the Uruguayans will cross swords with three familiar foes – Korea Republic, Portugal and Ghana – that they have defeated at previous World Cups. At South Africa 2010, they saw off the South Koreans in the Round of 16 and then eliminated the Black Stars in the quarter-finals in one of the most memorable games of the competition, while at Russia 2018 they knocked out Ronaldo and Co in the first knockout round.
“From the moment the group was drawn, we realised that it was going to be pretty even,” said Rochet.
“It will be very tough against teams we're familiar with, teams that showed us that they're difficult to beat at previous World Cups.
“But we have a great side, with the right blend of experienced players and young stars who are hungry for success. We have a quality squad with a great atmosphere, and we're going to give it our best and try to get the results we need.”
Rochet, who could never have imagined four years ago that he would now be skipper of Nacional or have recently gone a record 1,064 minutes without conceding a goal for Uruguay, will have the opportunity of introducing himself to the wider football world in Qatar.
“I'm a goalkeeper with a good physique and good sense of positioning, which means that not only can I stop strikers' shots, but I can also make life difficult for them when they're on the verge of pulling the trigger,” he concluded with an air of confidence.
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