Despite his team losing the first game of their FIFA Under-17 World Cup campaign by a solo goal against Ghana on Friday, Colombia's winger Jaminton Campaz refrained from losing morale and he, along with his team, remain focused for the match against India.
"losing didn't feel good but we are not giving up," the 17-year-old winger said before Colombia's practice session at Sudeva football ground, here on Saturday.
"I and my team are completely focused on this tournament, we have worked hard to reach here and we will continue doing so in the next match."
In Friday's match, Campaz had two glorious chances in the space of two minutes to score goals for los Cafeteros (Colombia’s nickname) in the early minutes of the first half but he failed to convert those chances. Campaz regretted missing those match-deciding chances and praised the Ghana shot-stopper Danlad Ibrahim for pulling out great saves.
"I feel the game would have changed If I took my chances that I got early in the match, but I will like to credit the goalkeeper for not allowing me to score with those unbelievable saves. It does hurt, not scoring them but that's how football is, you can't score all of them," explained the winger.
Campaz who debuted this season for a Categoria Primera A club (top division league of Colombian football) Deportes Tolima and also managed a goal in four appearances was scouted by Colombia coach Orlando Restrepo during a country-wide national team scouting programme in Medellin.
At that time, the wide forward use to play as a defensive midfielder, Restrepo revealed. "I saw him during a pre-national tournament in Medellin (part of the scouting programme). At that time he was playing as a defensive midfielder. He did well in that role but his quality and technique were more suited for a winger, so I took him in. Thankfully, he has developed into an integral part of the team now," said the 60-year-old Colombian coach.
Campaz said that it wasn't an easy transformation for him, as it took him time to get used to his new role way up the field and he is happy playing the position. "Both positions are very different from each other, in midfield you are always busy, you play a lot of short passes, shield defence and create for forwards," said Campaz. "But playing wide makes you more isolated (from the game), you have to sprint a lot, look to score. It took me a while to adapt but now I am comfortable playing as a winger."
The current senior team of Colombia arguably boast the best generation of attacking players. In fact, Colombian forward Darwin Quintero is a cousin of Campaz. Also his elder brother Mike Campaz (29 years-old) is currently playing top division football in Costa Rica. When asked to pick his idol from the current star-studded line-up, the young winger's choice wasn't surprising. "My favourite player is Juan Cuadrado (Colombia's first-choice winger, currently playing for Italian giant Juventus). I love the way he destroys opponent's defense. He is hardworking and always falls back to help team's defence,” said Campaz.