Everyone wants to play at the CONMEBOL Copa America 2021: the 'foreigners' of the tournament

CONMEBOL Copa America 2021 will not only feature South American stars, but also talents born outside of the continent. Everyone wants to participate in the oldest tournament on the continent, alongside some of the best players in the world.

From Italy, England, Portugal, Spain, Mexico and the United States but naturalized and playing in this year’s tournament held in Brazil.

Football is a powerful means of connecting people with their family’s country or country of birth. Often, players with multiple nationalities have to make the difficult decision deciding what colours to represent. And no one wants to miss the chance of participating at the CONMEBOL Copa America.

For national teams, it can be an opportunity to incorporate players who have learned and experience football from a different part of the world, in a different context. This freshness can bring something new to a team and make a difference.

Meet the six players who were not born in South America, but will compete in CONMEBOL Copa America 2021:

Ben Brereton

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Ben Brereton was born in Stoke-on-Trent to an English father and a Chilean mother. He began his youth career with Stoke before moving to Nottingham Forest where he made his first team debut in 2017.

Brereton made his England U19 debut in March 2017 and was subsequently called up to the U19 UEFA European Championships later in the year. He scored 3 goals in the tournament and finished as joint top scorer.

In 2018 Brereton moved on loan to Blackburn Rovers and in 2019 the move was made permanent. The hard-working forward made 43 appearances for the side last season and scored 7 goals. Brereton was included in the 2021 CONMEBOL Copa America and made his debut in Chile’s 1-1 draw with Argentina.

Adrian Jusino

The strong central defender was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in the United States of America in 1992. He moved with his family to the country of their birth and joined the academy of Bolivar in 2008, one of the giants of Bolivian football.

Jusino has twice returned to play in the country of his birth, joining USL League 2 side Ventura County Fusion in 2016 and NASL club Tulsa Roughnecks in 2018. In recent years his career has taken a rapid rise returning to Bolivar in 2019, winning the league title and making 3 appearances for the Bolivian national side at the 2019 Copa America.

Jusino moved to Greece in 2021 and now plays for top flight side AE Larissas.

Erwin Sanchez

Current Bolivian international Erwin Junior Sánchez is the son of legendary attacking midfielder Erwin Sánchez Freking, a man known as ‘the Bolivian Platini’ by his compatriots. Erwin Junior was born in Lisbon during his father’s playing time in Portugal.

Erwin Sánchez Freking had two spells with Benfica and two spells with Boavista in Europe. He represented Bolivia on 57 occasions and scored over 100 goals during his career. After a celebrated career in Europe Erwin returned to Bolivia to play for Oriente Petrolero before retiring.

Erwin Junior Sánchez returned to Bolivia with his father at a young age and made his professional debut for Real Potosi in 2015. The midfielder joined Blooming in 2018 and has been a regular since. He was first called up to the national team in 2015 and despite limited chances for Bolivia has been recalled for the 2021 COMNEBOL Copa America.

Sánchez started and scored a penalty  in Bolivia’s opening day defeat to Paraguay.

Jaume Cuéllar

Cuéllar was born in Barcelona to Bolivian parents. He played youth football in the country for Blanes and Racing Blanenc before signing for Barcelona in 2015, scoring 16 goals in his first season with the side.

Eligible to play for either Spain or Bolivia, he agreed to represent the country of his parents at the U17 South American Championships where he impressed. The same year he moved to Italy to play for SPAL in the Italian second tier.

The forward has had limited chances in Italy so far but did make his full Bolivia debut in October 2020 and expectations remain high for the talented 19 year old forward.

Gianluca Lapadula

Gianluca ‘Lapagol’ Lapadula was born in Turin to an Italian father and a Peruvian mother. He played for Juventus from a young age initially as a goalkeeper before moving forward to play as a midfielder and eventually as a forward.

He failed to break into the Juventus first team and despite signing for Parma he spent the early years of his career playing in the Italian third and fourth tier. In 2013 he moved to Slovakia to join Gorica, where he scored 11 goals in 28 games in the top flight.

A year later he was back in the Italian third tier where he had an impressive season, moving on to Pescara where he had consistent second division minutes for the first time. He scored 30 goals in 44 games and a year later he was the first choice striker for Italian giants A.C Milan. It was an incredible rise and he has since played for Genoa, Lecce and Benevento in Serie A.

Lapadula was called up to the Italian national team in 2017 and played in the friendly against San Marino. Despite scoring a hattrick this was his only appearance for the Azzurri.

Having not played a competitive game for the country of his father he remained eligible for Peru and in 2020 he made his debut. He has since played in 4 CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying games.

Santiago Ormeño

Ormeño is the grandson of Walter Ormeño who was the goalkeeper of the Peruvian national team from 1949 to 1957. Walter appeared in the South American Championships in 1949 and had an impressive career which took him all across Latin America.

The towering goalkeeper played in Peru with Universitario, Mariscal Sucre and Alianza Lima, in Colombia for Huracán de Medellín, Argentina for Rosario Central and in Mexico for America and Atlante where he retired. Following the end of an illustrious career he worked with clubs as a coach and raised his family.

Santiago Ormeño was born in Ciudad de Mexico in 1994 and has played the majority of his career in Mexico. The strong forward played his youth club for giants América before moving to Pumas in 2015. He had a brief spell in Peru with Cusco in 2019 on loan but has played the majority of his professional career with Mexican top flight club Puebla, scoring 17 goals in 40 appearances.

Ormeño was called up to Peru squad for the 2021 CONMEBOL Copa America and will hope to make his national team debut at the tournament.