After the impact of the pandemic, I, like others, found themselves without employment. Here I was, 29-year-old Peruvian Maximo Luana Arriaga Gallegos, or just Maximo Gallegos for those who were acquainted to me, struggling with finances and living off the little that I had managed to save when the country was in lockdown.
I had a dream, like many others, to be deeply involved in football. The world's sport. I was an average player, never managing to succeed anywhere above an amateur level, and yet here I was trawling countless job boards for opportunities to arise.
A number of roles had come up - the likes of Botafogo in Brazil were looking for a new manager, as well as clubs in Uruguay, my home country of Peru, and even Argentina. Some were clearly out of my depth and I expected to be knocked back - but as my grandfather always said, you'll never know unless you try.
Lazily, I had copied the same application and covering letter for all of the jobs I had looked at, hoping that at least someone, somewhere would be interested in taking a chance on someone who had, well, no experience of managing at any level, no real elite footballing experience, and could only speak Spanish and two other local Peruvian dialects.
It was a huge shock when, only a day later, I had been invited to a Zoom call with the president of Uruguayan Second Professional Division side Villa Teresa, Martín Sierra, and their Director of Football, Darío Larrosa. After a quick Google search, I could see that Larrosa had a relatively long career within the Uruguayan football pyramid, as well as a few stints abroad in El Salvador, Guatemala and Spain.
The interview process was, well, easy. It wasn't a case of what I could bring to the team or the coaching staff, it was whether I could do what was asked of me and work under Larrosa. They wanted a yes man. I made it clear that I would be in charge of transfer business and tactics, but they could do anything they wanted outside of that.
An hour or so later, I was told that I had been successful in my application and would be taking up the role of manager at Club Atlético Villa Teresa, who were sat in 8th in the division after two wins, a draw and three losses at the start of their campaign. They wanted me to keep the club away from the relegation zone, and generally avoid a battle against relegation in my first season.
After a while of sorting out flights and receiving emails about accommodation and more from Diaz Diaz, the club's secretary, I began packing my things for a chance at a new life - and for my first journey out of Peru.
I was heading to Montevideo.
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I had a dream, like many others, to be deeply involved in football. The world's sport. I was an average player, never managing to succeed anywhere above an amateur level, and yet here I was trawling countless job boards for opportunities to arise.
A number of roles had come up - the likes of Botafogo in Brazil were looking for a new manager, as well as clubs in Uruguay, my home country of Peru, and even Argentina. Some were clearly out of my depth and I expected to be knocked back - but as my grandfather always said, you'll never know unless you try.
Lazily, I had copied the same application and covering letter for all of the jobs I had looked at, hoping that at least someone, somewhere would be interested in taking a chance on someone who had, well, no experience of managing at any level, no real elite footballing experience, and could only speak Spanish and two other local Peruvian dialects.
It was a huge shock when, only a day later, I had been invited to a Zoom call with the president of Uruguayan Second Professional Division side Villa Teresa, Martín Sierra, and their Director of Football, Darío Larrosa. After a quick Google search, I could see that Larrosa had a relatively long career within the Uruguayan football pyramid, as well as a few stints abroad in El Salvador, Guatemala and Spain.
The interview process was, well, easy. It wasn't a case of what I could bring to the team or the coaching staff, it was whether I could do what was asked of me and work under Larrosa. They wanted a yes man. I made it clear that I would be in charge of transfer business and tactics, but they could do anything they wanted outside of that.
An hour or so later, I was told that I had been successful in my application and would be taking up the role of manager at Club Atlético Villa Teresa, who were sat in 8th in the division after two wins, a draw and three losses at the start of their campaign. They wanted me to keep the club away from the relegation zone, and generally avoid a battle against relegation in my first season.
After a while of sorting out flights and receiving emails about accommodation and more from Diaz Diaz, the club's secretary, I began packing my things for a chance at a new life - and for my first journey out of Peru.
I was heading to Montevideo.
