"Stars need darkness to shine."
It was back in January 2015 that Colombian forward Roger Martinez posted that self-motivational message on his Twitter feed. He had arrived in Argentina almost three years earlier and was fighting to make his name at a time when his career had slipped into the shadows. Having just returned to Racing Club following an entirely luckless six-month loan spell at newly promoted Santamarina de Tandil in the Argentinian second division, a dejected Martinez knew he would be farmed out again before too long.
“Sometimes you're reading and you come across a phrase that motivates you a lot when you’re feeling flat and down in the dumps,” he told FIFA.com. A year and four months after that tweet, which he quoted from a motivational book given to him by his agent, the 21-year-old Martinez is finally lighting up the football scene.
Road to RioNow established as one of Racing’s leading frontmen, Martinez also excelled in Colombia’s successful push for a place at the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Rio 2016, scoring both his side’s goals in their 2-1 defeat of USA in the return leg of the qualifying play-off.
“I was very confident that we’d have a good night as a team but I never thought I’d have a moment like that. Sometimes football has some lovely things in store for you,” he said, recalling that night in Texas, when the Colombians turned on the style to win a tie that was hanging in balance following the 1-1 draw between the sides in Barranquilla.
“We didn’t have any pressure on us because of that,” added Martinez, dismissing the idea that he and his team-mates would struggle to cope with the demands of taking Colombia back to the Olympics for the first time since Barcelona 1992. “We were very much pumped up for it. We’re like a family and that’s what helped us go out and get the result we needed.”
Aside from that togetherness, Martinez also pointed to the role played by the psychologist Rafael Zabarain in the lead-up to the second leg against USA. Having worked with the Colombian delegation that won eight medals at the London 2012 Olympics, Zabarain drew on his experience to boost the confidence of Martinez and his team-mates.
“Before the game he showed us a video of the team’s stay at the Olympic Village, of all the things there and the fun they had,” explained the player. “It really motivated me and the team as a whole. They’re things you can’t really picture in your mind, and it helped us a lot when it came to going out there and getting a result. We saw it all and we didn’t want to miss out on the Games for anything in the world.”
A teenager in ArgentinaFor a humble boy from Cartagena de Indias, who, as he himself said, was “happy playing barefoot in the street with my friends, and even more so when it rained because it’s so hot there”, qualifying for the Olympic Games is a very special achievement indeed: “It’s right up there in my career.”
An admirer of his compatriots Teofilo Gutierrez and Carlos Bacca – the former for his finishing and the latter for his movement and diagonal runs – Martinez has so far charted a similar career path to Radamel Falcao, who arrived in Argentina at the age of 15, to sign for River Plate.
For his part, the young Colombian was 17 when he left Estudiantil de Medellin for Boca Juniors, where he was able to train but not able to play, owing to the fact he was a foreign minor and was not accompanied by his parents. He was ultimately forced to return home, disappointed but by no means beaten.
“I thought about it a lot,” he explained. “People knew about me in Colombia and I could have easily have played for a first division club there. I didn’t want that, though. I wanted to come and fight here, because it’s a different game in Argentina, with a lot of exposure. I’ve always liked it.”
After deciding to return to the country, he was turned down by Argentinos Juniors and Estudiantes before Racing came in for him, by which time he had turned 18. “I owe them a lot. They’re the club that gave me the chance to play in the top flight and to be a professional.” Finding his stride Not untypically, Martinez has faced plenty of challenges on the road to success, not least the distance separating him from his loved ones: “I suffered a lot, because I was so far away from them.” Then there was his unchecked craving for his grandmother’s carimañolas (Colombian meat pies): “I didn’t watch what I was eating, and I didn’t have anyone to show me the way in football, though things happen so you can learn from them.”
On top of all that, he was getting few opportunities to show what he could do on the pitch. Thanks to his innate determination, however, and the support of his agent – the former Argentinian player Fernando Lopez – Martinez refused to give up.
“It’s when things don’t go your way that you’re at your strongest and can make things happen,” said the Colombian striker. After failing to make an impact at Santamarina de Tandil, his wish for a chance to shine was finally granted later in 2015, when he made the most of a loan move to Aldosivi, a Mar del Plata side that had just earned promotion to the first division. Ultimately enjoying a superb year, he scored six goals, served up six assists and showcased his skill on the ball and his ability to get the better of defenders as the relegation candidates secured mid-table safety.
This year has seen him seize his opportunity with Racing. As well as scoring with a fine back-heel against Boca, he struck a superb goal against Bolivar in the Copa Libertadores and has two other goals to his name as part of a side that boasts Diego Milito and Lisandro Licha Lopez as its star frontmen.
“This is the best spell of my career so far,” he explained. “I feel very happy, and when I’ve got an opponent in front of me I just think about trying to get past him. The team-mates and coach I had at Aldosivi really helped me and gave me a lot of confidence, and the same happened when I returned to Racing.”
Colombia will face Sweden, Japan and Nigeria in their group at Rio 2016, and in Martinez, Andres Renteria and perhaps Falcao they have enough goal power to fire their dream of advancing beyond the first round for the first time.
“We’ve got a very good team and some very talented players,” said the Racing man. “We’re going to try and play with the happiness that Colombian people are known for. I hope that happiness shines through on the pitch and that we can have a good campaign.”