16 years ago, the Paraguayan Larissa Riquelme Without thinking about it and without even being in South Africa, she became «the bride of the World Cup» in 2010, an unofficial title that she still retains despite time and the attempts of many fans to find her successor for the next World Cup.
That unexpected title, which changed her life and made her a kind of star in the region, was earned with her photos. from a square in the center of Asunciónwhere he worked for a local media and from where he cheered on every game of the brave Guaraní team.
Larissa literally made soccer fans fall in love with her in 2010.
The photographs in which he wears the shirt with the distinctive colors of Paraguay and the Albirroja team literally They went around the world.
«I think that ‘the girlfriend of the World Cup’ took me out of the bubble in which I lived to give me something more. That gave me a gift, it made me reborn on a global level. I went from being that girl who dreamed of being known internationally, worldwide, to being a figure,» Riquelme declared.
Upon becoming famous, «Lari», as she is known in her country, obtained contracts in Peru, Chile, Venezuela, China, South Korea and Japan.
Also in Spain, linked to her fame because the sports press of that country was the first to proclaim her as «the bride of the World Cup», a title that the media around the world later awarded her and which she never lost.
The «bride», in her first World Cup
Larissa Riquelme is also the protagonist of an erroneous collective memory: He was never present at the World Cup in South Africathe same one who transformed her into the «girlfriend» of that same competition.
«Do you know that I never went to the World Cup? This is going to be my first World Cup, which I am going to witness live and direct, everyone thinks that I was really at the World Cup» in South Africa, he noted.
Laughing, he said that Paraguayan soccer legend José Luis Chilavert, who worked as a commentator at the 2010 South Africa World Cup, he called her thinking that he was in the stands of the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, where Paraguay drew 1-1 with Italy on June 14, 2010.
«Everyone thinks I was really at the World Cup,» he insisted.
That day, Larissa Riquelme intended to stay home, but finally went to the «mini stadium» that a local brand installed in a square in Asunción so that hundreds of fans could watch the game.
There, he gave free rein to the passion he says he feels every time Albirroja plays. Her image did not go unnoticed and photographers soon turned her into a reference for the enthusiasm that soccer arouses in Latin America.
«I feel that it is like that, I was the first figure that went out into the world so that they could see that in Paraguay there were not only successful players and goalkeepers, but that there were also beautiful women with a lot of talent,» he stated.
Now, like Paraguay, «Lari» returns to the World Cup after 16 years. But this time he will be in the stands as a fan while, as a journalist, he will follow the path of the Albirroja in the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
EFE Agency.
GML
