Every country has the
next big thing. While Uruguay enjoys the fruits or lack of, of Luis Suarez and
Edinson Cavani, one thing is consistent. Uruguay has the next big thing. His name is Gonzalo Bueno.
Born in Maldonado,
Uruguay Bueno is the son of former Nacional of Uruguay player "el
Zorro" Gustavo Bueno. He began is
youth career in Nacional eventually being coached by his father at the youth
level. Bueno is the latest of a long line of top footballers to come out of
Nacional. In recent memory Nacional has produced players like Luis Suarez,
Diego Lugano, Alvaro Gonzalez, Gonzalo Castro, Mauricio Pereyra, Nicolás
Lodeiro, and Sebastián Coates to name a few of Uruguay’s current National Team
pool. Not to mention the stepping stone Nacional provided for players not from
the clubs youth ranks like Diego Godin and former Sounder’s midfielder Alvaro
Fernandez.
Nacional has a long
history of forming great footballers and Bueno is no exception. At 5ft 9 and
his lanky frame Bueno looks hardly like a world beater. Although when he puts
his cleats on and dribbles through defenses in Uruguay and internationally in
Copa Libertadores games he looks like yet another promising product.
The difference of
Bueno and the rest is the same one many had when they saw Suarez. They see a
kid who wants to get better a kid who wants to do well, a kid who wants to be a
star. Much like Suarez, Bueno is a fighter he will fight for a ball to death,
unlike Suarez, and thank the lord, Bueno is not a complainer. He falls dust
himself off and continues. At 20 and after over 40 games for Nacional he has
started to become a consistent threat and scorer for Nacional.
This season one of
Bueno’s best performances came in Buenos Aires against Boca Juniors for a
Libertadores match. He did not score and although Nacional won the game 1-0,
Nacional hardly attacked. But every time Bueno got the ball he looked extremely
dangerous, it was his first true MAN’s game. For once he looked like a man in a
man’s game and not a kid learning the ropes.
Since 2010 Nacional
fans and Uruguay fans have watched a boy become a man. In July Bueno who is already sold will move
to Europe and hopefully a man will become a star. Bueno has the talent, he has
the skill, and has the drive. Now he needs the luck.
If he’s lucky he might
be Uruguay’s next best thing. And that is always Bueno.
