World runner-up and ex-Chivas: who is the Mexican champion of El Salvador for the coronavirus

In 2013, the Colima Marco “La Pantera” Granados made himself known thanks to the great role played by the Mexican Under-17 team in the United Arab Emirates World Cup. Although he seemed to be one of the future stars of Aztec football, wandered around various teams in the world until finding stability in the Once Deportivo, current champion of El Salvador.

That team only lost two games, both against the Nigeria of Kelechi Iheanacho, current player of Leicester City of England. One of those matches was in the final, in which the Africans swept the greens with a score of 3-0.

That earned Granados to attract the attention of the Chivas, team with which he debuted in 2016. However, in that Closing 2016 he only had 56 minutes in two games, reason why it had to look for new airs.

He went through Ascenso MX with Coras FC, as well as Tampico and Madero. In addition, he dropped even more category and ended up in the third division of Mexico to play with the Parrots of Colima and Tuxtla FC.

With no luck in his country, the striker He went to Greece with PAE Eginiakos and then with Real Estelí FC of Nicaragua. In the Central American country he had more minutes and was seen by the Mexican Bruno Martínez, assistant to coach Juan Cortés of Once Deportivo.

"Playing in Nicaragua I make myself known more and I know people from El Salvador and the assistant Bruno Martínez contacts me, He told me about the project and I decided to come, ”said Marco Granados in an interview with Halftime.

The panther joined this team together with his compatriot Edgar "Tepa" Solís, who is also a canterano of the Sacred Flock. They had to chop stone, because their new club was fighting not to descend.

"The most important thing was to score points to save us from relegation. When I got here we were five points down and we were taking the points and in the end we saw that we were there for more and it turned out to have that pressure ”, he pointed out.

After 11 dates, Once Deportivo scored 20 points and placed at the top of the table. Nevertheless, the league had to stop due to the coronavirus outbreak, that has affected the world, as well as the major leagues, forcing them to suspend tournaments.

Contrary to the other contests and setting a precedent, Liga Mayor de Fútbol de El Salvador decided to cancel the rest of the matches and give it the Once Deportivo championship. This is the first time that the Border Tank gets a title in its history in the first division.

"I was following the live of the conference of the Federation of El Salvador and there the president says that the league is over and that they give us champions and that we are going to represent El Salvador in the Concachampions ”, explained the Mexican.

However, the joy was only scattered from their homes, as the team follows health recommendations to prevent the virus from spreading. "It was time to celebrate at home, here I only live with my partner and there was no way to go out and shout it, to celebrate with the fans because in the end we are following the recommendations of being at home ”he said.

“It is a different feeling (being a champion). You are happy, but it is not the same to celebrate on the court and get that emotion or suffer the last minutes, but obviously one celebrates it because it is the work of what was going on in the tournament and it is something deserved, but if it is very different ”he pointed out.

Lastly, the Panther noted that it was a good decision by the Salvadoran Federation to cancel the league due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "It was a well-made decision for the fact that we know that we must take care of ourselves because what's going on is not a game and the decision was to reward the one who had made the most points and the one who was doing things the best ”, he said.