“We are in the presence of the most important women’s soccer project in the country.” Carlos Casteglione has no doubts. The former defending South American champion with Arsenal is now a coach and a couple of years ago he joined this San Luis idea of founding a club from scratch to give the girls from the province a chance to fulfill their dream of playing soccer. Today the Saint Louis FC it is synonymous with opportunities, dreams, training and success.
The idea was born in 2019 and officially two years ago, when after 10 months of study and organization a strong squad was formed to start in the third division of the AFA, always with an ambitious goal. The results were surprising: undefeated promotion, winning 27 of 32 games (5 draws), with 135 goals for and just 16 against. It was the first step. But the furious advance does not stop, now in the second category, having won all four games in their zone, with 28 for and just one against, for an impressive total of 31 wins in 36 games, with 163 goals for and 17 against. It is interesting to stop to find out what is behind the sporting success of a trend that does not remain in words or results…
“What is happening in San Luis I would describe as a revolution in women’s soccer in the province. The growth has been impressive, unexpectedly fast. In the results, in everything. We are talking about a project that laid the foundations for something different”. Melina Salinas is a local and knows what she is talking about. She was born in Tilisarao, she 19 years ago, she has been in the project from the beginning, after beginnings in Sarmiento and Juventud Unida. Precisely Juventud and Estudiantes, the San Luis clubs that are in the men’s Federal A, did not have the ambition to seek to promote women’s soccer and that role was taken by the Sports Secretariat, creating a new institution to go for an overcoming project.
“The project arises with the intention of promoting the development of women’s football in the province, taking advantage of the fact that there are many girls who play, but they did not have the necessary support from the clubs. At the end of 2018, work began on the project and in 2019, with the creation of the first women’s Provincial Cup, the idea was to merge the two teams that reached the final and create a club that represents us at the national level, to achieve a contagion effect and have teams that want to compete professionally. With this initiative we managed to get many girls to want to sign up for San Luis FC and since there were no more places in the institution, they decided to start in other clubs. Today there are more institutions that are committed to developing women’s soccer and want to participate in the third edition of the Provincial Cup because it will grant a place for the Federal Tournament, which will allow them to travel a path similar to that of San Luis FC “explains Cintia Ramírez, the Sports Secretary who was a chess player as a girl and took this position in April 2018.
Casteglione He received from DT in 2015 and in 2019 he directed Ituzaingó in the B Metro. But after the pandemic he decided to settle in San Luis and there he received the call from Augustine Alessio, Head of the Sports Development program, whom he knew from his time as a player in the province, and offered him to be the head of this project. “I immediately said yes because I know how seriously they work here and how they achieve what they propose. We began to brainstorm the project and we met with the girls from San Luis who played in Buenos Aires to see which ones we could repatriate. We managed to get several to return and we put together a very competitive team for C”, recalls this former player with a long history in the First Division and the Argentine promotion. “It is my first experience leading a team of girls and everything is being very nice, from directing them to understanding them, to helping them, giving them tools to improve. We are talking about girls with very strong stories, who have been discriminated against for wanting to play soccer, fulfill their dream, and here we have managed to contain them and, above all, narrow the gap between men’s and women’s soccer that is still large, but much smaller. at least here”comments while specifying that 15 of the 28 players are from San Luis.
The arguments that support what the coach says are overwhelming, starting with the structure and logistics behind the main team. “We have two PFs, a field assistant, three props, an archery coach, a video analyst, a doctor, a kinesiologist, a nutritionist, a coordinator, a sports psychologist and a press officer. It’s not normal in a women’s team, that’s why I say it’s the country’s main project. We can take care of the girls very well, have them all contained. We don’t miss any details. Now we add the GPS to be able to control and adjust the training loads. We also have live video analysis, both in training and in matches. For all this I say that it is the best female project in the country. We want to reach the First Division strong”details.
The results came from the first day, that 6-1 against Berazategui in the C, in April of last year. The title achieved undefeated, after 32 games, was celebrated at the Juan Gilberto Funes stadium, but it was only the beginning. It was already planning to double the bet in the second division. The base was maintained but, at the same time, 12 new players arrived, including three foreigners, such as the Mexican goalkeeper Mariana Zárraga, the Paraguayan winger Maribel Portillo (former Olimpia) and the Uruguayan central midfielder Nikol Laurnaga (former Nacional). “We are looking for some professional players who will quickly adapt to a different rhythm of play and way of training”, says Casteglione.
The results are in sight: 4-1 and 17-0 against Argentino de Quilmes, 4-0 against All Boys in Floresta and this Sunday it was 3-0 against Morón, in San Luis, to be absolute leaders of group A, being the best of a 22-team tournament that is just beginning. “The ambition was to have a very good first season and we achieved it, with the title. The idea is to repeat it and reach First Division. We know it won’t be easy, but the tools are all there. We cannot complain, we must maintain humility and focus. Luckily we are a team that does not settle and is always looking for more, to play better and get results”, admits Casteglione, who last year sought to put together an intense and fast team, because he saw that they could make a difference in that, as it happened. “In the new category we notice better physical capacity, which generates more friction, games with more dynamics and stuck. But I think we are ready to fight for one of the two promotions with 7/8 other teams that are on a level with us, ”he analyzes.
The girls couldn’t be happier. “I describe this project as something with a lot of vision, commitment and work. It struck me that here there is so much commitment to women’s football in general. It makes me feel very comfortable to be in a place like this. It is a dream to live what we like, to play ball. We are all very happy and grateful”, added Agostina Gulino, the 20-year-old left back from Mendoza. “The best part of this experience has been meeting my teammates, a beautiful coaching staff and the people who help us every day. We have grown in football, thanks to the tools they have given us. Hopefully this year we will continue in this process of growth. Let’s hope that the project continues there firmly and we can reach First Division ”, completes Salinas. “We can repeat what happened in C in this category and move up. We have a very complete team that goes forward and dreams of great things”, added Gulino.
The most important thing is that the project goes beyond the first team. “It is not easy to start with a club from scratch. But, luckily, in two years we have managed to put together all the training divisions, being able to compete in the local league, reserve, Under 15 and little school. We have improved the flow of girls, getting many girls encouraged to play”, says Casteglione. Cintia Ramírez tells what the deepest objective is. “Avoid the uprooting of the girls, so that they don’t have to go so far to become professionals and that they have an institution here that accompanies and contains them. Today there are several puntanas playing in Buenos Aires and even abroad, because at the time there was no club that contained them. Now it’s the other way around, some are coming back and maybe in the future there will be even more. In addition, the project seeks to encourage many more clubs to want to follow this path. The mission of the project is for all the lower categories to participate in AFA and at the same time to infect more clubs to develop women’s football ”, she highlights.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
