The forward came to testing with Puebla at the age of 24, when his chance to make his debut in the Liga MX was about to expire, and it was some shin guards that threatened to shorten the career of the tournament’s Mexican top scorer.
Santiago Ormeño is the Mexican with the most goals to date in the 2020/2021 Liga MX season, but the forward spent three years in the Second Division before arriving in Puebla in 2018.When he was 24 years old, and the Camoteros were led by Enrique Meza, the forward attended a test match that the same coach had asked to add new talent to his squad. At that meeting, Ormeño arrived dressed in white, as requested, but without shin guards, a problem that could curtail the future in his professional career, which he could face thanks to his cheerful personality.
“Suddenly I turned around and saw a ‘güero’, half gangly and I said, ‘that boy has two right legs, taxi …’ but it turns out it was Santiago Ormeño”, recalls Octavio Becerril, who was Enrique Meza’s assistant, in addition to being in charge of that intermediate team’s whistle and letting the forward play without shin guards.
The ‘Picas’ points out that the appearance of that tall player with a lean complexion changed when he gave the opening whistle, because despite having no experience in the First Division at the age of 24, he showed interesting things that he eventually liked it. him Ojitos’ Meza and his coaching staff.
“In one game they threw her to the center, Ormeño’s position and when I saw him get up, he suddenly lowered her chest, he made a very good reception inviting the players to come quickly to get closer to it. to continue playing it caught my attention ”.
The detail of the shin guards did not go unnoticed by the makeshift referee, as after La Franja’s coaching staff agreed to stay with Santiago Ormeño, Becerril asked Enrique Meza for permission to speak to the shooter who had passed through America’s base forces., in addition to the second division of Pumas, Pioneros de Cancún and Lobos BUAP.
‘I put a’ pin ‘… he’s scolding because you have no idea why he’d try without shin guards, my fault for letting him play like that. ‘I want you to tell me which team you came to test,’ he says, ‘Well to Puebla, teacher’, I say, ‘Very good taxi … and why don’t you bring shin guards?’, He says, ‘ They stole them from me ‘, I started laughing, it’s unbelievable.
Octavio Becerril still remembers the scolding he gave the striker, especially as it was not explained that he would show up to ask for a job and he didn’t have the resources to prove himself in a professional team, but all the explanations that he gave him everything he said, “made me laugh later, because he has many ways out and many arguments for you to free yourself from your anger and get on with it.”
The coach believes that Ormeño’s personality, which was revealed during the eLiga MX, a tournament held before the cancellation of Clausura 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, has helped him not give up at any point until his goal was to make his debut and stay in the maximum circuit, the same opinion that Enrique Vela has, who directed it in 2017 in Pioneros de Cancún in the Second Division.
“His personality is what has catapulted him to where he is. Here in the Second Division Santi was a top scorer, unfortunately sometimes you do not have the continuity or the opportunity to prove himself one hundred percent. I believe the ‘boom’ or the part where Ormeño gets known is when the pandemic suspends the tournament and they make the virtual competition. I think his personality helped him a lot to put his name in the media and when he got the chance on the field and I think he showed that very well, that he has a purpose, that he is a charismatic player and he helped him “.
Enrique, brother of Carlos and Alejandro Vela, is currently the technical director of the Tercera División de Cancún FC, he remembers Ormeño as a cheerful person who has always wanted to joke with his teammates and coaches, but has an anecdote that shows his personality shows. from the current Puebla attacker, who has pulled him out of adverse situations.
‘A funny situation or a lack of discipline, you could say. We were about to start training, when we went to the field to warm up, the assistant tells me that Santiago is missing, that he had not arrived. So sometimes people are concerned because it is not normal for a player to not be able to train, we flagged him and he did not answer. Suddenly when we were training for 15 minutes he seemed to be running all sloppy, putting on his uniform and shoes on the field: ‘Teacher, teacher, excuse me, I fell asleep and I just woke up, I saw it was late and I arrived as soon as possible. ‘, Santi was, between distracted and a very funny personality ”.
He always told you one way, he knew how to reach you and instead of being angry you scolded him and then he made you laugh, he always knew how to make us laugh after he got angry used to be.”
Barely two years and four months have passed since his debut in the First Division and, after waiting for his chance, Santiago Ormeño completes his second tournament as the starting striker for Puebla. The 11 goals he adds in two tournaments leave him as the Mexican forward with the most scores of the season, beating players like José Juan Macías and Henry Martín, but it all started that afternoon on the training ground of La Franja, where some shin guards were the biggest threat to the breakdown of his debut dream, but again, his personality brought him out.