A striker has been called up from the amateur league to join a select group of Uruguay The Uruguayan Federation announced on Monday that this squad is made up of local football players who will play in a friendly match against Costa Rica on Friday.

Walter DominguezThe top scorer of the Organization of Indoor Football (OFI), which brings together non-professional clubs from all over the country except the capital, Montevideo, has been called up for the match that Celestes and Ticos will play at the National Stadium in San José on Friday at 8:00 pm (Honduras time).

Dominguez, 24, is part of the so-called “local media team”, which was recently created to coach footballers competing in tournaments in Uruguay and give clubs “exposure to showcase at international level”, according to Football Federation Australia.

This alternative choice will not be directed by the Argentine Marcelo BielsaHe leads the Celeste team, which is preparing to compete in the Copa America tournament in the United States in June and July.

Instead of “Loko” it will be Bielsa Diego Perezone of the assistants in the technical staff of the Uruguay national team that will win the U-20 World Cup in Argentina in 2023.

In addition to DominguezStriker for Juventud de Soriano (West) and league champion National Cup Of the OFI national teams, the list of those mentioned by “the Russian” Perez includes prominent figures such as the goalkeeper Randall Rodriguezl PenarolSteering wheel Rodrigo Chagasfrom Nacional, and forward Matias Fonsecal Hikers And the steering wheel brother River Plate Argentine Nicolas Fonseca.

In total, 23 players make up the Celestial squad for the friendly match in Costa Rica, which has never been played in FIFA history.

“The truth is that I am very happy. I did not expect it, it was a surprise,” Dominguez told journalist Alex Martin in a video posted on the X social network on May 4, when it emerged that he had been booked for this match.

This is not the first time that an amateur footballer from within has come directly to Celeste without playing as a professional, although this has not happened for more than four decades, according to records cited by the newspaper El Observador.

the last one, Jorge Rodriguez And Enzo AngeloIt was recalled in 1978, and before that, Omar Ray In 1973, all three were clubs from Paysandu Province.

But the most emblematic case occurred in 1957, when Néstor “Tito” Gonçalves went straight from the University of Salto to the Uruguay national team, with whom he played in the World Cup finals in Chile in 1992 and England in 1966, and became a football legend. Peñarol in the 1960s, winning three Copa Libertadores, two Intercontinental Cups (now the Club World Cup) and nine Uruguayan championships.