"I Will Not Be A Tourist," Says Viviana Vila, The First Woman To Comment On A Match At A World Cup

Viviana Vila, Argentinean commentator, presenter, and journalist, will become the first woman to comment on a match at a soccer World Cup and will do so in Russia 2018. She was signed by Telemundo, a network that will broadcast the 64 World Cup matches live. FIFA Russia 2018. I confessed that I envy him, but in a good way!

When we talked, I told him that going to a king sport party is like graduating with honors for a sports journalist because it is the desire of all those who love or suffer for soccer.

She will not wear a black gown or a cap, but she will wear a full suit and a microphone, with which she will describe the emotions and incidents of the World Cup matches. Those who are able to make our hearts beat a thousand times an hour, those who leave us without a voice to scream or those who are even capable of drawing tears of emotion, sadness and even anger over a 90 minute penalty.

Given the enormous challenge that lies ahead, this Argentina, who is also a mother, ensures that since she learned the news that she will go to Russia - after Telemundo contacted her via WhatsApp message and after some tests in Miami -, from her face a smile of joy, satisfaction, pride, flattery and thanks is not erased.

"When Telemundo called me without knowing me and gave me the place I think I deserve, I thought: How can I not say out loud that on a road with so many obstacles and thorns I found a rose. I am going to be the first woman to comment on a match in a World Cup, but I owe it to Telemundo, who was the network that put its eyes on me,”she says humbly.

Preparation

Being a sports journalist involves spending hours watching and analyzing soccer games to get to know each player one by one, learn techniques and tactics or even something as simple -nothing easy- as knowing how to pronounce each name and surname … so many things! Viviana has dedicated herself to all this during her more than 17-year career. Looking ahead to the World Cup, that preparation has involved spending twice as much time.

"I have studied the 32 alignments and especially I have ratified the knowledge of the game itself because playing a game in Argentina is not the same as in Russia. I like to analyze how the teams stand on the court, what movements they have, how they neutralize the techniques and tactics or how the technicians read the game to make the necessary changes. I know I have the potential to do it, "he says. In as much it emphasizes: "I want to be in many of those parties and I want to be on a par with the great colleagues with whom I am going to work there."

Machismo the order of the day

She denies that she has ever received any discriminatory treatment from a soccer player or manager, but from journalists and fans who refuse to believe that women are capable of analyzing what happens in a game where 22 players run after a ball.

On her way, she has encountered a lot of angry, macho men who feel violated with her talent, even so, she with work, knowledge and dignity has shown that she has talent and more than enough.

Debut at a World Cup

And how do you imagine that first day? I asked him.

"I will size it when I return from Russia because my goal is to have a great World Cup as a commentator. I am very excited because I will have people around me that I saw on television, such as Juan Pablo Sorín, the “Chicharito” Hernández, Sergio Ramos… so many people who deserve my respect and with whom I will learn a lot. My goal is to make a great World Cup through the matches that correspond to me to analyze. I'm not going to be a tourist”, she adds convinced.

For her trip to Russia, she will carry a doll of her son who has always accompanied her as her lucky charm, one of her photographs, as well as a watch of her father, who died a year ago and was her # 1 admirer. The two of them and the effort of all the women who work day after day in the midst of so many men, dedicates the World Cup to them all, their first World Cup.