Oscar Scarione, at 10 years old:
Where did you live?
“The city was called Jose C. Paz and it was part of Buenos Aries just north of the city.”
Did you have a nickname?
“In general, people in Argentina have nicknames but I didn’t have one, so people just called me Ezequiel. Occasionally some people called me ‘Eze'”
What school did you go to?
“I went to a school that was just 100 meters from my home and it was a public school. There were always plenty of issues in these types of schools including teachers going on strike because they didn’t get their salary and things like that. This happens a lot in Argentina.”
What subject did you enjoy and which ones didn’t you?
“I really liked subjects that dealt with reality and anything connected to numbers. Math and science. I remember that I didn’t care much for classes that dealt with language.”
Who was your best friend?
“I had many friends and we always played together in the neighborhood. There was always two or three really good friends. One of them Juan, became my best friend and we are still in touch. He actually had a nickname, Kehito, but I’m not sure what it meant.”
What club did you play for?
When I was ten years old I just played in the neighborhood and generally in every neighborhood there were 5 on 5 or 6 on 6 games going on during the weekends. There really weren’t any clubs like there were in Buenos Aries. The first club I played for was called La Esperenza and it was fairly close to my house. A cousin of mine played for them and I began learning more and more about football.
Which club did you root for?
“My father was from San Lorenzo so that was the team I followed and became a fan of.”
Which player did you like?
“At this age I really didn’t look at individual players. I loved to to see goals on TV but didn’t have a favorite player. When I did begin to follow players it was Zidane and Riquelme. When I began to play professionally I started paying attention to different things that the players did. Riquelme was a player I really liked to watch.”
What were some of your hobbies?
“We didn’t get homework so we had plenty of time to hang out with friends after school. Of course we played football along with hide & seek. One friend had Nintendo so we all used to go over to his house to play it.”
What other sports did you like?
“We had sports class in school where they tried to teach us dodgeball but in Argentina everyone just loved football.”
What music did you enjoy?
“I remember that I didn’t like MTV as it just wasn’t my style. There’s a type of music called Cumbia in Argentina and I really enjoyed listening to that.”
What TV show did you like?
“My favorite was Dragon Ball Z and there was also a Japanese TV show about football called Captain Tsubasa and it was a really good series. It was a 30-minute show but in those 30-minutes they maybe moved about 20 meters and they always thought about their passes. You should check it out.”
