Breathe
By Rosa Covarrubias
Some years ago, just when the protagonist of our story was about 6 years old, Jorge Valdano came to our country and when asked why Mexican players did not seek opportunities in Europe or other leagues, the answer was simple: "if I had had in Argentina all that the Mexican league offers, I would not have gone to play in Europe either".
I bring up that answer because it is no secret that the Liga MX Femenil is one of the fastest growing leagues in the world, even the salaries are so competitive with those of some European clubs that that is why we have figures of the stature of Jenni Hermoso playing in our country's football.
With the start of Liga MX Femenil in June 2017, the dreams of thousands of girls, teenagers and young women began to be forged, who were looking for an opportunity, no matter how small, to exploit their potential and have a "professional" space in which to play soccer.
The story of Rebeca Bernal, born in Tampico, Tamaulipas in 1997, is not too different from most of the girls who played soccer in Mexico at the beginning of the century; being in children's teams at an early age forged her character, the same one that took her to Monterrey to study and pursue her passion of playing soccer at the Tec de Monterrey.
Eight years ago, Bernal, like thousands of other girls in the country, began to look forward to the creation of this league; she was chosen to play with Rayadas de Monterrey and, at the age of 20, she stood out from the rest by taking over the center, while her leadership led her to wear the captain's badge.
It has been 7 and a half years since that debut, thousands of hours of training, sacrifices, frustrations, goals accomplished, celebrations and finally, the dream of playing in another league has come true, Rebeca Bernal announced that she will play for the Washington Spirit of the NWSL, arriving with the runners-up of the United States league.
Amid tears of joy and nostalgia, her team surrendered to her in the conference room, in a very emotional farewell in the presence of Eva Espejo, who was her coach and is now Rayadas' Sports Director and who, by the way, could not stop crying at the beginning of the conference.
