Brazilian forward Yuri Tanque has been living one of the greatest moments of his career at South Korea’s Jeju United.
In a good chat with Sambafoot, he talked about growing up in Minas Gerais, where he played in the youth categories of both Cruzeiro and Atlético Mineiro.
Professionally, Tanque also got to know another big rivalry in Brazilian football: he had good seasons with Ponte Preta and Guarani.
Now already a matured player, Tanque, which really means Tank, because of his physical strength, is able to evaluate some of the things he experienced.
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Yuri, you this week, celebrated seven years since your first professional goal. I found that very interesting. What does this moment mean to you, this progression in your career? It’s been many years as a professional, right?
Yes, I am literally living a dream and progressing within this dream as well. Working to grow even more within this dream, a dream that started when I was still a child and went through various moments. I talk a lot… I talk a lot with my wife about this, right? Dates are meant to be celebrated. They are achievements, whether it’s a birthday, a wedding anniversary, or even the date of my first goal is to remember that the work that was done in childhood and adolescence is paying off and working to achieve more and more.
It’s been seven years since the first goal, but also celebrating every week of work and every game being able to score a goal will be even better. We’re talking about this childhood thing.
How was your experience in the rivalry between Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro?
I started at Cruzeiro’s youth academy, so it was really top. Minas Gerais… América, it has grown a lot, it’s a historic club, right? A hundred years old and everything, but it has grown a lot, participated in the Libertadores, and so on. It has been living an excellent moment. But in the countryside, it’s always divided between Cruzeiro and Atlético, right? Everyone talking about Cruzeiro and Atlético and so on. I started at Cruzeiro, and trained, played at Toca 1, so… I experienced something very interesting, right? To be put in that situation at 10 years old, a boy who only trained on the fields in the countryside, and to be placed in Cruzeiro’s youth academy, it was phenomenal. And I had some experiences, not just training, right? I visited Toca da Raposa, Toca 2, and man, at the time, I was young, but at the time, who was playing there was Fábio, Guilherme, Araújo, Wagner, they were stars at that time, and I thought, wow, what a dream, how interesting. That motivated me, right? That at that time, right? And to see those guys on TV before, and to see them in front of me there, it was a very interesting experience. After a few years, a few years passed, I went, already in the Under-15 category, I went to Atlético Mineiro, and then I experienced another reality, and something even more tangible, let’s say, because the Atlético Mineiro youth academy, it is together with the professional team, so it’s in the same training center. So, I had the opportunity to see several stars, several celebrities in an extraordinary year, which was in 2013, the year of the Libertadores, where there was nothing less, nothing more than Ronaldinho there. I had the opportunity to train, so, these were two very good experiences that helped and prepared me to become a better professional, and it motivated me a lot.
And Ponte Preta and Guarani, how was it?
So, I grew up in Minas Gerais and was inserted into the territory of São Paulo, right? And, man, the Cruzeiro and Atlético classic
is a very big rivalry. And for those who know the rivalry between Ponte Preta and Guarani, it’s also very big, man. People who work within one club or the other don’t even mention the name of the opponent, the rival, right? In this case, for those who don’t know, the stadiums are separated by, if I’m not mistaken, about 500 meters apart from each other. The Guarani’s stadium is on the avenue and Ponte Preta’s, you go up for almost 500 meters. So, people only communicate like this, oh, the people from up there, the people from down there. When I played at Ponte, I couldn’t wear anything green, no cleats, clothes, nothing. At the time of Guarani, people also gave me a hard time if I wore something similar. But I am very grateful to Ponte Preta for the development I had there. I met excellent professionals, made good friends, and it was an important place for me to take my first step as a professional. And very grateful for the history, right? And for what I experienced at Guarani. Glory to God for everything, right? And the story was recent, where I was embraced by the fans, by the staff, by the athletes, and I had a great time there.
You are in your third experience outside of Brazil. Is life very different in other countries?
Yes, so in 2019 it was my first experience which was in Japan. It was a very complex, very difficult period because it was my first international experience in a totally different culture, different time zone, different food, different football, right? I spoke very little English and had to learn a bit of Japanese by force, but it was a phenomenal experience. I was never afraid to put myself out there, to go to another country, to test, to see, and it was very good. At that time I was single, I went alone, so it was even more difficult to adapt, far from my parents, friends, there was no one nearby, didn’t speak the language, didn’t understand the food, so it was very difficult. In my second experience, I went to Portugal. At that time I was already married. Even though the language seems similar, right? It’s not the same, but the culture is different, the way of thinking is different. So, you have to adapt in the same way, you know? It’s not the… Warmth like Brazilians have, the same style of thinking about football as in Brazil, we don’t find it either, so these are moments when we need to adapt. But these were two countries that made me grow a lot, mature a lot, both professionally and personally, as a man, as a son, as a husband, that was really good. And then this third opportunity outside the country arrived, which is here in South Korea, already with a certain experience, more experienced, with a lot of learning, with my wife accompanying me as well, which was essential in the adaptation, where both of us came willing to adapt. So we started Korean lessons a little before coming here, so that we wouldn’t suffer so much. Upon arriving here, we made sure to adapt as quickly as possible in terms of time zone, in terms of food, in terms of language, so, thanks to God and thanks to the Lord’s favor, today I find myself in my third stint, already speaking fluent English, I can communicate in fluent English, communicate in some things in Japanese, I understand a bit of Spanish, and I can also speak it now, and I can also communicate in some things in Korean. So, by God’s grace, it has been very good and I am evolving more and more.
Food-wise, did you have any trouble?
The issue of food, the one in South Korea was the most difficult of all. In the case of Japanese food, it is more famous in Brazil, it has grown a lot in recent years, so sushi, and even, I give this advice to you, if you have the opportunity, the sushi in Japan is totally different, in Brazil we put a lot of things, but in Japan, the fresh fish there is delicious, it’s very good, so for those who like it, it’s easy to get used to, in my case, I got used to it easily, I always liked to eat sushi, so it was easier. In Portugal there were also some Brazilian things, a Brazilian supermarket. Here in Korea it was a little more difficult, because their palate here is very different, they like to eat food that is either very spicy or sweet and sour, so sometimes you’ll see a meat, a chicken, pork, which is more common, with a slightly sweet taste, or the other food is very spicy. It’s very different from ours, we don’t find the beans, which we love so much, the rice here is that Asian rice, which is more sticky, so, it’s complicated, but you have to be willing to go through it, I’m going through it, now I eat almost everything, trying everything.
Any advices to someone willing to go through this path of yours?
First, be willing to be molded, that’s a very interesting piece of advice, because many Brazilians end up coming here and think that things will be the same as they were in Brazil, so the Asian countries have a culture deeply rooted in all areas, so it’s not that we arrive here and think that everything will be our way, no. There are some things that need to be adapted, and if the person comes with this disposition, it’s not that they become afraid, it becomes less worse, let’s put it that way, it’s a challenge, but if you come willing, and Asia itself is growing a lot within our football area. In the past, people who came here kind of buried themselves, as people used to say, because they lost space in the Brazilian market, in the European market, and now the tables have turned, and a lot, many European and Brazilian teams are coming to seek players who are in Asia. If you look at the last transfer window, in the last one, you see athletes leaving Asia and bolstering teams in Serie A in Brazil, Serie B in Brazil, teams in Europe, so what some people used to think was just for the sake of money, to make some savings, it’s not, it’s a career plan to increasingly open up more markets and grow within our area.
