Argentina has a new star with a familiar name: Simeone

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Argentina has a new star in the making, and the name will be familiar to many.

Giovanni Simeone has nine goals to lead the scoring in the South American under-20 Championship, which wraps up in Uruguay on Saturday.

His father probably won’t like taking any of the credit, but the 19-year-old Simeone is the son of Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone. He played 106 times for Argentina and was a tough midfielder with Spanish clubs Sevilla and Atletico, and Inter Milan and Lazio in Italy.

“We all thought that he was here just because his name was Simeone,” said Emanuel Mammana, Simeone’s teammate on the under-20 team, and at Buenos Aires club River Plate. “But he winds up being a humble guy and a great teammate. The truth is that he kills himself in practice in order to be a great forward. He has an awesome future.”

Simeone works at the game — on the field, at home and in his mind. He has a psychologist who teaches him to disregard failure, reminding him that for every goal there are many blown chances.

The misses used to haunt him.

“I would think a lot about how I had missed a goal, and I was thinking about it all the time,” he said. “It clouded my thinking. Now I know all players can fail — (Lionel) Messi misses goals. Anyone can miss. I have to thank (psychologist) Augustine a thousand times for this.”

Simeone and his younger brothers Gianluca and Giuliano grew up in a household thinking only of football.

“In my family we talk football 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” said Gianluca in neighboring Uruguay to watch his brother play. “We watch football, we talk football, we play football — it’s all about football.”

Giovanni defended what would sound to most like an obsession.

“The one that thinks about it the most, and is the most intelligent, winds up being the best,” he said.

Argentina under-20 coach Humberto Grondona described Simeone as having a vision of the goal anchored “between his eyebrows.”

“He is a great finisher,” Grondona said. “He heads the ball, scores with either foot. He’s a top striker.”

Grondona said Simeone still has fundementals to learn, like playing with his back to the goal. But he described the Argentine as mature for his age, a young man able to handle the fame.

“He is very grown up,” Grondona said. “He understands what it means to be the son of someone very famous. He has that very clear. He’s his own man.”

Despite being the tournament’s top scorer, and the most sought-after interviewee, Simeone talks down his success.

“This is nothing,” he said. “The future begins now.”

And he often returns to talking about the mind game.

“For a footballer the most important thing is the head. This is what directs the feet,” he said. “Someone with bad feet but a good brain is better than someone only talented with the feet. It’s all about what’s up top.”

Simeone has one small tattoo on his left arm: the logo of the European Champions League, the pinnacle of club football.

“It’s my dream,” he said.

When someone suggested that it might take him 10 years to be on a Champions League winner, he replied: “Please, I hope I’ve won it before that!”