Richard Ríos is about to step into the first World Cup of his career, and he says the moment feels like a dream he is finally living. The Benfica midfielder said being in the Colombia national team and sharing the occasion with his teammates has made him “very happy” and highly motivated as the tournament gets underway.
That is why his words now carry so much weight for Colombia. Ríos is speaking just before the start of the tournament, when a player’s path from promise to the biggest stage can still feel unreal, and his own route has been a long one: from futsal, where he said he never imagined reaching this point, to the first chance that arrived and kept his hope alive.
Ríos said that when he was playing futsal, he did not picture a World Cup. He added that after he had already moved through that stage, it felt as if his hopes had run out because his path seemed to be heading in another direction. Then, when the first opportunity came, he said his dreams renewed and his hope stayed intact. That journey matters because it helps explain why this tournament means more than another international call-up for a player now trying to make his mark on the world stage.
He also traced much of the next step in his career to Brazil. Ríos said what he learned in Brazilian football was the base of everything he knows, and that it was there he became known, earned his first call-up and eventually moved on to Europe. He described his time there as important because it opened the door to the national team and then to Benfica and the rest of his life in Portugal.
That is where the only real wrinkle in the story appears. Ríos said playing in Portugal will not make much difference when Colombia faces Portugal because most Portuguese players are based abroad. He added that Portugal’s style is similar to many European teams, which are used to good pitches and a different ball from the one South American players know. For him, that should make the game difficult but familiar, not personal.
Ríos said the World Cup meeting with Portugal will be a very good match and something different from his daily life in Portugal. For a player who once thought the road had closed in futsal, the next few days are not about imagining what comes after the tournament. They are about finally playing in the one competition he used to see from far away.
