Rubio Rubin discusses playing under Diego Maradona, as well as Guatemala’s fans, Gold Cup heroics and quest to reach a first World Cup.
Rubin helped Guatemala reach their first Gold Cup semi-final since 1996
The Central Americans are targeting a first FIFA World Cup
They face Panama, El Salvador and Suriname in qualifying
Diego Maradona, Jurgen Klinsmann, Luis Fernando Tena, Erik ten Hag, Landon Donovan. These are all decorated figures in the world of football, with titles ranging from the FIFA World Cup™, Olympics, English FA Cup and many other. They also all coached Rubio Rubin, such is the journey the 29-year-old Guatemala striker has forged in his international and club careers. Originally a member of the USA set-up, including playing for the Stars and Stripes at the FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015™ and in a pair of senior friendlies under Klinsmann, in 2022 the Oregon-born Rubin made the switch to Guatemala, his mother’s homeland. He’s never looked back, helping Los Chapines to a historical semi-final finish at the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup – their first since 1996 – and a third-round place in Concacaf qualifying for the World Cup 26.
Currently playing for Charleston Battery in the USL Championship in the USA, an already magical 2025 could become the stuff of legends should Rubin and team-mates lead Guatemala to a first global finals. In a lengthy conversation with FIFA, Rubin spoke about Guatemala’s Gold Cup campaign, their World Cup qualification hopes and lessons learned from Maradona.
Rubio Rubin: I just got here two-and-a-half months ago and then went on international duty, but adjusting to Charleston has been good. It's beautiful, next to the beach. Soccer here is growing. I feel like whenever we have home games, the stadium is too small because it's always packed, so people really love the game here.
I think we were the Cinderella story of the tournament. We didn't even qualify directly. We were in a little bit of trouble going into the March play-off [against Guyana], but we ended up grinding out a result and qualifying. We were put in a group where Jamaica and Panama were seen as the top two, and then maybe us as third, so to be able to come out of that group in second place, and then go toe to toe with Canada and beat them in PKs, shows a lot of confidence in the team. Against the United States in the semis, we went toe to toe with them as well.
It was like what we do in training. As soon as a player gets in that position on the wing, they whip a ball in. In those moments, it's instinct, right? It's all within seconds or even milliseconds of being like, 'Ok, he cut back, I have got to get ahead of my defender.' And so when [Oscar] Santis cut it back, I was thinking exactly that. As soon as that ball was whipped in, I knew in that position I just had to guide the ball. I didn't really need to worry about placement. I ducked down and guided it into goal.
I think this group has that mentality to want to make history with what's coming up in September in World Cup qualifying. It was special to be able to make history in the Gold Cup, but we have our minds set on something bigger.
It's everything. It's my mother's country. It's my country. It's very special for me to be able to represent a part of who I am. I’m still working on my national anthem, practicing every day. I was actually practicing it yesterday. I play it on my car rides at least one time, either on the way to training or on the way back, just so I can sound out the words and everything.
He knows how to manage players really well. He knows how to talk to the player who maybe doesn't even make the roster, to the player who doesn't see any minutes, to the player who's starting, or the player who suddenly needs to go on for whatever reason. It all starts from training and him talking to you on a personal level. His coaching staff are all like that as well.
We have a tough group. Nothing in Concacaf is easy. We have a lot of confidence and ambition because we had a good Gold Cup. I think playing Panama away in the first window in September benefits us, so we don’t have to close against them in November. If we get a great result, I think we have a lot to play for. Playing El Salvador is obviously going to be a tough match-up, but we play at home to start. We're going to have our fan base behind us. It's going to be loud, and I think if we take care of our home-field advantage, we'll be all right.
They’re the best in all of Concacaf, for sure. If we were to play in the World Cup, every stadium would be sold out with our fans. It would be Guatemalans flying in from Chicago, Guatemala City. Everywhere. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
My team-mates and I talk all the time about what would happen. We play back-to-back home games at the end of qualifying in November, so some said that we would not be able to leave the stadium until the next day if we did it. It would be that crazy. They'd probably take us somewhere to celebrate. These are all things you think about. It would be special to qualify for our first World Cup, but obviously we have to take care of business first.
The one thing that stuck with me was when we were doing a finishing drill. I had missed my final shot and started walking away because it was the end of training. He looked at me and said, 'Hey, where are you going?' I said I was done with my shooting drill. He said, 'You don't end on a miss, always on a goal.' I went back and finished my next one, and then he said, 'Ok, now you can go.' Sharing a moment like that with him stuck with me for the rest of my life. If I ever do a finishing drill or do some sort of drill on my own after training, I always end on a positive note.
He always had a positive outlook on soccer and life. Just being able to share the field with him was incredible. He could not move, obviously, as he got older, but there'd be times where he would be on the field by himself and he'd be juggling the ball like it was nothing. That's the love he had for the game. Even though he couldn't move, the ball never stopped bouncing on his feet.
He’s the best technician that I’ve probably ever had. The way he managed the players' trainings, the loads that we'd have. There were things that he saw that maybe we didn't and we would then play a different way. He was able to find a way to play to certain players’ strengths. I think that's what separated him.
Photos courtesy of Charleston Battery
0 Comments