By ADEM SARICAOGLU
THE infectious smile that lit up Delfin Mosibe Esara’s face when he was asked about the honour of playing for his country spoke for itself.
So transcendent was that smile, Werribee City sport director and media officer Giorgio Pastorini didn’t need to translate the verbal response when it eventually came through.
The now 20-year-old was just 17 when he first lined up for Equatorial Guinea.
“My country is a small country and it is the smaller of the two Guineas, but there is a little football community that is taking off,” Mosibe explained.
“There are a lot of followers for the national team, and for me it was a huge honour to be there and I can’t explain what I was feeling.”
Our native tongue is yet to become the fourth string to Mosibe’s well-travelled linguistic bow.
The youngest of eight children, Mosibe was just two when his mother decided Spain would provide a better life for the family and decided to make the move north.
It was there where Spanish became Mosibe’s second language after his native tongue, Bube – and where his love for football came to fruition.
So good was his talent, world football giant Real Madrid plucked him from his junior club in 2003 to join their junior program, where he spent the next six years.
His senior career led him to play in Italy, where he picked up his third language, and Spain. But now he finds himself halfway around the world in a strange new land trying to learn a fourth dialect.
Pastorini, who frequently travels between Australia and Europe, was instrumental in luring Mosibe to Werribee City and has looked after him since his arrival little more than a month ago.
Together the pair, who both speak Spanish and Italian (and did so in this interview with Star), have worked hard to help Mosibe acclimatise to Australian life.
“Werribee is a quiet place compared to Spain, and there is the sea where I live, in Werribee South,” Mosibe said.“I like the atmosphere.”
The cultural-friendly nature of his new home has also helped Mosibe fit beautifully into life as an Australian suburban footballer.
“I like Australia, besides just the beauty of the country,” he said.“The fact that it is multi-ethnic, people respect me if I’ve got black skin. In Europe, they don’t respect you so much.”
Such a notion is reflective of Mosibe’s journey from Equatorial Guinea to Werribee via Europe itself, which is as remarkable as it is improbable.
However with four simple words, he managed to reveal more about himself than he did for most of the time he spent talking with Star.
Asked why he chose to make such a drastic move from one side of the world to other, his response took less than five seconds to relay back through Pastorini.
“A sense of adventure,” he replied.
And as for how his English is coming along?
“I have to find a girlfriend – that’s the best way to learn the language,” Mosibe quipped.
Again, the smile said it all.
