As a chilly October evening descends on Rhodes Field during pregame introductions, Christian Barreiro looks antsy without the ball at his feet. He won’t stop moving.
Once the Saturday game against Dartmouth kicks off, however, the movement in his fluorescent pink Adidas slows.
It would be easy to mistake the slow trot for nonchalance.
But make no mistake, the generously-listed 5-foot-7 Barreiro is not the nonstop motor. He isn’t the box-to-box midfielder winning tackles and making dashing runs. He won’t wow you with his speed or dazzle you with power.
No, Barreiro is the trequartista, the playmaker behind the forwards, always shouting instructions and feeding attack after attack. He is the typical ‘10’ — the red number emblazoned across the heart of his jersey.
The beauty of his skill surely comes from the heart.
“Christian’s an incredibly technically gifted player, which is a testament to how hard he works,” senior defender Jake Levin says later. “Two hours of practice a day just aren’t enough for him.”
As the game progresses, possession becomes vital. Ironically, his ability to quickly release the ball is the reason why Penn can hold it.
As soon as Levin wins a tackle, Barreiro is on the move, his head on a swivel. Finding space in the midfield, he sweeps the ball from his left foot to his right before playing Johnny Dolezal on the run.
“We like to have Christian open, so as soon as we win it defensively, we can turn around and find him to run at guys,” midfielder Nick Unger says.
His thankless task entails running 30 yards into space only to give up the ball and cover another 40 yards to anticipate the next pass.
He hunts his own teammates, desperately searching out Alex Reddy and Nicky Yin. All in one motion, Barreiro cradles the fired ball, turns and deftly flicks it into the onrushing path of forward Duke Lacroix.
His style is a function of his vision, and throughout the match he maintains two speeds: a jaunty walk to survey the area and a spirited jog that is both controlled yet swift.
No more than a few minutes later, Barreiro appears to be marooned out on the wing, walking almost aimlessly as he keys in on the play. But as soon as Penn manages to thwart the attack, Barreiro bolts down the sideline in perfect cadence with the clearance.
“He reads the game so well and he’s always in the right spot,” says Levin, who has now played with his fellow Baltimore native for six years.
Within the first 15 minutes, Penn goes down a goal. But a broken play finds Barreiro inside the area. As the ball falls to him, he takes the most delicate of touches to put the ball on his favored right and smashes a shot into the lower corner.
Barreiro has made a habit of cashing in for the Red and Blue. Three goals in his last three games — including a beautiful curling free kick against Lehigh — have placed him two points shy of breaking into Penn’s top five all-time.
Fifteen minutes left in the half and Penn is down once again. Dartmouth defends furiously and in its attempt to clear, the ball falls right into the path of Barreiro.
It smashes into his chest, but with a gentle lean it doesn’t drop nor does it spring away, but floats in the air for the briefest of seconds. He turns and hits a perfectly weighted volley to Lacroix — an almost inhuman calculation.
Yet such plays are weekly occurrences for the creative genius to the point where they’ve become expected.
It’s a combination of skill, creativity and beauty intrinsic within him.
