Leeds United’s Junior Firpo made his debut for the Dominican Republic in March, after switching his allegiance from Spain towards the end of last year.
The Dominican Republic football association president, Félix Rubén García Ciprián, and national team manager, Marcelo Neveleff, made trips to England to convince the 28-year-old to represent them.
Juniro Firpo has 10 appearances for his country and Record in the Dominican Republic now talk about his influence in the national team.
They have won their last seven games, conceding five goals in the process, and the Leeds man has been a key player. The left-back has provided ‘leadership, commitment and a competitive level to raise the standard’ of the Dominican Republic.
Record claim long trips, ‘complicated’ pitches and compact schedules have never been ‘obstacles’ for the defender as he’s always thrilled to represent his country.
Neveleff has been speaking to the local media and his comments are relayed by Diario Libre.
When asked how important it was to bring the likes of Junior Firpo to the national team, he said: “Bringing in these players was very important because they are players who compete at a very high level.”
“Junior Firpo is very commendable, he’s a very honest guy, in his effort, in his leadership, in his adaptation to what the national team is, to the trips to the Caribbean, to Central America, which many times isn’t easy for players of that category, because they are in their leagues, when they come here they have to travel nine and 10 hours to go back, train with their teams.
“What Junior has done… we have to take our hats off, just like Mörschel, Luiyi, all those who come from Europe because the reality is that they feel very much for the country and are happy to come, to make that trip, they told me that they like to be in this group.”
