MENU
COVID-19 hits very close to home for Pacific’s Víctor Blasco: ‘Worst fears realized’

Imagine someone in your family testing positive for the COVID-19 virus. Pretty frightening stuff, right?

Now, imagine two members of your family being infected with the coronavirus. That would be even more terrifying.

Pacific FC midfielder Víctor Blasco doesn’t have to imagine it – he’s lived through this very scary scenario, as both of his parents recently contracted the virus.

What’s more, Blasco, who is currently in self-isolation in B.C., wasn’t able to be with his mom and dad – they live in Spain, and instead of being there for his parents, Blasco had to rely on his siblings to offer them first-line support as they battled the virus.

For Blasco, being so far away from his parents and unable to help them made a very bad situation far worse.

“I’m not a dramatic person at all, so it’s hard for me to get scared, but I was very scared about my mom and dad, because you never know, right? With so many people dying, and there’s no vaccine for it, it was a very scary situation where you just have to wait and see what it does to you,” Blasco told CanPL.ca.

He later added: “It was like one of the worst fears realized.”


SELF-ISOLATION HELP: 10 soccer books to read || 7 CPL matches to re-watch || 5 soccer movies to check out


Luckily, his parents Adela and Marcos – who are divorced and live in separate cities; his mom in Barcelona, and his dad in Mallorca – didn’t suffer long-term consequences, and are on the road to recovery. Just as miraculous, neither of them managed to infect Blasco’s step-parents.

Blasco’s father was bed-ridden for a week or so, but didn’t require hospitalization.

“My dad didn’t end up going to the hospital because he’s a bit younger and stronger than my mom. My dad told me it felt like having the flu, but ten times worse. It was really hard for him,” Blasco explained.

His mother had a far worse time of it, as she endured a lengthy hospital stay before recently being released and able to return home.

“My mom had to go to the hospital for like a month after being infected in her lungs. That’s when it gets a bit tricky. Thank God she’s a strong woman, and she’s back home now. She’s getting better, slowly but surely. I’m thankful that at the end of the day that they are both good now,” Blasco offered.

As of Friday, there have been over 53,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Canada, with over 3,200 deaths. Those are sobering numbers. But Spain has been hit much harder with 215,000 confirmed cases and close to 25,000 deaths, and the country has imposed strict lockdown rules since March 14.

“Here in Canada, it’s not that bad compared to Spain. We can walk around, we can go out. It’s not like in Spain, where my family is, and they can’t get out of the house at all,” Blasco said.

“I have my girlfriend here with me, and I’ve been holding up pretty good, but back home is a bit tougher for sure. All of his family is in Spain, and it’s tough on them with the current situation.”

Like every other CPL team, Pacific had to cut short their pre-season training camp last month. As a result, it’s been close to eight weeks since Blasco trained with his teammates.


RELATED READING: CPL 2020 roster tracker: How each team is shaping up


“We were having a great pre-season, we were in sync, ready to go, feeling really good. The team was looking fantastic. We were all confident about the season coming up, and then one day (Pacific CEO) Rob Friend came to training and told us we have to shut it down for a couple of weeks. … And now it’s been almost two months,” Blasco said.

With the start of the 2020 campaign delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the training moratorium still in effect, players have been left to work out on their own.

Blasco has found comfort in his daily training routines during this trying time, and he holds out hope that players across the CPL will be back on the pitch at some point for the 2020 season.

“The positive thing I like to see from here is, I have friends who are footballers in different countries around the world, and we are pretty lucky to be in our position in Canada. It looks like we’re going to have a season, and if we do there’s going to be a lot of focus on us because it’s going to be one of the few leagues that does,” Blasco offered.

“I’m trying to stay fit as much as we can. That’s what’s keep me sane, you know? The idea that we will have a season at some point, and trying to stay as sharp as I can.”