Crew Cuts: Francis' famous World Cup line parodied in Costa Rican commercial
A commercial opens with a couple handing an older man a box.
He opens it and slowly removes a pair of baby shoes and a note that reads “Vas a ser abuelo,” Spanish for “You’re going to be a grandfather.”
Overcome with emotion, the man begins to cry when Waylon Francis rushes into frame, shirtless and in soccer attire otherwise. Francis emotionally embraces the man and yells, “Llore conmigo, Papi!” or “Cry with me, papi!” before the logo for Gollo, an electronics and appliance store chain, appears on screen.
The line parodied in the commercial, released Wednesday night, is one of legend in Costa Rica. “Llore conmigo, Papi!” is a famous phrase from arguably the greatest sports moment in the country’s history.
On June 29, 2014, Costa Rica defeated Greece 5-3 on penalty kicks in the 2014 World Cup’s Round of 16, advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time.
Costa Rica’s players, including Francis, a reserve player for that World Cup, rushed onto the field in Brazil, hugging and celebrating the moment. One player, Jose Cubero, fell to the ground in sobs, at which point Francis played the role of teammate.
“I didn’t know why he was crying on the field,” Francis, a left back now in his fourth year with Crew SC, said Thursday. “I go to him and say, ‘Hey, what’s going on? We need to celebrate. This is history for Costa Rica.’”
According to Francis, Cubero explained he was emotional for family reasons, so Francis suggested they cry together.
“What I was thinking in that moment in that moment was to support him and say something to him to make him be happy, you know? So what came from my mind in that moment was, ‘Cry with me, Papi,’” Francis said. “So after that, all of Costa Rica likes the phrase, so that’s why it’s now a famous phrase in Costa Rica.”
Francis said he filmed the commercial last week in Costa Rica over a day and a half. Capturing the shot used in the commercial took between 10 and 20 takes, or long enough for Francis to reach the emotional place he once reached with his teammates – with an actor he hadn’t previously met.
“It’s not easy being an actor. They were telling me, ‘Do the same interpretation as (if it is) the World Cup.’ It’s difficult because in the World Cup, it’s a feeling that you have in the moment. Right now, it’s not a feeling,” Francis said. “The first three times it was OK, I was so calm. Then I started feeling it and I started getting into it and then they liked the commercial.”
It was natural for Francis to embrace the opportunity, as the line is part of his identity in his home country. It’s rare that he doesn’t hear his three famous words when he visits.
People stop him on the street to deliver the line. Whenever Costa Rica’s national team plays, the line appears as a popular hashtag. #LloreConmigoPapi resurfaced Wednesday night after the commercial's release.
A Cinderella run for Costa Rica in 2014 stopped in the quarterfinals, when it held the Netherlands scoreless before falling 4-3 in penalty kicks. It’s been close to three years since Costa Rica made its historic run, but the memory is still sharp in Francis’ mind.
“I still have it. I’m never going to forget this good moment. I remember everything about it. It’s going to be always on our minds,” Francis said. “It’s the first time that it happened for us in history. That’s why people take it so personal. That’s why people love it.”
Francis hadn’t had much acting experience before last week, aside from juggling a soccer ball in a music video as a 10-year-old, but he called filming the commercial a “good experience.”
The good news for fans of Costa Rica’s newest actor: There are two more commercials on the way, Francis said.
“I sort of felt what it is being an actor for two days or whatever,” Francis said. “I was excited about it.”
Stoppage time
Thursday was a recovery day for the Crew’s starters. The group of starters for the team’s 3-0 Wednesday night victory over Seattle was limited to gym work, Crew coach Gregg Berhalter said. Friday, the team’s travel day to Colorado, will likewise make for a light day of practice. … Midfielder Abuchi Obinwa, on loan to USL affiliate Pittsburgh, was at the Crew practice facility Thursday rehabbing what Berhalter described as a hamstring injury.
He said it
“I think it’s nice. I think that it’s nice to be able to compete against someone in your home state. They’ve been doing a good job of getting fans there. I’m sure it’s not going to be a problem getting more fans there for the Open Cup game. I think it’s going to make for a great atmosphere. At the end of the day, if we can give American soccer fans this atmosphere and this intensity in games, that’s what going to bring them back. So I think it’s a positive for soccer.”
-- Berhalter, on Crew SC’s June 14 game at FC Cincinnati in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup, which has been unofficially named the “Ohio Derby.”