2023-09-03 04:07:47
An iconic image of Sergio Romero in the clothing of the Argentine team (Photo: Getty)
The only objectionable thing about that twilight mate round was precisely the texture of the mate. It lacked care and care: you could see the water almost on the surface and some stick of the grass which was shipwrecked adrift. To top it off, the container was enameled and the light bulb was disproportionately tall. But the members of the wheel enjoyed it because they were the synthesis of that timeless friendship that soccer generates with the almanac on the back of life.
We were in the dining room of the Ezeiza Estate, the one that was on the first floor. It was 2007 and Coco Basile was the coach of the national team. In the morning, as every morning, the training had been carried out, the main objective of which was to see the players, talk to them, then have lunch, rest and, in most cases, return the next day. The squad for the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa was being formed.
The coaching staff did not leave: they preferred to stay to watch videos, matches, talk a lot among themselves, see images of players, analyze them and enjoy yesterday and tomorrow… There already dreamed among so many, Messi, Aguero, Zanetti, Riquelme, Gago, Heinze, Mascherano, the Militos, Maxi Rodriguez, Verón, Cambiasso… My God, how many cracks… They were yesterday and tomorrow. And by the way, the custom was respected that after the siesta the coaching staff and some circumstantial guests sat down to drink mate while the screens of the sports programs on cable television showed images of matches -especially from Europe- or heated soccer debates were intuited. usually no volume
On one side of the table set up like a square, the morning newspapers rested while their delicacies of the withered dawn aged, and a plate of fresh invoices gratified the palate sullied by that mate without texture or care. Suddenly the eyes were fixed on a T&C plinth: “The National Team does not have goalkeepers for the friendly against Norway…”. And immediately the addition: “Abbondanzieri, Juan Pablo Carrizo and Orión, injured.” Basile looked at Pato Fillol – his lifelong friend, his goalkeeping coach – the Russian Ribolzi, his field assistant, looked at Fillol, Baker Diaz, DT’s right-hand man, also looked at Fillol, who was in charge at the time to drink the insufferable mate. After the silence, the immediate abandonment of the croissants and the suspension of the round, Basile exclaimed: “We’re kidding, what’s this? Just because we have to go to Norway, all three of us get injured…” And then he thought to himself: “It’s crazy, nobody knows the value of our selection; Hopefully one day the leaders, the players, the journalists and the leaders realize what it means to play in the National Team; My mother, the one they are missing…”.
The technical director of the Argentine team, Alfio Basile, together with Rubén Díaz and Ubaldo Matildo Fillol debated which goalkeeper to summon due to the injuries of the starters. Fillol recommended Romero
After the first outburst of justified anger, Fillol looked at Basile and said: “Listen to me, Coco, give me a ball because I know a lot about this… See if we can call Ustari who is at Getafe, a great goalkeeper and we have him in Europe; I tell you more -added the Duck with emphasis- for Pepé Santoro, he is crack and for me too…
– I know, look if I’m not going to meet him… he comes from playing the South American Sub 20 in Paraguay. Are you fucking with me? But to the bank, shall the Baker and I go…? Basile replied ironically, not without annoyance.
– No, calm Coco, I also have an archer for the bank.- .
And in the face of the anxiety of the rest, he revealed it without hesitating: he is a kid from Misiones who lives in Comodoro, he measures more than 1.90 and they call him Chiquito. Then he recalled: “I trained him, I know him perfectly from Racing, what’s more: the kid is a die-hard fan of the Academy; believe me Coco, he is from the National Team… he has already played in the CAI, in the Juvenil and just when I had him ready for the First Division and to replace Campagnuolo who had been injured, he went to that Copa America Sub 20 ″.
Not satisfied with such fervor, Fillol continued to evoke the young goalkeeper whom a prestigious basketball coach –Enrique Tolcachier- wanted to incorporate as a Comodoro Gymnastics and Fencing player because he saw an NBA future for him. Standing up, he continued with his speech: “You don’t know, Coco, what I fought for that kid who was finally sold to the Netherlands. But he’s here, this morning or yesterday afternoon I saw him train with the juniors; Coco is here, you have to find him and summon him, trust me…”.
In a few minutes, the restaurant on the first floor of the property became a veritable pandemonium. Employees from the Office of National Teams, probably the most efficient in the world, came and went. Papers, folders, cell phones and the first revelation:
-The kid asked Hugo (Tocalli, his coach) for permission to go south to Trelew today, I think, to see his family…-
“And did he leave?” asked Panadero Díaz, embarrassed.
– And…yes, answered Ruben Moschella, current director of Ezeiza and then manager of the National Teams office.
-Go find him and have him come to train tomorrow, I want to see him in training in the morning…
-But Coco, how would we bring him tomorrow if he supposedly traveled to Trelew or Comodoro today? First we have to locate it, then send it the ticket and if we are lucky to hook it up at the mother’s house for tomorrow afternoon or the day after tomorrow morning, we will have it here, “replied Omar Souto with some logic, that essential official of all selections.
Chiquito Romero and Ubaldo Matillo Fillol, world champion goalkeeper in 1978, who recommended him for the senior team
By the way, from that moment all the mechanisms of a “yellow alert” began to work because while Coco and his coaching staff spoke with different coaches of the first division teams to test the availability of their goalkeepers -with more refusals than support – would start a mega operation with multiple profiles to locate Chiquito Romero.
Great was the desperation in the Selection Office when after going by telephone to the authorities of the CAI, of several leagues in the south, of friendly leaders, the telephone answers denied that Romero had been or been seen in various points of frequent presence. At the same time, the authorities of Aeropuertos 2000 were asked to make calls through their loudspeaker system at the Aeroparque: “Your attention please, your attention please: if Mr. Sergio Romero is at this airport, please report to the Traveler Service desk… We repeat: if Mr. was at this airport…” Nothing. Someone asked that Grondona not even find out about this minor case while he was able to speak with an important authority of the PSA (Airport Security Police). This senior chief arranged for plainclothes agents to go through the interior of the building looking for an unequivocal sign: 1.92, dark hair, 22 years old, stubble, athletic physiognomy and dressed in a sports sweatshirt presumably identified with the AFA logo.
Apparently almost everyone arrived at the Aeroparque at the same time. There coincided those who came from the Ezeiza property in remise, the undercover PSA agents who walked from end to end throughout the building, two employees of the AFA from Viamonte who arrived in a taxi and Daniel Pellegrino, the then secretary. from Grondona, who mysteriously knew –as always- everything that was happening.
Chiquito Romero cannot be seen, covered by his teammates after winning the pass in the Libertadores thanks to his specialty: penalties
It didn’t take much to locate. In Departure Hall number 12 were the tired passengers who had to travel to Trelew at 1:00 p.m. and being 6:00 p.m. they anxiously awaited the order to board. In a seat at the end of a row of linked armchairs, it was remarkable to see the outstretched legs of a giant who required taking a part of the adjoining aisle to be able to place his heels from where his endless legs started… Romero was sleeping with the head hanging on his shoulder, the sweatshirt covering his entire body with the zipper all the way up and a beanie over his eyes that prevented the light…
– Mr. Romero, Sergio Romero?
-Yes, it’s me .-
“You will have to accompany us,” the PSA agents told him kindly.
– What happened…?
-Nothing serious friend, the AFA come looking for him to join the national team… May I…? It’s this way… -, the officer told him.
Everyone was waiting for him downstairs: those from Ezeiza, those from Viamonte, the one from National Team Security, the secretary of Grondona and the boys from the National Teams Office…
By the way, he was a substitute for Ustari in that first game played on August 22 against Norway (1-2) and from there he played 96 games in the National Team, won the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, saved two penalties against the Netherlands in 2014 and was world runner-up. And in the meantime after Racing he played for Az Alkmaar, Sampdoria, Monaco, Manchester United and Venice.
Its particular conditions to stop penalties have just allowed Boca to reach the Quarterfinals of the Libertadores after passing to Nacional and Racing, becoming the fundamental protagonist of those achievements. In addition, having reached the Quarterfinals allowed Boca to secure 9 million dollars in prizes. In other words, his contract and his salary in Boca were amply compensated by his performances.
– Mr. Romero, Sergio Romero?
-Yes, it’s me.-
-He’s going to have to accompany us.-
– Where to?
As far as there is a definition by penalties…
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