In one of my stays at the Grupo Editorial La Hoguera stand, during this 25th. At the Santa Cruz de la Sierra International Book Fair, they came to talk to me, a middle-aged father, along with his teenage son. They told me that they had been visiting the fair a couple of years ago, and when they saw the cover of my book, Useless passion. Football stories (2019)the father decided to give this book to his son, but they took it without a dedication.
In confidence – while the child was leafing through other titles -, whispering, he told me: “This pelau turned out well for me as a footballer. He comes home from school straight to play ball with his neighborhood friends. Until before this book, I never saw him read anything. Now he has everything worn out, dirty and with the pages bent from reading it so much and he put together a small library in his room (…) we saw it in a video on social networks and I promised you that I would bring it so that you could sign an autograph in this exemplary—all cuchuqui—and we will take the second part.” Later, he confessed to me that he also read the book and couldn’t believe that I had met, and, what’s more, played soccer with Pelé!
Although, due to his appearance, he seemed younger to me, he also—like me—belongs to the pre-Maradona generation, that of the last century. Pelé was our greatest idol, as Messi is now for the young people of the 21st century. The “athlete of the century” —O King—, won three world titles with the Brazilian team (1958, 1962 and 1970); He was the top scorer of the only Brazilian team in which he played —Santos—, where he scored more than a thousand goals; With that São Paulo club he was twice champion of the Libertadores Cup and won two intercontinental cups. In the second story, from the “first half” of my book, which has a playful approach, I tell the anecdote of The day I played with “the King”.
Returning to talking about books, I took the opportunity to share a long list of titles that your soccer-loving son—now a voracious reader—could really enjoy, beyond my anecdote of stories and stories: Pure football and The best football stories by Roberto Fontanarrosa; many of Eduardo Sacheri (The owners of the world; Football, hand in hand; Waiting for Tito; The keys to the kingdom; An old man who stands up; I know you, Mendizábal…); Football in sun and shade and Closed for football by Eduardo Galeano; God is round by Juan Villoro; football stories, an anthology by Jorge Valdano; The owners of the ball. Soccer stories written by women, a selection by Claudia Piñeiro; among others.
In football, there are many ways to reach the opponent’s goal: you can practice the tiquitaca from Guardiola, which is a style characterized by the use of short and precise passes in transitions, constant searches for space and extreme possession of the ball; You can propose a defensive scheme – like Simeone -, with many people in the defense and midfield, protecting your own goal and preventing the rival team from having options to enter the big area, and then counterattack, with long passes and between opposing defense lines; You can defend and attack as a block, using the full-backs to transport the ball and shoot crosses into the area and, if these forward markers are fast and skillful, make diagonal runs towards the goal with goal-scoring shots.
In reading, there are also many ways to make it a pleasant habit. One of those is reading about topics or characters that we are passionate about, like this soccer-loving teenager. From there, the book becomes a refuge for dreams: one title or one author will take us to another and another; one story will help us discover the next; and thus, the books will accompany us throughout our journey through this “championship”, which some call life.
I confess that when this father and his son left the stand, and from a distance, they waved goodbye to me, I felt like Toni Kroos in the last game of his professional career with Real Madrid. With my few curls, I couldn’t adjust a non-existent bump on my forehead – as the German does, before kicking a corner -, but I felt that my book was like Kroos’s decisive corner kick – a closed cross, at the near post -, who fell as if with his hand on the head of Dani Carvajal – a dwarf in front of the German defensive towers – and that header opened the way for his team’s victory in the Champions League final. Sartre already said it: “Football is a metaphor for life.”
Alfonso Cortez
Social communicator
