Armando Oscar Gonzálezformer player and historical figure of Lanusdied this Thursday at the age of 56 after failing to recover from the stroke he had suffered days before and which had forced him to undergo surgery at the Evita Hospital before being transferred to the Bicentennial Hospital of Monte Grande. The maroon town mourns La Urraca, one of its most emblematic players.
The hemorrhage was very large and the former footballer had not responded to stimuli for days. He was never able to regain consciousness after the operation and doctors had diagnosed him as brain dead. It was not the first time that González complained about his health. In September 2012, due to a similar condition, he had been in a coma for a few weeks. However, through sheer will, he managed to recover and rehabilitate himself. A few months later he received a distinction at the Garnet Museum.
The news was known shortly after the start of the match that Lanús played on Thursday night against Racing, for the fifth date of the Professional League. For this reason, in the restart of the actions after the break, the image of González and the sad news was displayed on the stadium’s giant screen Nestor Diaz Perez. There was also a minute of silence with the emblematic “number 3” used by the leading marker in the center of the field. Then, while Lautaro Acosta removed the shirt and took it to the substitutes’ bench, a moving “Magpie, heart” sounded in Cabrero and Guidi.
The Magpie He emerged from the seedbed of the Southern club of Greater Buenos Aires and made his professional debut with the team that did not achieve promotion to First A in the 1988/89 season of the extinct National B after the defeat with Chaco For Ever. Injured and sidelined from that momentous match after his team squandered a huge lead in the standings, the defender brought out his status as a fanatical fan and cheered in the stands, standing on the paravalanches.
Promotion and revenge came in the following season with Miguel Russo as DT. The left-back remained in the squad in the immediate relegation and returned to the top flight after the next one. He was one of the links of the Garnet era that united the last period in Ascenso football and the more than three decades in which he strung together international and local Olympic laps.
La Urraca, in fact, had the pleasure of being the captain of the team that won the first international title for Lanús, the Conmebol Cup 1996. A year later and after a decade as a professional he changed his shirt after having differences with the coach, Hector Cuper. First he rejected the offer of banfield, the classic rival. That’s how he came to Spanish Sportswhere he played for one season until making the decision to hang up his boots.
Total, In the First Division, he played 179 games and scored just one goal. Of them, 161 were with Granate and 18 with the ‘Galician’ team. We must also add six international presentations, all with the South GBA club. In the Ascenso, meanwhile, he completed 115 games with another goal.
Already retired, González returned to his first love, which was also important to contain him after his first stroke. ““The club opened its doors to me after everything that happened.”he explained in an interview.
He started in the Lanús Infantiles, continued in Youth – he worked in youth with Ezequiel Carboni -, Fourth Division and Reserve. Tplayed one game as interim coach when he left Daniel Teacher Cordovaafter winning the Promotion to Huracán de Tres Arroyos and was also a field assistant for Luis Zubeldia. To the boys, he always told the same thing: his life story, so that they wouldn’t take their feet off the ground when the first contract arrived.
“I came from the town hungry. The club gave me breakfast and a sandwich to eat. I didn’t even have money for the bus and I asked the bus driver to take me, then I walked back. That’s how I did it until First Division, even” , he recalled in an interview with Lanús2000.
A native of Villa Jardín, he arrived in the late 70s for a test. He was about to turn 12 years old. She went once, twice and three times. They signed him and he began his career in the youth ranks until he had to reach First Division. He debuted in a match with Defensa y Justicia. He got injured Hector “Chulo” Rivoira, he “Airplane” Juan Carlos Ramírez He passed the wheel and he marked the left point.
“You have to enjoy life more, it happens only once. You have to walk more calmly, we live a thousand times. I was in intensive care for 40 days and I don’t remember anything. When I opened my eyes they told me that I had fallen and that they couldn’t It was dead. You have to change it down,” he recommended as a way to prevent strokes.
