Iron curtain, heavenly memory

The pancake and the photo of Vicente Lecar brought me a bad omen. I started to find out if something had happened to the unforgettable Minister of Defense until they confirmed the sad news: Vicente died at the age of 87. And with him, the famous Iron Curtain, the defensive line of Barcelona and the national teams of the 1960s went into immortality.

“Lecaro embodied the fans of Barcelona – until he became one of its greatest symbols – not only because of his incredible solvency as a defender, but also because of his honor and courage to defend the yellow jersey. In some of the most sensational chapters written by Barcelona, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ A has to be done at a time when player wages and transfers did not guarantee any future, Lecaro had a stellar role.

There are hundreds of thousands of us who have seen him play at the time of Capwell Stadium and Guayaquil Model and we can confirm that until today there has not been a central defender with the technical virtues and security of Lecar, regardless of the publicity others have today. footballers by the journalistic enemy of history.

I was proud to say that on June 5, 1957, I was sitting in the old Capwell hall, almost in the corner facing Quito Avenue and General Gómez Street, to watch the match between Zizinho’s Bangú and Barcelona. In the preparatory part, due to the reserve tournament that was being played at the time, the Toreadors met with Everest. They featured almost all of their titles, except for Albert Spencer.

At the heart of the attack was the powerful Horacio Tanque Romero, the Argentine striker. The coach of the Canaries was the Yugoslav Zvonimir Gajer, who decided to place a slim and strong young man who previously played as a forward: Vicente Lecar Coronel in the center of the defense. The youngster won the battle against Romero Tank, who could never overpower him and showed admirable class.

Barcelona fell spectacularly against Bangú that afternoon, and the press and fans demanded a rebuild. It was the moment in which the legend who contributed to the forging of idolatry lost his position: Carlos Pibe Sánchez. In 1957 the rear guard of the shipyard began to form with Miguel Esteves, Vicente Lecar and Luciano Macías. Two years later, Lecaro was already in the national team and was until 1970. He played fourteen years for Barcelona and won four provincial and four national crowns. He formed historic defensive lines such as Alfonso Quijano, Lecaro, Brazilian Jair Simplicio de Souza and Luciano Macías. Or that of Alfonso Quijano or Walter Cárdenas, Lecar, Uruguayan Édison Saldivia and Luciano Macías, that of the famous Hazaña de La Plata. He had to face world-class footballers such as Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskas, Sandor Kocsis, Ramón Villaverde, Valentín Angelillo, Óscar Omar Míguez, Eusebio and many others.

His class was so great that Peñarol, the intercontinental champion, sought him out to replace the veteran William Martínez, the 1950 world champion with Uruguay, who had begun to decline after the 1962 World Cup.

Sitting in the interview room of El Diario La Prensa, in New York, in 2005, Alberto Spencer confirmed to me what Lecaro told me one afternoon at the Barcelona Shipyards Association: “In 1962, Peñarola leaders asked me for information about Lecaro. I told them that Vicente is a defender who can play for any team in the world and that he is also a gentleman and a great professional. In 1963, the president of Peñarola, Washington Cataldi, began negotiations to bring Lecar to Uruguay. The leaders of Barcelona demanded $50,000, two Peñarol players and a friendly match in Guayaquil in addition to all the coffers for the bullfighters. There, the passage of a player who was destined to shine all over the world was thwarted. By then, his fans had given him an original nickname that would last his entire life: Minister of Defense.

In 1964, the Uruguayan José María Chema Rodríguez became the technical director of the Canaries. The club has just signed Miguel Cortijo Bustamante, who appeared at Patria in 1958 as a left-handed striker. He then switched to left midfielder and ended up as a striker. With Rodríguez, Barcelona began to line up Quijano, Lecar, Reeves Patterson and Macías, but on October 11, 1964, with Chemo as godfather, against North America, they assembled a defense for the first time that the press christened for eternal memories as La Cortina de Hierro: Quijano, Lecaro, Macías as the fourth back and Bustamante. With them, Ecuador was on the verge of qualifying for the 1966 World Cup in England, and the opportunity was missed due to the perverse refereeing of the Brazilian Eunapio Queiroz.

As I write this column with a spirit full of pain, the coffin carrying Vicente Lecar on his last journey is about to depart. In this sad hour, I want to recall the many afternoons spent in the Barcelona Shipyard with dear friends, the stars of an incomparable era for the dignity they showed defending the beloved shirt: Vicente Lecaro, Luciano Macías, Ruperto Reeves Patterson, Fausto Montalván, Simón Cañarte and Juan Benitez. Everyone has already gone to their eternal home.

So many discoveries, so many anecdotes, so many experiences on the fields and locker rooms, so many stories worth a book. Vicente, a dear friend for so many days, always simple in his size, always said: “In my time we all loved the shirt and gave our lives for it. We carried a glorious heritage on our shoulders, a team that was a national idol and had unparalleled, unconditional fans. I think that’s the problem: the current players don’t know anything about that, about what it means to love the jersey”.

That’s why we will always miss you, dear Viche, as I always called you. In 2005, millions of bullfighting followers gave their verdict in an EL UNIVERSO poll: you were chosen as Barcelona’s most valued player in the club’s 80 years of existence.

Mauro Velásquez Villacís, the most authoritative national football journalist, said of Vas: “The best central defender that Ecuadorian football has given. He walked his class across America showing off his confident, athletic and elegant moves. He took the ball well treated from his own area, dominating the game by lifting thanks to his great coordination of timing and distance to jump at the right moment and his privileged physique.”

For me, no argument can serve to convince me that there is someone equal or better in his place. He was the greatest of them all and in the glow of memory, with the glow of nostalgia, I see him coming out with the ball that he dominates, full of lordship, delivering it with such class that even the seams of the ball were visible.

With the sensitive death of the minister, the Iron Curtain is already a celestial legend. The last survivor is gone. Alfonso King Quijano, Vicente Lecaro, Luciano Pollo Macías and Miguel Cortijo Bustamante. We will always remember them. (OR)