Soccer in Guayaquil, with a funereal look

I will be opposed by ‘wise’ tacticians who navigate microphones and screens like vultures with good taste and aesthetics. “Nothing like today’s football – they say every day – if he never ran so much; this is checked by electronic meters that are placed as supports to measure whether the player gave himself whole or in pieces”. And what do I care how much he ran if today the ‘tactical tribe’ ignores how and why he ran!

Iron curtain, heavenly memory

He may have driven 30 kilometers, but for nothing if he had the ball 100 times on the field and delivered poorly 99 times, if he was never helped by a teammate, if he did not show up to relieve the rival bullying. But that — running and running — is what the misty-eyed “gotta win no matter what” supporters are looking at today, even if that means muddying the football with tricks, interference, kicking, faking injuries, wasting time and, if the hand is good, fixing result (in 2020, there were two teams who in a crucial match decided not to attack each other because the score 0-0 suited their classification. So they damaged the third party).

They had a cannon on the left booty!

On August 28, Mario Canessa published an alarming editorial about what was going on at relegation-threatened Emelec and called on its directors to do an examination of conscience to identify mistakes for change. Barcelona can be said to be doing well: they are fourth, barely won one game and drew three, scored three goals and scored two against them. Guayaquil City, a team without tradition, is doing what it can with a team without numbers and is far from aiming for star positions.

An old photo to dispel the fog

The problem with Astiller teams is the mediocrity of their squads, full of players who in other times would play in rookie leagues. It’s not an exaggeration. There was a time when stars from the first league of Uruguay, Argentina or Brazil came to Barcelona and Emelec. They will describe me as nostalgic again, as if it were an insult. Nostalgia is a spiritual feeling that occurs when we remember happy moments in our lives, especially those associated with our childhood. That’s what it’s called in psychology primary socialization processwhich makes childhood feelings unforgettable.

The great Valencian blew out 95 candles

It is not a sin to mention that in the era of the old Capwell or Modelo stadium, we watched great players of universal football fame, such as Alfredo Di Stéfano, Adolfo Pedernera, Zizinho, Julinho, Garrincha, Ferenc Puskas, Eusebio, Lev Yashin, Paco Gento, Ladislao Kubala, Rivelino and Pelé, names that come when I squeeze my memory and have to choose from more than a hundred.

Frantz Reichel and his role in the sports history of Ecuador

Tiriza, Helinho, Helio Cruz, Nivaldo, who played in first-class teams in Brazil, arrived in Barcelona in the sixties of the last century. Emelec signed Eustaquio Clara, pre-selected from Uruguay for the 1962 World Cup; Henry Magri, former River Plate midfielder; Lucio Calonga, title in Huracán de Buenos Aires; Ramón Maggereger, World Cup player with Paraguay in 1958, and could go on to do more. It was an unforgettable era of the Five Wise Men and the Iron Curtain. the one of Marquis Paternoster and Master Gradym. Everest hired Moacyr Pinto in 1964, world champion with Brazil in 1958, idol of Flamengo and steps through River Plate and Peñarol. Today, clay is glorified and molded to become the idol of an unknown player in Argentina.

Not to mention the 70s, when Barcelona won their double championship with Luis Alayón, Jorge Phoyú, Édison Saldivia, Gerson, Nelsinho, Pepe Paes, Pedro Álvarez, Parakeet León, Jorge Bolaños, Alberto Spencer, Vicente Lecaro, Luciano Macías, Walter Cárdenas, Miguel Coronel, Wacho Muñoz, Juan Madruñero, Alfonso Quijano and priest Juan Manuel Basurko. portable market, a very serious portal, values ​​this team at more than 15 million dollars. What would this constellation cost today! (As of 2023, that 1970 amount is $118,492,243).

Emelec was not far behind. He had in his ranks Ramón Souza Duarte, José María Píriz, José Romanelli, the Chilean Rubén Marcos, Alberto Cabaleiro, Ángel Liciardi, Héctor Gauna, Jaime Delgado Mena, Carlos Maridueña, Félix Lasso, Roger Cajas, Jesús Ortiz, Gonzalo Castañeda, among others . It would be endless to collect names that are in the history of football luxury, ardor and passion: José Omar Pepona Reinaldi, who arrived from River Plate in 1976; He returned to his country to shine in Talleres and was part of the Argentine team to which César Luis Menotti invited him in 1979.

Víctor Ephanor, a true star born in Botafogo, moves to Flamengo and plays in the junior team of Colombia, with which he was the first scorer of the championship of that country in 1974, and the second scorer in 1975. He came to Barcelona in 1977 to become a double champion in 1980 and 1981; Severino Vasconcelos, Palmeiras and Inter de Porto Alegre player, who joined Colo Colo in 1979; Toninho Vieira, an outstanding midfielder who came from Santos in Brazil to play five seasons and win two championships.

Carlos Miori, left winger, champion and top scorer in 1979, left 73 goals in opposition nets with Emelec; Rubén Beninca, signed by Emelec in 1988, from Nacional de Uruguay, and author of ‘Monumentalazo’, which is electric pride; Mario Saralegui, signed in 1990, was American and World Champion with Peñarol and Rivera; former Argentine national team player Rubén Insúa, boss of Ricardo Bochini’s Independiente de Avellaneda when the latter brought him to Barcelona in 1991.

Marcelo Trobbiani, world champion in 1986 with Argentina, grew up in Boca, passing through the Spanish Elche and Zaragoza, Estudiantes de La Plata, Milionero and our Barcelona, ​​where he came in 1989 and took over the position of a creative midfielder and led him to the final of the Copa Libertadores 1990, manipulated in favor of Olympia with the authorship of the Argentine judge Juan Carlos Loustau.

I have thrown out a handful of names that come to mind to prove that what we are seeing in the Liga Pro tournament today is poor, beggarly, poor football. There are no figures. Emelec and Barcelona are caricatures of teams compared to other times. Recently, Emelec was the owner of the podium: champion in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017; runner-up in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2018 and 2021. Nine times on the podium in ten years.

Barcelona had less shine, but were champions in 2012, 2016 and 2020 and runners-up in 2014 and 2022. They were in the wrong hands that favored business, extravagance and dedication to politics. That’s what the audit published by EL UNIVERSO says, and which has caused astonishment, indignation and impunity to this day.

The once victorious soccer team from Guayaquil is mortally wounded. Sad matches can be seen in stadiums. It is what it is, it is football that is trained, the one that tactical modernity bequeathed to us. From radio booths and television screens, they will continue to ask us to bury our memories and accept that what was before was no longer valid. That what we see today is good. I will still refuse to accept that, even though I know there are people who don’t care about football but money and that you can win with it, good or bad, without ever ending up in jail. (OR)