This Tuesday, July 21, Ubaldo Matildo Fillol He is turning 70 years old and is doing it in quarantine, a particular stage in which he took the opportunity to relive one of the most important feats in the history of Argentine football. It is that the Duck was one of the great figures of the first World Cup winner by the Argentina selection, in 1978, and in dialogue with Ol revealed a more than curious detail.
“This year was the first time I saw that complete World Cup”Fillol continued. Yes, 42 years after becoming world champion, El Pato, guardian of the Albiceleste goal, first saw that World Cup on television. It is that during June, the month in which several anniversaries related to the FIFA ecumenical tournament are celebrated, TV Pblica broadcasted the matches of Argentina in World Cups of ’78 and ’86.
And for Fillol, review that feat, “it was very emotional. It was always clear to me that it was glorious, but when I saw the way we played that final and how difficult everything was, I remembered that we were about to lose it with the shot on the post “, referring to the shot by Rob Rensenbrink that history could have changed.
“At the time that happened I had not felt anything because I was very focused and followed the ball,” says Pato on that play, but quickly clear that now “When I saw the repetition, what happened to everyone: I almost had a heart attack. And it made me think. Because when I played in Brazil, at Flamengo, I was able to understand what the Maracanazo meant to them. I saw how those players were treated, how they were humiliated, and how they lived and died after that lost final at home. The ball in the stick made me think: with the passion that soccer lives in our country, worse things would have happened to us. I don’t even want to imagine, but it would have been horrible. “
Finally, the former River goalkeeper told how he lived the moment when the referee pitched the end and decreed that Argentina was already world champion. “I fall to my knees, my right hand went to the left shoulder and my left hand to the right. And I look down and the image of Jesus Christ appeared to me. It was very strong. Unrepeatable. Heavenly. When I tell it, my skin bristles. “
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