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| Shussbar |
 Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:10 pm |
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Link : http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/16/nyregion/16soccer.html?oref=login&th
Don t know if it will work, since you need to register ( free) to receive the
NYT online. so here is the text without the picture:
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October 16, 2004
In Queens Park, Graying Ghosts of Soccer's Past
By COREY KILGANNON
After a nail-biting playoff win over a tough Colombian team, Romerito, the
legendary Paraguayan midfielder, hugged his teammates, stripped off his sweaty
jersey and trotted jubilantly off the soccer field, victorious once again.
Romerito, whose real name is Julio César Romero and who, with the New York
Cosmos in 1983, was the North American Soccer League's leading scorer and most
valuable player, flashed his familiar celebratory grin at his teammate, Roberto
Cabañas, the great striker from Paraguay who also played for the Cosmos. Both
players starred on Paraguay's World Cup team in 1986 in Mexico.
"It's just like the old days," Romerito said after the game.
Romerito, 44, and Mr. Cabañas, 43, are teammates again, now on Sol de América,
a team stocked mostly with former pro and national team players who have
immigrated from Paraguay. The men, slightly grayer and paunchier than they were
in their playing prime in the 1980's, plopped down after last weekend's game on
a long bench in a dusky, trash-littered section of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
in Queens.
Instead of thousands of screaming fans, there were a few wives and countrymen.
Instead of autographs, interviews and splashy celebrations, there were dollar
cups of coffee from a shrunken old woman pushing a large thermos on a shopping
cart. Instead of bright stadium lights on the men changing into their street
clothes, there was only the evening sky blushing behind the park's Unisphere
globe, bathing these players in violet twilight.
They call this over-40 soccer league of Central and South American players the
Golden Age League. It has several teams made up of players who mostly live in
New York City. Now that the league is in its playoffs, many former soccer stars
who are legends in their countries and among soccer fans come out of the
woodwork to play. Romerito, who lives mostly in Paraguay, spends October here,
staying with friends in Astoria, Queens. Mr. Cabañas, who lives in White Plains
and is busy raising a family and running a soccer school, takes more evenings
off than he can really afford, for Sol de América.
Both Mr. Cabañas and Romerito are retired and have lost a step or two in the
open field, but their legs are still taut and their skills remain sharp. Though
slightly past their prime, the men are hardly weekend warriors. The play is
rugged. There are daring diving headers and savage sliding tackles. Passes are
crisp, and the men execute plays with the strategic cunning of a chess
grandmaster.
The games are held in the park on an unassuming patch of artificial turf near
the 1964 World's Fair fountains extending from the Unisphere. A handful of fans
stand along sidelines on patchy grass along with a Mister Softee truck and
empanada stand.
With Mr. Cabañas on the front line was Pedro Garay, the great wing man who was
captain of the Sporting Cristal team in Peru. Midfielders with Romerito
included Francisco Jimenez, who played on Paraguay's national team, and Pedro
López, 47, whose 15-year professional career took him to teams in Ecuador,
Bolivia and Colombia, and some semi-pro ball in New Jersey. They deftly worked
the ball to one another, often yelling at each other in Guaraní, the indigenous
language of Paraguay that remains an official language there.
Miguel González, a Paraguayan immigrant who plays for Sol de América, stood
watching in street clothes and shook his head in disbelief.
"I grew up like everyone in my country, watching these guys playing on
television as national heroes," he said. "It's exciting but it's strange. You
have some of the best soccer players in history playing in this park, and no
one knows it."
At one point, Romerito faked a defender and threaded a pass to a teammate.
"Ay, Romerito," cried another Sol de América player on the sidelines, Duilio
Alvarenga, 42. "It's like watching them on television again."
Sol de América won 1-0, thanks to Mr. López, who with five minutes left to play
drilled home a shot from the top of the penalty box.
After a 15-year pro career, Mr. López now lives in Queens and works
construction, as do many of his teammates. Many of the former pros in the
league, considered soccer royalty at home, wind up in financial trouble and get
lured to New York by fellow countrymen offering plane fare, an apartment and a
job, all in return for a sampling of their soccer skills on the weekend. They
can be seen showing up for games in work clothes and trading their construction
boots for fine leather soccer shoes.
Colo Colo, a team of mostly Chilean immigrants and named after a popular pro
team in Chile, has its share of World Cup players and professionals.
"We got people who played for their national teams, and they still touch the
ball like they were young," said Carlos Mery, who sponsors, runs and plays for
the team. "Their mind is still strong and they play till their legs give out."
Mr. Mery, a Chilean immigrant who owns a Brooklyn company that installs
roll-down storefront gates, says the thrill of fielding an impressive team is
worth paying the league fees and investing in recruiting former stars.
"When I need a player, and my friends in Paraguay find the right guy, I send
him an airplane ticket," he said. "When he gets here, I offer him a job and get
him started in an apartment. If they like it they stay. Sometimes they come
over and play and work just for the summer and go back."
"Many of these players invest wrong, make bad decisions," he said after a
recent game, as the team sat on the sidelines and passed out bottles of Corona
beer.
He called over his midfielder, Sergio Días, 42, who was having a post-game
cigarette. Mr. Días said he retired two years ago after 20 years playing pro
soccer in Chile and Mexico but had saved very little money.
"It's a sad story," Mr. Mery said. "He was a star in his country, but he can
make more now working for me."
Mr. Cabañas said that even after his distinguished 21-year professional playing
career, he is not set for life.
"I can't retire," he said. "American athletes make a lot of money, but soccer
players have to keep working."
"I have played with Pelé and Maradona," Mr. Cabañas said. "I scored 380 goals
in my career, but when someone recognizes me playing in the park and thanks me
for what I've done for soccer, it's as thrilling as playing in Giants Stadium
in front of 75,000 fans."
Romerito said he enjoys playing for the camaraderie, but also for the intense
competition. "We play for fun, but don't mistake," he said. "Nobody wants to
lose in this league."
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| Victoria Barrett |
| Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2004 8:08 pm |
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On 17 Oct 2004 03:59:40 GMT, cryspat99@aol.comnospam (Shussbar) wrote:
<snip>
Quote: "I have played with Pelé and Maradona," Mr. Cabañas said. "I scored 380 goals
in my career, but when someone recognizes me playing in the park and thanks me
for what I've done for soccer, it's as thrilling as playing in Giants Stadium
in front of 75,000 fans." <snip
What a wonderful piece of reportage from the non-soccer loving NYT
yet. Thanks Shuss!
P.S.: I still haven't sent you that button, Shuss, please forgive me.
I will though.  |
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