Manolo Escobar and Raphael thundered through the Al Khalifa stadium speakers, but it was neither a “great night” nor was Spain “the best”
It sounded strange listening to Manolo Escobar at the Al Khalifa stadium in Doha, as if we had gone through a wormhole here too and we were in Benidorm in the 1970s. Someone from the organization must have the record or maybe it was one of those cassettes that They were sold at gas stations and at those where Concha Velasco also appeared, or who knows by what strange paths these things happen, but this Thursday, at twenty to ten at night, Qatari time, the loudspeakers of this ultra-modern field, whose arches resemble the rails of a roller coaster, they cast one of Manolo Escobar. Until then everything had been reggaeton and that if Titi had many girlfriends and Quevedo’s stay, but twenty minutes after the start of the game, when the Spanish team finished warming up and went to the changing rooms, things got serious and Manolo sounded Escobar: «Life has a different taste / And Spain is the best». Then, to top it off, when Morata scored the goal, they put Raphael’s great night on full blast.
These little songs sound familiar to Busquets, but you can imagine Pedri, Gavi, Balde and Nico, who barely finished high school, looking at the record player with the anesthesia with which adolescents listen to their parents talk about music. These kids don’t even know who Manolo Escobar is, but they’re unashamed and at the most serious moment of their lives, when they’re told they’re going to make headlines with Spain, instead of sinking into their minds and acting spectacularly. frowning, they smile mischievously and wink during the national anthem, as Williams did, which was a way of telling the world that it was just as good for him to play a match on this amazing stage as it was to score a goal to do with his colleagues in the schoolyard .
But of course it didn’t matter. In the second half it became clear that this was not going to be a game to walk around relaxed, but to grit your teeth and not be fooled by Japan, who are a very treacherous team and a center forward with shaved hair who could win the title. doing extra salary in Tarantino movies. Gavi’s smile had already completely disappeared when they switched him and Ansu, who went on the field in his place, looked at infinity with a gesture between decisive and fearful, as if to say “oh, mother, the one who is coming towards me” . Japan was stealing Spain’s car and the children, not knowing Manolo’s discography, looked at the ground in disbelief. Luis Enrique couldn’t believe it either, with the smile of the preliminaries finally turned into a rictus, and the wrinkles becoming more and more obvious, very deep, as if his face had been plowed. Pau Torres, who on good days looks like a central Botticelli painting, turned into a marble statue as the minutes passed, his sky-blue face increasingly inscrutable, almost lifeless. Dani Olmo, who had a good chance in the last few minutes, twisted his mouth and uttered an insult to the Qatari sky that looked more like a cry of desperation.
When the game ended and the Japanese players hurriedly came out to celebrate the victory and their qualification, the Spaniards, who advanced to the round of 16 on rebounds, gathered in midfield, grim, angry, decidedly sad. Many shook hands with their rivals as if they were dropping them when they should have looked at each other and bowed like the ancient kung fu masters. The Spaniards reluctantly entered the locker room, dragging their feet in humiliation.
Tonight Manolo Escobar finally played at Al Khalifa Stadium and for a moment it seemed as if we had passed through a wormhole and we saw 1970s Spain, that agonizing and hairy team that suffered terrifying defeats and never went beyond rooms. Perhaps the children have learned a useful lesson.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
