The Latin-American dream

Jesús Castañón Rodríguez

The 31st of May a new edition of the final phase based on the Football World Cup starts, the paradise of the gambetas (dribbles), the chanfle shots at the goal (with effect), the bicicletas (Brazilian move which lies in kicking the ball forward and moving the feet very close to the ball and with acceleration), the zamoranas (Ricardo Zamora's clearance which lies in clearing the ball with the elbow), the colas de vaca (forward's action to attack, who with the ball under control, stops halfway and changes the direction to displace the back) , the jopeadas (hats), the taquitos (spurs) and the moñas (short dribbles).

A social phenomenon in the Latin-American Community of Nations, which is capable of attracting the kings and presidents' attention in harmony with their people, calling truces between guerrilla bands and armies, emptying out streets, generating fields based on hope, making the Nobel prize and the fan participate in order to expand the language with new expressions….

A dream where the Latin-American Community of Nations has welcomed seven editions, has won eight titles and has participated with sixteen selection teams: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal and Uruguay.

The cannon shot at the ball

All these aspects were possible thanks to the Latin-American dream which was born in 1904. In this year the FIFA was established and six countries, Spain included, planned to create a world championship.

However, people had to wait more than twenty years until it could adopt a new impulse and the attempts where Argentina and Spain participated, in 1906 and 1914, were done extremely well in order to become a feasible event.

The definitive shot which drove the ball happened in 1925 in Geneva. And thus, between the FIFA President, Jules Rimet, and the ambassador of Uruguay in Brussels, Enrique Bueno, kicked this ball heavily, the ball which started the World Cup.

After both leaders remembered the final of the Summer Olympic Games in 1924, Uruguay held a share in organizing the first edition so that it could coincide with the centenary of its foundation as country.

Starting on that point, in Zurich, a document of seven points was elaborated the 28th of September, 1928. It was discussed in Barcelona in the FIFA Congress in 1929, coinciding with the ceremonies of the International Exposition. As a result of those discussions, the 18th of May, 1929 the document of the foundation of the World Cup was drawn up and signed in the Saló de Cent of the City Hall, under the King Alfonso XIII's presidency.

Although Argentina, Spain, Holland Hungary, Italy, Sweden and Uruguay aspired to organize the first edition, the Uruguayan proposal did well thanks to the renunciation of the Football Association of Argentina and of the Spanish Association of Football in favor of the team wearing the sky-blue shirt who was the Olympic champion in 1929 and 1928.

The game of the grandstand

Since the 13th of July, 1930, this abundance of talent in the feet has made footballers balance their bodies and the spectators' pupils could light up in the grandstand, made the feelings speak loudly and moved their fantasy shoes.

And thus, they left voices which had to do with the rules -tarjeta amarilla (yellow card) and tarjeta roja (red card)-; with individual moves -paradinha (to bowl penalties stopping halfway before kicking the ball, in this way, the goalkeeper won't be balanced), rabona (move based on centering the ball kicking it, crossing the foot behind the support-leg) , cuauhteminha (a kind of dribble based on holding back the ball with the feet and jumping so that the ball can come out by the side of the opponent this footballer has to dribble)-, with the footballer's doubt before starting the matches -miedo escénico (the footballer's fear based on going in the pitch due to the doubt of the result of his possible performance)-, with styles of offensive and defensive game -samba (the journalistic designation of the style of Brazilian game based on the technical control, the offensive influence and the absence of speed), definir (to score), pequeña sociedad (two or three footballers who carry out moves with mutual understanding and accuracy), zonas de definición (part of the division into three-quarters which is applied to moves based on attacking), de distracción (part of the division of the field into three-quarters which is applied to moves based on defending) and de gestación (part of the division into three-quarters which is applied to the transition from the offensive and defensive moves)-; with the necessity of good results -urgencia histórica (the necessity of a club to win titles due to its outstanding curriculum)- and with ways of liveliness in a jolly and unanimous tone -lluvia de papel (to throw little pieces of paper to the air to create liveliness in the grandstand) and ola (way of liveliness of the crowd which lies in standing up gradually in the opposite direction to the hands of the clock )-.

It created a journalese which fixed, in the collective memory, the deeply moved song of the goals scored by Iriarte and Emilio Elena in 1930, by Zarra and Matías Prats in 1950 or by Maradona and Víctor Hugo Morales in 1986. It generated an emotion without dramatic aspects in Uruguay to go on the ball and anticipate the goals before the multitude shouted them; it illuminated a carnival planet in Brazil to create dreams; and combined emphasis and synthesis in Argentina to express the passion which goes beyond.

It hatched a modern literature based on fiction in the papers, it has generated articles of Nobel prizes like Camilo José Cela and Gabriel García Márquez, it has transformed authors like Miguel Delibes or Mario Vargas Llosa into writers of current papers and has given rise to literary creation, starting from the Uruguayan poet José María Delgado in "La hazaña", in 1930.

A real game of fantasy with language, from the technical aspects to the complete creation which has led numerous members of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language and of the Spanish Academy to put the shirt on to run on the other side of the touch line and to give the dribbles, trips or kicks a direction to the criteria of linguistic correction.

The beat of the emotions

But the great difference of the Latin-American football is the experience on the part of its fans or supporters. The World Cup is transformed into a celebration of words which goes for a walk along the streets and avenues to the sound of the beat of the passionate hearts.

The film-makers Antonio Skármeta or José Luis Garci shoot football voice-overs or commentaries. The pictorial humorists Caloi, Fontanarrosa, Mingote, Mordillo or Quino draw smiles. The footballer and also violinist of tangos Mumo Orsi dances with the words, the world champions Pelé with Elis and Maradona with Pimpinela, the Puerto Rican Ricky Martin…

Time of game

Thanks to the vision of game of those Argentinian, Spanish and Uruguayan at the beginning of the 20th century, the next month eight countries of the Latin-American Community of Nations are transformed into collective characters in search of an author.

It's time of original fantasy and talent to transform the Latin-American dream into reality, to become truth. Time to be rediscovered with eagerness. Time for the happiness of the game. Time for the social celebration.

Traducción: María Elena Martín Pérez

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