At a quarter past seven in the afternoon in Montevideo the time for illusion ended. That explosion of hope that the fans of the National Uruguayan built for three weeks to fuel the return of Luis Suarez to the institution that saw him born footballing, had its epicenter last Sunday, when the gunman actually returned to Uruguay.
But the time of illusion expired exactly at the moment in which the Paraguayan referee Aquino started the quarterfinal match between Nacional and Goianiense of Brazil in the Gran Parque Central in Montevideo. Because then the time of the facts began. And realities are not always as wonderful as dreams.
Luis Suárez made his debut and played 23 minutes with the Uruguayan tricolor shirt. He entered 28 minutes into the second half, and additionally played another six minutes of stoppage time.
Central Park was a feverish cauldron, full, with more than 30,000 people who followed the game with one eye on the field and the other watching the substitutes warm up, waiting with expectation for the moment of the effective return of the scorer.
Suárez entered the field with his team already losing. Nacional was an accumulation of anxiety, repeated mistakes, had almost no accuracy, and to add insult to injury, in the first half it gave all possible facilities to Goianense in a ball that came in the center from the right, so that Luiz Fernando connected with a header accurately for 1-0. It was, ultimately, the end result.
Moment in which Luis Suárez enters the second half to debut
Suárez wanted to play his game, but he couldn’t. He is in excellent physical condition, but obviously he lacks continuity on the field. He had not played since May, and has not completed 90 minutes since February, when he visited the Camp Nou with Atlético de Madrid.
He had a free kick that he tried to crown in a goal kicking outside the barrier. But the ball was not for his favorite profile, and it bounced off a Brazilian man and ended up in a corner. He participated in the 89th minute of Nacional’s best team play, which ended with a shot by Juan Ignacio Ramirez that hit the post.
His presence seemed to lower Nacional’s level of anxiety, because his mere presence imposes. But it is clear that he must dose and that he lacks in football. Without goals or assists he closed his debut in Nacional.
Closed the time of illusion, now it is the facts and realities that will speak. On Friday, Nacional will play again, this time for the domestic tournament against Rentistas, and next Tuesday will be the rematch in Brazil against Goianiense for the Copa Sudamericana.
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