Family members, former players, friends from the football environment and the Bolivian population said goodbye to the Spanish coach this Sunday Xabier Azkargortawho took the Green to the 1994 World Cup. His mortal remains were deposited in a cemetery in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, where he asked to rest.
Dozens of people accompanied Azkargorta’s wife, Aracelyand his children who arrived from Barcelona, Mikel and Alejandra, in the celebration of a body mass present.
Image of Xabier Azkargorta’s coffin
Then the former footballers of the 1994 World Cup team Marco Antonio Etcheverry, Milton Melgar, Marco Sandy, Juan Manuel Peña and William Ramallo They carried the coffin to the street. Some with tears said goodbye to Azkargorta: “Goodbye, Bigotón.”
A local music band was waiting outside and said goodbye with the cueca. “Long live my country Bolivia”a song that Bolivians sang when they qualified for the World Cup in the United States, 32 years ago, and every time La Verde adds a victory.
The testimony of their children who arrived from Barcelona
“My father is very loved in Bolivia, he loved this land since he came and we from Spain always feel Bolivia’s love for my father, we are very happy and grateful to the entire country,” Azkargorta’s son, Mikel, told local media.
The day before, his daughter Alejandra recalled that together with her brother they accompanied their father and La Verde in some matches of the 1993 qualifying rounds and always bet on Bolivia.
Xabier’s wife, very affected but grateful
Azkargorta’s wife, visibly affected, said it was a week “very hard” for her family and thanked everyone for loving her husband.
“Thank you for being here, for the effort you make, we have been sleepless for weeks, everything was done that was within the reach of the doctors, I am very grateful,” said Aracely from Azkargorta.
“My second father”
Marco Antonio Etcheverry, one of the great players who formed Azkargorta, was at the funeral of whoever was calling since Friday “his second father.”
“The teacher will be eternal, he came here to leave his wisdom and stayed with us, an incredible gesture,” He expressed this Sunday after the funeral.
Azkargorta, the technical director of the historic Bolivian soccer team that reached the 1994 World Cup, He died on Friday at the age of 72 in Santa Cruz, product of a heart condition that he had suffered for a long time. He was born in Azpeitia (Guipúzcoa) on September 26, 1953.
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The president of Bolivia, Rodrigo Paz Pereira, He said goodbye to the Spanish coach, to whom he said “who was a great Bolivian” and? “he gave everything for his country”, He also asked him to protect the Bolivian soccer team and the country.
Other government authorities, former players and friends painfully said goodbye to Azkargorta, the Spaniard who stayed to live in Bolivia and asked that when he died his remains rest in Santa Cruz.
