Havana Cuba. – I spent all morning looking for an old photo, a photo of my paternal grandfather, but I couldn’t find it. In that image that I looked for, and that I remember very well, my grandfather appears sitting on a grass, with his legs crossed, and between those crossed legs rests a soccer ball. I don’t know if that old photo was taken before or after a game, I don’t know which were the opposing teams, but I remember that image very well and I have no reference to it beyond itself.
I don’t remember if I ever asked my grandfather about the results of the match; I don’t know if he won or lost, nor do I have any information about the moment the image was taken. I don’t know if it was taken before the game or if someone pressed the shutter after it was over. I don’t know anything about that photo that I no longer have, but I admit that I would have liked very much for that image to accompany these lines, especially now, when the Soccer World Cup.
And all this nonsense has to do with a fixed idea that has been plaguing me for days. And it is that I cannot stop thinking about a certain belief, and for which I wonder if the Cuban power would not have liked to be the protagonist of a soccer world cup in her own backyard. “Cuba vs. Anyone”, but in the final, and in Cuba. That idea blinded me, it dazzled me. The Cuban power, Raúl, Díaz-Canel and the rest, in front of huge television screens watching the performance of the Cubans and their opponent, and the appetite makes me think of the United States as an opponent. What else?
And you, reader, can you imagine such a final in that World Cup? Can you imagine that square that Martí escorts full of giant screens and in which the performances of the Cuban team and the USA are made visible? Can you imagine that game in any of the great cities of the world, in one of those that have soccer as their great passion? Can you imagine Cubans with such extraordinary performances as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric or Neymar?
Can you imagine Díaz-Canel jumping with happiness after Periquito Pérez’s goal, the one that left the entire world speechless? Can you imagine Raúl and Esteban Lazo throwing their hats into the air? Can you imagine that dispute in Havana? Can you feel a country that is even capable of forgetting hunger for a while and thinking only of the ball and the happiness of Raúl and Miguel, even Fidel’s if he were there? It’s hard for me, but I try.
Perhaps the most precise confrontations between Cuba and the USA took place in a baseball stadium, but baseball does not have the universality of soccer. Baseball doesn’t have as many fans as soccer, and maybe not as much money as soccer either. Imagine a team in which players with the name of Fidel or Raúl abound in that Qatar today, and also imagine their wins, and the Cuban flags displayed in the stands, those that manage to outshine the American flag, even the entire team. northern country, and they, Raúl, Díaz-Canel and Lazo, jumping for joy.
Imagine a dispute, a political dispute, that gains strength on the soccer field, in the stands of that soccer field. Imagine a piece of money, imagine the faces of the owners of those pockets to which that money will enter. Imagine a huge and everlasting disagreement, a disagreement of unsuspected proportions, of as unexpected and possible proportions as those that were feared, experienced, during the Missile Crisisbut let us also imagine a stadium of “Homeland and Life” that overshadows the “Patria o Muerte”.
Also imagine the setback and failure of the national team against the USA. Imagine, imagine, in the manner of Lennon, that paradise that does not exist and imagine that you live in peace in the midst of communism and you will see how it fails… Imagine, imagine, that there are no countries, or soccer world cups… although that may be very boring, so better not imagine it…
Although yes, yes, imagine strongly, very strongly, that there are no Raúles or Fideles, but there are Joes, to put an end to the ferocious scab of communism, I meant to say with the dirt, with the poop. Imagine a country that is supposed to be victorious in everything, even if it is not victorious in anything… Imagine, imagine, and don’t say I’m a dreamer, imagine a World Cup final, and Cuba… Imagine even a World Cup in Havana and They will see that they get dizzy, that their imagination fades…
OPINION ARTICLE
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