🇬🇮 Gibraltar to the World Cup, chapter 9.
nutmeg fc #62.
Previously on Gibraltar to the World Cup.
Miguel is an Argentinean who, in search of a new impossible dream, decides to become a supporter of the humble Gibraltar national team that aims to qualify for its first World Cup. When he saw that the results were not going well, he decided to start pushing from outside and, taking advantage of the fact that the first goal in the history of Boca Jrs was scored by a Gibraltarian, he called on the Xeneizes fans to join the cause. Only three did.
All it takes.
Four people, says Miguel, is all it takes to change the world. It has been seen time and time again throughout history. Four were the Musketeers alongside young D'Artagnan and more than once they saved the French crown's fortunes. Four were the Beatles and from a marginal English town they changed the history of music forever. Four were the members of the A-Team and they could solve your problems when no one else could (and when you could find them).
The problem, I thought, was not so much the number as the quality. And the three people who showed up were not exactly the best available.
First there was Rosa, a tarot reader by trade. She was a long time Boca fan, although she admitted that she was more of a romantic than a ‘bostera’. In other words, she was more a fan of Román Riquelme than of the Blue and Gold club. Her greatest professional success was to have guessed the lottery number once, although she had not played. Nor had anyone else she knew. That didn't stop her from carrying with her everywhere she went a printout of her tweet with the winning number and another of the news of the prize. The other things she always carried in her bag were: a stamp of Gauchito Gil, a Pepsi label from 2011 when Riquelme starred in ‘ The Happy Promo’ and a pair of pliers because ‘her toenails grew too fast’.
Next to her sat Enrique, or Quique, who, in his own words, did a bit of everything. This man, bearded and half-bald despite being in his late twenties, claimed to be a sick Boca fan from cradle to coffin. When Miguel asked him what his favourite song was, he replied that it was probably Bohemian Rhapsody or El Bombón Asesino. When my friend clarified that he meant which football chant he liked, Quique took a long sip of his coffee and didn't speak again for twelve hours.
Finally, there was Atilio, a retired taxi driver. More honest than the previous ones, he admitted that he had stopped following Boca when Maradona retired on 25 October 1997. In fact, he stopped being a Boca fan at half-time of that superclásico, when Maradona was replaced by Riquelme and, although the match ended 2-1 in Boca's favour, for him it ended 0-1, which was the score when Diego left. From then on he did not watch another match of his beloved club until 2019. Boca was always suffering, he explained to Miguel, and I didn't feel identified with that successful team, with beautiful and happy players. After the historic Libertadores final they lost to River in Madrid, Atilio felt that Boca had become Boca again.
Everyone had a reason to be there. Atilio believed that this was a team without any hope or capacity for illusion, like the Boca of his whole life. Rosa said she dreamed it. And Quique wanted to be near Rosa when she got the lottery numbers right again. With Miguel there were four of them. And four can change the world and make the impossible come true.