“Player who threw the rest where he had to start, with ball or without ball terror of the penalty area“, sings Jaime Roosone of the most renowned musicians in Uruguay, in his murga ‘To Pepe Sasia’, dedicated to a Uruguayan football legend. TO a striker whose grandson dreams of emulating. Is about Leandro Cabrera, who after a few convulsive weeks is reunited these days with happiness. the of his almost cathartic goal against Getafe –his former team– and Quique Sánchez Flores –the coach who made him debut in the First Division–, and that of his appearance in the pre-list of the celestial for the World Cup qualification.
“Era a call that I did not expect but that I had always had the illusion of getting“, admits Cabrera, about its previous and first call, last January, no matter how much it did not debut. And he adds, in statements to ‘I am Sport Solutions’: “It fills me with pride to be able to wear the shirt that my grandfather defended so successfully“. So much was that success, that it debuted no less than in Maracana, in 1956, that it was proclaimed South American Tournament Champion –the current Copa América– in 1959 and that played two World Cupsin 1962 and 1966, in which he retired from the national team after playing against Mexico.
Champion of the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental –this last one, with three of his goals– in the attack of Penarolin 1961, to José Sasía, or ‘el Pepe’, as they called him, anecdotes of that unrepeatable canchero football are attributed to him. Like when in the next Libertadores, the one in 1962, he threw dirt in the eyes of Gilmar, the famous goalkeeper of Pelé’s Santos, to blind him and then score a goal. Or like when in a match against Olimpia in Asunción, Paraguay, picked up one of the oranges thrown by hostile fans, ate it and returned the peels to the stands.
Although Cabrera’s memories with his grandfather are vague, well He passed away when ‘Lele’ was only five years old, know in detail his genius. And he will try to honor him if Diego Alonso gives him the alternative in the commitments against Peru (March 24) and Chile (29) access to the World Cup. It will count again, if it accesses the final call, with fierce competition –Diego Godín, José María Giménez, Ronald Araújo, Martín Cáceres and Sebastián Coates–, but his omnipresence in LaLiga, where he is the second outfield player with the most minutes, it may help you. To debut in the name of ‘Pepe’.