In times when the soccer follow detained in several countries because of the COVID-19 the memories come out, like the one left by Sebastián 'el Loco' Abreu ten years ago in the South Africa World Cup in a penalty shootout. Your auction panenka changed the career and destiny of Celeste.
Although he did not lift the longed for trophy, that Uruguayan team was one of the protagonists. In a talk through Abreu's Instagram with the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF), the current player and coach of Boston River remembered the moments most important of his career.
“We reached the World Cup with trust but with uncertainty. We went the last to classify, we entered the back door, We had not generated a regularity since the game so we arrived with the first concern of competing, being at a football level, then watching, “recalled the one who jIt came with the number 13.
He remembered that with the results in the group stage saw they were fine. And in the following instances they had the advantage of measure up against rivals less important. “There was a very good energy because we realized that Uruguay was passing, winning, consolidating a form. It was not a goal on the hour and suffering. That was going generating illusions for people, family and us“, Held.
Despite the expectations that were advancing and the general joy, the striker and coach also emphasized the concentration that that group had with players of the stature of Diego Godín, Diego Forlán, Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani.
The quarterfinal match, that July 2or against Ghana it was emotional. Equality in the nineties minutes, extra time, an expulsion in the 120th minute of Suárez for hand-stopping the ball in his own area, and a penalty That crashed on the crossbar. All this weather, that seems like a movie script, it was ideal for Abreu understood that it was his time to shine and mark history in the penalty shootout with “the house specialty”.
“There was no doubt because there were endless facts in the previous days that were marking me that it was the moment that one had visualized. In the definition by penalties how the sequence is given so that I am the fifth because there are 3 wrong penalties -two from Ghana one from Uruguay- when everything happens That's what I said: ready, it's time. That's when I understood that chopping it was the right thing to do to score“he explained.
With that victory Abreu was in the history of the world and he himself stresses that Her live changed, Despite his long history, since each time a penalty kick is kicked in this way, he will be remembered and his goal will remain in each summary of outstanding plays in this competition.
In addition to that match, the striker also recalled the celebration of the Uruguayans when they returned to the country. Thousands of people in the Plaza Independencia singing, thanking and acknowledging the efforts of their footballers despite not having the champion medal hanging. La Celeste finished in fourth place. “I will never be able to live something like this again in that effusive, exciting way, transmitting sincere love, affection, sincerity, “he concluded.