There is a Cesar Luis Menotti phrase so good that it should be emblazoned on every dressing room around the world. “To be a footballer,” he said, “is to be a privileged interpreter of the dreams of many people.”
It is a vintage example of Menotti, an icon of Argentine and global football, who died on May 5 at the age of 85. The phrase is a lyrically constructed defence of the values that Menotti saw in the sport, and which he constantly saw as coming under attack from nefarious forces. The lanky coach (he was “” – the thin man) brooded on the essence of the game while he puffed away on yet another cigarette. “Our football,” he once wrote, “belongs to the working class, and possesses the amplitude, nobility and generosity to allow everyone to enjoy it as” (in Argentine Spanish “” is the pitch). But there is a key difference. The hero of the Cervantes novel was a ridiculous figure in the grip of a romantic delusion. Menotti, in contrast, was entirely grounded and capable of pragmatism. He did not only conquer his Dulcinea – he also took her home, in the form of the trophy for winning the1978 World Cup.
