2024-09-16 12:46:58
The last image is consecratory: Angel Di Maria, two-time champion of Americalifts the trophy, enters the hall of historical figures of the Argentine National Team and says goodbye through the grand door. His name no longer causes annoyance in the press and is synonymous with success, resilience, struggle and perseverance. The detractors are behind usthe bad times, their personal disputes when things did not work out and The neighborhood kid who pursued his dreams prevailed. A life like a movie.
This brief introductory note is what is most extensively explained in the series that has just been released on Netflix -Romper la pared- about the player from Rosario. There are three chapters (“26 pelotas”, “Nadie es profeta en su tierra”, “Del cobre al oro”), which tell the long career that Di María had to go through to become world champion and it is clear that One of the fundamental pillars that kept him from giving up was his focus on his family..
“He would never have gotten to where he is without that foundation. If his parents had let him down when he was little, he would not have gotten to where he is. The important thing is what happened at home first,” explains Jorgelina Cardoso, Di María’s wife. for more than 12 years, and an essential figure in the footballer’s life, in the most difficult moments, when everything seemed to fall apart and the achievements with the Albiceleste were moving away from his possibilities.
“Fideo”, as the series emphasizes, overcame criticism from a sector of the press that emphatically asked that he not be called up to the National Team again after the setbacks he had in the two Copa América finals in 2015 and 2016 (both lost to Chile), and before that injury that kept him out of the 2014 World Cup final, in which he also received a letter from Real Madrid asking him not to play that match because he was not in a condition to do so. Carlo Ancelotti, the Merengue coach at the time, when asked about that episode, said he did not remember it.
Those events put the player who emerged from Rosario Central in check and part of the press was accurate with the diagnosis: Di Maria’s time with the national team was over. Faced with this, what came was persistence and training to strengthen himself psychologically. The player had to wait until 2021 to begin to silence the critics. His performance in the Copa América that year, the confidence of Lionel Scaloni and the goal he scored against Brazil in the final, to break a streak of 28 years without titles, were his resurgence. From then on, As Rodrigo De Paul jokes, what came is “the big nose that scores goals in all the finals.”
From expressions like “bloodless”, “disaster” and other sentences, came the transformation. The goal against Brazil in 2021 was the key to opening the doors to success. From then on, the Finalissima 2022 followed at Wembley against Italy. It was a 3-0 victory and Di María scored a goal. And that same year, the greatest achievement in Qatar, where the team led by Scaloni played an anthology final. against France and Fideo’s performance was one of the best of his careerwhere he stood out for his balance and the quality of his assists. Argentina is world champion after 36 years.
“He fought against this system of falsehood, of unnecessary criticism, and showed that it is always possible. In life, it is always possible,” says Cristian “Kily” González, about the end of the last chapter.
That restless kid who was taken to play football at the humble Torito de Rosario to release energy, ended up in the best clubs in Europe (Benfica, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus) and became the third player to have played the most games for the national team, the second highest assister and seventh all-time scorer for the Albiceleste, the second Argentine player with the most titles and in the top 10 of the most successful players of all time. With his clubs, he won 19 competitions with PSG, 6 with Madrid and 4 with Benfica. He was the 2014 Champions League winner and the highest assister in the history of the cup.
“Everything that was said, everything that was talked about, we left behind. He raised three glasses,” says Diana Hernandez, Di Maria’s mother.while making the number three with his fingers and smiling. “It is an example that you have to be encouraged, that life belongs to those who are encouraged,” he says. Pablo Aimar, who shows the tattoo on one of his arms, which says “1 to 0. Di María”something that was born the night before the 2021 Copa América final, where his son Agustín writes him a message and only tells him that. “Life, the world, belongs to those who dare. It can go wrong, but what if it goes well? It can also go well,” concludes the Río Cuarto coach.