The unlikely hero

This week our Princess also went to the stadium. She does not understand a lot about football (she does not know from which country Ferencváros is – apparently a decisive criterion) but she does not want to miss out on the last exploits of a certain unlikely hero.

He defended three penalties, lives in Montijo (according to magazines of the field, it seems he has a house near his parents and his brother) and appears to be a normal person. This time it was with gloves, but it does not matter. He dedicated the victory to God (He is grateful, of course). He also dedicated it to his wife and family. He is the most unlikely of the heroes. Or perhaps not. His voice does not project leadership but the hero transcends himself (a word that has been used a lot lately) in the football squad. He has not the luxurious life of “pop-soccer players”. He is not handsome or elegant, or particularly charismatic. He was not interested in the money-obsessed “metro-sexuality” of some of his work colleagues.
At Sporting, fortunately, he does not seem to be a great goalkeeper. The seasons are mediocre and the publicity he does is to a chicken factory. But he is our unlikely hero. A Portuguese man who made a few million people happy. Possibly the successor of Eusébio in history. A hero of a generation.

On the last weekend we all wanted to hug Ricardo. We do not care about the new Minister of Foreign Affairs and the replacement in the Defence portfolio; about the conflicts in Timor and the shrew tension between Ramos Horta and Xanana, between Fretilin and Australia; about the Israelite offensive in Gaza; the violence in Sadr City and the beginning of the Finnish presidency of the European Union (EU). We do not want to know about the rise in oil and transports prices, the increase in interest taxes and the debt of the Portuguese or the multiple standstills of the EU. Why would we care.

“Labreca” (let me call you that), next time, you are going to save 4.

[1] This article is written in Manchester where I came to one day after the game against England. Imagine what it would be arriving here after an English victory… Nevertheless, because I write it before the semi-final, I want to make it clear that if Ricardo “screws it up” in that game, all praises are to be taken back.