2023-07-30 09:00:00
45 years have passed since the Argentine National Team embroidered the first star of the three that decorate its shield, and yet it seems that time has stopped in the figure of what for many is the best Argentine goalkeeper of all time.
The eighty-odd meter of Ubaldo Matildo Fillol does not go unnoticed, far from it. Not only because of his unalterable stamp, but above all, the recognition and gratitude for his contribution to national sporting glory stands out.
When leaving the airport, when entering the hotel, on the street, from the car, in the restaurant. The signature on the shirt, the photo, the selfie, the hand that waves from the window, the hurried chat where people show their reverence.
It is the figure of Fillol, who beyond the times, continues to arouse an admiration without an expiration date. And for everyone he is the Duck, always the Duck.
The great Argentine goalkeeper was the first guest of Vérticesthe cycle of talks organized by the Rio Negro Newspaper with sports personalities. The auditorium was filled with River fans of all ages, although the greatness of Pato with the National Team exceeds color preferences, so the feat of the ’78 World Cup was one of the high points of the interview.
“Many of the boys who now saw the National Team win its third star, They wonder who it was that got the first. The Qatar title reassessed the two previous conquests since there were several generations that had not been able to see Argentina champion,” says Pato, who following the talk offered to the photos and shirt signatures of a kid eager to meet the first great hero of the albiceleste arc.
Fillol dared to tell details of his pension life in the youth days, where the needs and lack of resources were commonplace. “Stew, sandwich, a soda and train.” The containment of the remembered Carmelo Faraone in his early days in Quilmes, following a troubled debut at the age of 18, with a win once morest included. “That day I cried a lot in the pension. Then Carmelo arrived and restored my confidence. He was the first person who helped me in football ”.
The big hands of the Duck cut out the scenery of Vértices and before each question he opens his heart and brings to light unpublished details of the beginning of his sporting life, both in River and in the National Team.
“Do not change Fillol, go talk to the leaders because you are going to play River…”, Ángel Amadeo Labruna told him when he trained him in Racing at the beginning of 1973. El Pato understood some time later that the icon of the history of the Millo was already molding the 75′ River that would end an 18-year drought without titles.
The Selection of Menotti, the Crazy Gatti and the summons. “When Flaco seized the National Team in 1974, he told me that he had in mind to do two tours: in the first I was going to save and in the second Hugo. And I had the audacity to tell him: ‘César, if I do well on that tour, am I going to have to go to the bank on the second one?’ It is clear that Flaco did not like my proposal and did not call me anymore ”. Up to six months before the ’78 World Cup.
“Héctor Vega Onesime, from El Gráfico, put together a note with me, who had been chosen as the player of the year, and Menotti in his department. In one part of the talk, Onesime asks Flaco if I have a chance to return to the national team and that’s when César says yes, but that he would be the fourth goalkeeper behind Gatti, Baley and Lavolpe. It was December 1977.
In January 1978, Hugo Gatti resigned from the National Team and in one of the first practices at Villa Marista, the arc began with his change of command process. “El Flaco divides teams in a training session, approaches me, gives me the sweatshirt and says: ‘Hold it tight, Pato…’ I didn’t let it go anymore and we were world champions”.
For the interview, Filllol wore a shirt with the most famous hug in football history: the Embrace of the Soul, the legendary photo taken by Ricardo Alfieri Argentina barely beat the Netherlands in the final in 1978.
Before that glory-filled squeeze between Conejo Tarantini and the fan Víctor Dell’Aquila, Fillol fell to his knees on the grass of the Monumental and left a revelation before the audience of the newspaper Río Negro. “When I am kneeling I see the image of Jesus Christ…” The Duck breaks down and can’t hold back the tears, Us neither. The ‘1’ relive that moment with intensity and give us one of those emotions that will be as unforgettable as that fabulous snapshot of Alfieri.
The Duck was also able to bring to light situations not so happy as when Carlos Lacoste, the football boss at the time of the dictatorshipthreatened him with death if he did not renew the contract with River. “He put the holster with the gun on top of the table and told me that if he wanted to, he would put a couple of bullets in me and they would not find me anymore.. I laughed at that moment because I didn’t think he was capable of carrying out such a threat. Later, unfortunately, we found out that they were capable of that and much more”.
El Pato dives into his memory and sadly remembers when Carlos Bilardo left him out of the 1986 World Cup, following having played the entire qualifying round for the World Cup in Mexico.
“When the last game with Peru ends (2-2) at the Monumental, I tell Bilardo in the locker room that I am going to play in Spain because Atlético Madrid loves me. I was at Flamengo. He just looked at me like that and almost didn’t give importance to what he was saying. He never called me once more. I still respect him a lot and I don’t hold grudges. I wouldn’t have minded going as a substitute, I would give anything for the National Team”.
He tells us that he was in Qatar 2022, which marked the end of years of absence in a World Cup. “Since Spain 1982 I had not gone to a World Cup. This time, I don’t know why, I wanted to be there.”. Champion hunches.
This was the first date of the Vértices cycle, full of memories, emotions and experiences driven by the generosity of the enormous Ubaldo Matildo Fillol, El Pato, a registered trademark of all time in world football.
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