Soccer in Sun and Shadow

Pedernera

“The penalty kick I blocked is going down in the history of Leticia,” a young Argentine wrote in a letter from Colombia. His name was Ernesto Guevara and he was not yet “Che.” In 1952 he was bumming around Latin America. On the banks of the Amazon, in Leticia, he coached a soccer team. Guevara called his traveling buddy “Pedernerita.” He had no better way of praising him.

Adolfo Pedernera had been the fulcrum of River’s “Machine.” This one-man orchestra played every position, from one end of the forward line to the other. From the back he would create plays, thread the ball through the eye of a needle, change the pace, launch surprise breakaways; up front he would blow goalkeepers away.

The urge to play tickled him all over. He never wanted matches to end. When night fell, stadium employees would try in vain to get him to stop practicing. They wanted to pull him away from soccer but they couldn’t: the game refused to him let go.