Soccer in Sun and Shadow

Goal by Sanfilippo

Dear Eduardo,

I’ve got to tell you about this. The other day I went to the Carrefour supermarket, the one built where San Lorenzo used to play. I was with my childhood hero José Sanfilippo, who was San Lorenzo’s leading scorer four seasons in a row. There we were, walking among the shopping carts, surrounded by pots and pans and cheese and strings of sausage. All of a sudden, as we head for the checkout, Sanfilippo opens his arms and says: “To think that it was right here where I rammed it in on Roma with a half-volley in that match against Boca.” He walks in front of a housewife pushing a cart filled to the brim with cans, steaks, and vegetables, and he says: “It was the fastest goal in history.”

He concentrates, as if he were waiting for a corner kick, and he says to me: “I told the center half, a young fellow, ‘As soon as the ball is in play send it to me in the box. Don’t worry, I won’t make you look bad.’ I was older and this kid, Capdevilla was his name, was scared, thinking, ‘What if I don’t come through?’” And then Sanfilippo points to a stack of mayonnaise jars and screams: “He put it right here!” People are looking at us like we’re nuts. “The ball came down behind the halfbacks, I stumbled but it landed ahead of me there where the rice is, see?” He points to the bottom shelf, and all of a sudden he starts running like a rabbit in spite of his blue suit and shiny shoes. “I let it bounce and boom!” He swings his left leg in a tremendous kick. We all spin around to look at the checkout, where the goal sat thirty-odd years ago, and it’s as if we all see the ball hit the net up high, right by the batteries and the razor blades. Sanfilippo raises his arms to celebrate. The shoppers and the checkout girls pound their hands applauding. I’m practically in tears. “Baby” Sanfilippo scored that goal from 1962 all over again, just so I could see it.

Osvaldo Soriano