Now that it is difficult to buy figurines, we tell you the story of Mukombo: the most difficult of the ’74 World Cup

Now that buying the World Cup stickers in Qatar has become a risky profession, if not a utopia, it is good to remember the story of Mukombo, the Zaire player at the 1974 World Cup in Germany, who was the most sought after and who has almost a generation of children embittered.

The discomfort generated by the difficult figure may be worse than the pain. Mukombo was that. For a couple of generations it was presented as the first major problem to be solved. An experience that made them little men. At a young age they discovered what extortion was and how to try to dominate it by buying packs and more packs. Yup, the difficult statuette served to temper the spirit and educate not to give in to adversity.

We are talking about individuals who knew the difficulty. Chupi, point, mirror. Albums became wise teachers who taught how to live. That is why the difficult figure existed. It no longer exists. There are albums, of course, but patience – which has changed – leaves no room for Mukombothe Utopia of Munich 74, those small figures of the World Cup organized in old West Germany, where the recently deceased Gerd Müller, top scorer in the history of the Bundesliga, appeared in almost every package.

Why did you choose Mukombo as the most difficult? Was it to learn geography? To get an idea of ​​Africa and a remote country called Zaire? It was that player the first expression of racial and ethnic minorities? Who?! Mukombo, an unknown footballer who has turned into a violent emotion and / or a nightmare.

It happened many years ago when being young had nothing to do with being young millennials neither centenariansbut being someone who at that age she could be colimba. Suffering people, teenagers and then – soon after – soldiers. file of beardless The first procrastinators asking for an extension to pretend military service would never happen. The Falklands fighters also lacked Mukombo.

Some have spent their entire fortune on that low number. But they went on: the difficult figure – excellent motivation – made them play forever.

the greatest collector

A real and paradigmatic case is that of Rafael Bitran, the largest collector of stickers what we have. Bitrán exhibited much of his legacy in Glacia Palacewhere we could only see 40% of them 500 albums. There, in a laughing blow-up, was Mukombo’s smile. Thirty-two years was the collector friend behind that treasure! He was a father when he finally filled the album.

“I got it in 2006. The most difficult of the difficult“. However, she says, it was all easier and more unexpected than you can imagine. “I already had my bookshop – in Pueyrredón at 700 – and one afternoon one of those people appears to me who sells things to booksellers. She fell with the books and even with the sticker albums from before. When he brings me the Munich 74 album I tell the boy: It’s incomplete, take a look. . He tells me no. I tell him to open the page for the formation of Zaire, and when he opens I see that one is missing ”. Disappointment.

“Have you seen?” she said. But no, between the pages there was a loose figure, not glued. Only one. “It was Mukombo … I couldn’t believe it. Do you know what it was like to meet Mukombo’s face ?! ” Other than happy ending. “We slept together for a week.”

Things have changed when it comes to stickers and albums. Those were difficult before: the albums of Sandwiches broke with the myth of the relentless collector and Fabrizio Melegari, head of Panini in Italy, acknowledged that all the figures they print have the same number of copies. In other words, if you miss Lionel Messi, stick with it. And if you get bored, you can also buy it.

a place in literature

Mukombo arrived in Argentine literature with Marcelo Birmajer. In Paraguay and Maipú I saw a group of blacks in white jackets leaving a luxury hotel. They were tall and full of curls; I thought about basketball players. The back of one of them informed me that he belonged to the Zaire national team. I rang the bell outside the bus stop; the driver knew, in my way of oppressing myself, that he would have to kill me or open up. I ran down. I got to the players and, without looking at any of them in particular, I started shouting: Mukombo, Mukombo, Mukombo …

The illustrious stranger was born in the province of Katanga on December 17, 1945. He played in TP Mazembe Lubumbashi of his native country. He was just over six feet tall and was a descendant of the Mbuti pygmies, one of humanity’s oldest villages, now on the verge of extinction. Just over 7,000 mbutis remain. That’s where Mukombo comes from.

Davide Marchinian inveterate former student of the Colegio San José, helps us by saying that Mukombo was a starter in all three Zaire games and that Zaire was the first representative of black Africa at the World Cup: subsequently lost 0-2 to Scotland, 0-9 against Yugoslavia and 0-3 against Brazil. “Without great conditions, but willing, Mukombo was an undisputed pillar of his team.”

It was a note Gustavo Faria. Reason? Obtained the Mukombo Figurine. “It took me 40 years to get it, but in the end I have it with me. I don’t think I can claim the ball now number 5 that they promised to anyone who came up with the complete album. “

You know the physiognomy of Mukombo. Stay and watch it. Caress. We did it more amazed than in front of the Mona Lisa. It was harder than looking at Slash’s face. None as elusive as Mwanza Mukombo.

The stubborn, you know, learn the hard way. “I had received the album and I was missing that damn amount, so I decided to get it,” said Gustavo, from Cordoba, in a note with The voice of the interior.

In Free marketwhere a Cristina Ronaldo figurine costs $ 300, the album she edited Navarre of the 1974 World Cup, the most iconic of the World Cups, can be obtained complete “and used”, that is, with previous experience, “100% complete, with Mukombo”, for $ 32,900.

It was the main bulwark of the success achieved by Navarrete Editorial. Perhaps he had so much fame in our country for recessive effect. On August 31, 1969, Argentina drew 2-2 with Peru at the Bombonera and lost the qualifying round for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. Germany 74 marks the return to the World Cup.

Even the 74 World Cup had figures (and figures) as ours Ayala mouse or Chirola Yazalde, Franz Beckenbauer, the aforementioned Müller, the Scottish striker Kenny Dalglish, Gianni Rivera, Rivelino or Grzegorz Lato, that angry wing of Poland. But Mukombo and Zaire became more popular than the Netherlands and Cruyff himself.

Giuseppe Cicalà, a famous fashion photographer, has a pathological attachment to objects and has transformed his house into an old toy shop and folk museum. What is that? “The original mask of the Red Knight, from Titans in the Ring“. Launch? “The original Cucumber Clown costume. We were neighbors and as soon as I could I bought everything from him ”.

“Until the 1980s, I collected everything: stickers, all the albums that existed. Comics. Caps of drinks with surprise… ”Mukombo? “No, I’ve never had Mukombo.”

What was Mukombo playing?

He was a defender. Together with his national team, Mukombo became champion of the Africa Cup in 1973. Thus, he got the legendary qualification for the 74th World Cup in Germany.

Collecting led Gustavo Farías – himself a journalist – to want to know more about his sacred obsession: he wanted to tell him the golden tale. “I tried to communicate with the real Mukombobut from the Congolese Federation (in 1997 Zaire became the Democratic Republic of Congo) they told me that he was dead, “Farías said.

October 13, 2001. The crisis in Argentina. On that day Mukombo, rarely identified with our history, died at the age of 55.

wd