The event had many repercussions, first for the club in which it happened (River), then because the protagonists were starting teammates and friends, and finally for what it produced sportingly in a team that, in projection, aspired to win the Copa Libertadores 2005. Seventeen years after that episode, reconstructed in a fragmentary way by the protagonists, another testimony was added this Sunday: Federico Dominguezon the left side of that campus, he explained in detail how the scandal broke out Edoardo Tuzzio Y Horace Coconut Ameliand recalled the key intervention of Marcello Gallardowho was captain.
“He was in the least suitable place and at the least expected time”, framed Domínguez, holder of a long career with several titles and a life history of overcoming – he recovered from colon cancer in 2019-.
A few years ago, Leonardo Astrada, the TD of that River, had to tell how he managed a situation that he ate for breakfast like the rest of the members of the squad. Now Fede Domínguez has given the version of him.
“I had just arrived, it was my first semester, I had every hope of winning the Libertadores. We were doing well in the league and in the Cup we finished first in the group, unbeaten, we had only drawn one match. training was about to begin, Astrada gathered us in the middle of the pitch, pointed out a couple of football problems, congratulated us on that first phase, told us we were on the right path but the most difficult part was arriving and when he finished speaking Tuzzio appeared and told about Ameli and his wife “, he explained in the usual 100×100 interview with the journalist Diego Borinski, in the newspaper La Nación.
Everyone’s reaction was one of “total surprise”, because they were “frozen”, even if this gave way to another different moment of a few seconds, because “they wanted to punch each other”.
“The training was suspended and then it was all a big mess: very difficult for Astrada to manage and very difficult for the group to manage. He made them train at different times: if one started at 10, he made an appointment for the other at 8:30 And the next day, vice versa.
How did it affect the competition? “In the league I would put one in one match and not the other, and vice versa in the next, but in Libertadores they both played. And they didn’t talk to each other. I concentrated with Diogo, the other winger, and we said to each other:” These guys they don’t talk to each other, we have to be more careful than ever. “The full backs always talk to the central defenders, but here we had to do it between us, and at the Monumentale, with all the screams, it was impossible. No, no, it was very, very messed up “, he said.
The most difficult thing, as Domínguez reveals, was the coexistence in concentration, even if in that aspect he revealed the fundamental intervention of Marcelo Gallardo as captain in order to get the squad back on track.
“You couldn’t listen to the radio or TV. Gallardo appeared there, as captain, and made things clear, and the group followed him. In a way, he showed what you see today as a pilot. He brought us all together, without Ameli or Tuzzio, and he took the lead: he said that no one had to take a stand, that we had to be smart and strong, and try to manage this quilombo. It was a very heavy environment. I have experienced conflicts in schools where there is they were players who argued, but I’ve never had one like that. From a distance I think Tuzzio was wrong to throw the material there, but on the other hand it is also very difficult to act in such a situation. I appreciate that it was genuine, that it was he said.
An anecdote with Bielsa
In 1997, in Vélez, Federico Domínguez was in full recovery from an injury to the cruciate ligaments of the knee which prevented him, among other things, from being part of the Argentine national team which won the silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. this context, recalled an incredible anecdote with Marcelo Bielsa, the coach of Fortín at that stage and who then took him to Espanyol de Barcelona.
“I was recovering from knee surgery and had to play a midweek reserve match against San Lorenzo to add minutes. I scored a great free-kick goal, strong and with a corner, on the corner. Since I had a problem , I went out at half-time, I didn’t want to risk it, I took a shower as the second half began, I got out of the shower and in the empty locker room I see Bielsa sitting. “What happened to him, Federico, why is he leaving?” he asked. That was my first meeting with which I was struck by his presence and his formality. It was a mixture: it intimidated his presence, but at the same time it put you at ease, “he said.
And he concluded: “In 2015, already retired, I lived in Punta del Este, and I went to the bookstore to buy school supplies for my daughters. I was in the checkout line, and in front of me I see a man jogging. he said to me: “I know this boy”. I moved aside to see his face, the boy turned around and it was Bielsa. We hugged. “Federico, how are you?”, was the first thing that came to me in my mind, he said. And the second: “Do you remember the great goal he scored against San Lorenzo in the Reserve? Ha ha, unbelievable. I didn’t know what he was talking about. “Remember. The corner of the goalkeeper’s stick,” she followed, she couldn’t believe she remembered. “
Source: Clarin
