At 81, Tula is excited to travel to Qatar and be at her 13th World Cup: “I want a sponsor for my hype”

It never failed. From Germany 1974 to Russia 2018, he was present at all the World Cups. He has made endless journeys on ships, planes and trains and has visited over a dozen countries. He also appeared in a video clip of the official song of Brazil 2014! And all without speaking a language other than Spanish. It is that in football the universal word is ball and he, with his immeasurable impudence, has always found a way to get around problems.

Carlo Pasquale, better known as “el Tula” or “the man with the clamor”, is the most famous fan of the national team. The flag of Argentine football in the world cups. And, five months before Qatar 2022, he spoke exclusively with Clarione in a pastry shop in Lomas de Zamora that he usually frequents. Live around the corner. “I come here because they give me a price, I have no money. I am a pager always in contact with people. Their affection is very important”, he says, ready to stir the sugar he has put in the coffee, which is accompanied by two croissants with butter. A routine that has already become part of his life.

At 81 he does not lose pardon. He is verbose: he does not stop talking and the conversation flows from one side to the other. From n. 5 to national politics. From drums to World Cup anecdotes. All while adjusting the six silver chains (one with Evita’s face, the other with Perón’s) that she wears over her black shirt and military green shirt.

“God willing, I’ll be in Qatar. I’ve always been there and I don’t want to lose it,” he says. Now, Tula is constantly looking for him in his life: he remains autonomous and lives day by day as he can. Despite this, he doesn’t lose faith in continuing to raise his record. “The reality is that I still don’t know how I’ll go – he laughs-. I have no money and I cannot speak languages. But God accompanies me and is with me. Imagine that I have already played 12 World Cups and never had any money – he insists -. I always find someone to put me in the bank. For example, I was in Russia and a Russian helped me, and I hope that now someone will put me back in the bank “.

The country’s economic data doesn’t help. Furthermore, there are no direct flights to Doha, the epicenter of Qatar, and maintenance costs in the Asian country are not cheap, quite the opposite. So much so that travel agencies estimate a minimum of seven thousand dollars to stay just two weeks in Qatar. That is, only in the group stage.

Not to mention the difficulty of getting tickets to enter the stadiums. However, Tula reiterates: “I will do something”. And she dreams aloud: “Finally, I will sell the hype -ride-. The truth is that to travel there it would be very important that someone could advertise in the hype and, therefore, finance the trip. Honestly, I want a sponsor for the hype. Also, anyone who wants to advertise with me (in the hype) is worth a lot because I’m very famous and I go everywhere. It would be very important. “

– 48 years have passed since the first World Cup in which you participated and always with the hype. Where do you keep it?

– I have it at my house, in the museum. In fact, I have the hype museum! I still have the autographed one that Perón gave me, which is historic, also the first one I took to Germany 74.

In addition to appearing in international television programs, appearing on the covers of newspapers and magazines of the time and in various notes on the World Cup, Tula began his passion for football in Rosario Central. The team he is a fan of, he constantly remarked during the speech.

“My first bass drum, which was the one I played on the pitch at Rosario Central, I gave it to General Perón. Later I got another one that was stolen from me. There were several. But the German 74 is pure history because of everything that went through that tournament, “he said. And he described his first experience in the World Cup: “Everything is a great memory. I went by boat to hitchhike with the hype. I sent myself to Madrid, where I already knew I had a meeting with Perón. Later , I had to go to the border with France and from there only with Germany “.

Before continuing his journey, the Tula takes another sip of coffee to catch his breath and recount that first journey in detail. “The truth is that I got on a train without a ticket and threw myself there with the hype. The problem is that the police came to ask for my ticket and I didn’t have one. So, I started saying ‘World Cup, World Cup’, showed them my passport and they let me cross the border. Later, in Germany, I was rescued by a Spaniard who took me to reports and paid for the bus ticket to the city where the national team was concentrated. There, I stayed with them. Even so, it wasn’t easy because the police didn’t understand anything with the hype and wanted to get it out of me. However, everyone already knew me why I had also done a report for the BBC with a translator ”, he says.

A match for every World Cup

Since then, he hasn’t lost a single World Cup. Whenever the ball rolled onto the pitch of a stadium where Argentina made its debut, he was there to cheer in the stands. And now he’s thrilled with Lionel Scaloni’s team gift. “I really like the team. The coach we have is a great one. They wanted to kick him out, but he continued and insisted. He too is from the Rosario area, where I come from (Editor’s note: Scaloni was born in Pujato, 45 kilometers from Rosario). The only bad thing is that he is from Newell, like Messi – laughs -, but it doesn’t matter. Years ago the national team did not see itself so assembled and now we see that it is a team. Before there was a band here and another there, not now. I have a lot of faith in them ”, he enthuses.

The flag of this team is called Lionel Messi. The forward, historic top scorer for the national team, is the reference point on and off the pitch. And Tula, of course, was lucky enough to exchange a few words before its explosion. Curiously, I did not meet Messi in Rosario, but in Copa América in Venezuela, in 2007. During the day I was in the national team. I still have magazines that say ‘Tula a privileged fan’, a photo with Tevez, with Messi, with everyone, ”he says.

-We go from ten to ten. Have you already talked about Messi, have you met Maradona?

-Yup! Also his father and brother Hugo, who was married and his wife was short. I have thousands of memories with Diego, their father, their mother, Claudia, their marriage. Even when I was fine with Menem, Maradona’s sister couldn’t enter the United States and I got her a visa. Also, when I went to the 2002 World Cup in Korea, Japan, I found Diego on the 20th floor of the official hotel, where we sang the Peronist march together.

Tula considers himself a thoroughbred Peronist. From the first litter. “I became a Peronist because of the Central fans singing the march on the pitch,” he confessed. And whenever he could, he took advantage of a famous photo he had taken with Perón to be able to get his good dividends and, thus, pay for travel. “Since I had no money, I sold my photo with Perón which I called ‘the photo of Tula with Perón’ and people bought it. You don’t know how easily it came out. And so, I fly to Panama and Colombia. Even the Argentine embassy in Colombia scolded me for saying I was involved in politics and all I wanted was to pay for a ticket. “

The speech comes to an end. After more than an hour, the waiter approaches the table and brings the bill. Before saying goodbye, Tula warns: “I will do everything to go to Qatar”.

* By Lucas Salazar, Ayrton Aguirre, Agustina Furno and Daniela Messina, by the Masters Clarín / San Andrés