Why this moment is so big for รngel Di Marรญa
It was the morning of the 2014 World Cup Final, at exactly 11 a.m., and I was sitting on the trainerโs table about to get treatment. I had torn my thigh muscle in the quarterfinals, but with painkillers, I could run without feeling anything. I told our trainers these exact words: โIf I break, then let me keep breaking. I donโt care. I just want to be able to play.โ
So I was putting ice on my leg when our team doctor said, โLook, รngel, this paper came from Real Madrid. Theyโre saying youโre not in any condition to play. So they are forcing us to not let you play today.โ
I didnโt even open it. I just ripped it into pieces and said, โThrow it away. The one who decides here is me.โ
It is impossible to explain the feeling you have on the night before a World Cup Final, when everything you ever dreamed about is right in front of your eyes. I sincerely wanted to play that day even if it ended my career. But I also didnโt want to make things complicated for our team.
I told Mr. Sabella sincerely, with my hand on my heart, that he should put in the player that he felt he had to put in.
I said, โIf itโs me, itโs me. If itโs another, then itโs another. I just want to win the World Cup. If you call on me, I will play until I break.โ
And then I started crying. I couldnโt help it. The moment had overwhelmed me.
Sabella announced that Enzo Pรฉrez was going to start, because he was 100% healthy. I was at peace with that decision.
We lost the World Cup, and I couldnโt control anything. It was the most difficult day of my life.
What still haunts me is the moment when I went to speak to Sabella, and I broke down in tears in front of him. Because I will always wonder if he thought that I was crying because I was scared.
I was overcome with emotion because of how much the moment meant to me. We were so close to achieving the impossible dream.
Excerpts from his 2018 players tribune article
