The Diplomat
The Embassy of Argentina yesterday decorated the former footballer Jorge Luis Burruchaga, scorer of the goal against Germany wearing the albiceleste shirt in the final of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, and runner-up in the 1990 World Cup. The player donated his ’86 jersey to the Legends project.
“We pay a great tribute to a great player and a great person,” said Argentina’s Ambassador Ricardo Alfonsín. It is also a great joy for me as a fan of Independiente because he gave us joy, but also as an Argentinian because he allowed us to win and it was very good for us in a period of democratic transition to give joy to all Argentinians. We thank Legends and Marcelo Ordás, its director, for making this tribute possible.
For his part, the former Argentina midfielder thanked the tribute “especially my wife. It is an honour to tell them about every boy’s dream. From a family, from a father who didn’t like football and a mother who loved it. That’s why when I kneel down and look at the sky I say to my old man: ‘And to think that you didn’t want to…’ Football wasn’t profitable then as it is now. But the dream was the same. To win a World Cup and play in another final. This excites me a lot.
Jorge Luis Burruchaga remembered his team-mates and former Argentina coach Carlos Bilardo. “Fortunately, he said, I got to be in the eight years of his mandate. Bilardo adored my game. I played everything with him. It was a fetish, even my team-mates used to carry me for it. And he really transformed me, that’s what he did with me. That’s what he did with me. He used to say that it’s the detail that makes the difference. That’s what football is all about. That the details go your way. But for that you have to be convinced and you have to work. To win a World Cup is the impossible value, the one that everyone who runs after a ball wants to achieve. It was my turn to score the goal, but we all did it. We went through some very difficult moments, we played badly and Carlos wanted to be sacked. When the goal in the final came and we were champions, we thought that justice takes time to come, but it comes. It came to us when it had to come. Bilardo told us that in the national team you don’t earn money, but you earn gratitude and recognition, and that’s how it is. After 36 years they are still thanking us, waiting for a new World Cup to come”.
Finally, several images of plays and goals of the former Argentine player were projected, and especially his goal in that final, an occasion on which the fans present (mostly fans of Club Atlético Independiente de Buenos Aires) who, standing up, chanted chants of the Argentine football team and the honoree were paid several “oe, oe, oe, oe, Burru, Burru!”
