life. They speak with a touching devotion, but also of time tinged with melancholy. This is what can happen when genius touches your life.
There are plenty of names and they all have huge relevance – this is, after all, their story as well as Leo’s. But allow your imagination to be suspended while you read this. You don’t have to remember who is who, or who says what. In a way, they all symbolise a single character who represents all those that accompanied him in Rosario. So if you get lost in the maelstrom of names, just latch onto the hand of the kid who couldn’t grow.
The action takes place in Rosario, in the late nineties, the last years of a forward-looking Argentina. The first act is set in a cafeteria at Malvinas, the training centre for youth teams of Newell’s.
ACT ONE
Scene One
Voices can be heard off. The set is lit by a single light .
–
Where’s Leo?
–
He’s got hepatitis, so they say.
–
Ah.
The scene goes dark and the words SIX YEARS EARLIER appear. On the wall of the set, the following video is projected:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GFeiJEGjUo
It shows a five-year-old Messi who collects the ball and controls it. He doesn’t pass it, but searches out the route to goal. He dribbles past opponents moving from side to side, until he can hit an accurate shot away from the goalkeeper. And he scores. He turns and runs back into his own half, with the minimum of gestures. Taking little steps. Waiting for the game to restart. Later, his side kicks off and the first touch is to Messi who heads for goal, dribbling once again past whoever crosses his path. The ball is almost as high as his knees .
It is a game played at the Malvinas, a name with particular connotations and where the Newell’s Old Boys youngsters play seven-a-side, also called ‘baby’ football. The simple sports centre is divided into two parts by Vera Mújica Avenue and the best cared-for pitch is pitch number one – it has a stand and hosts most of the games. Such as the one in the video .
Walking from Leo’s home was impossible, it was too far, so someone always had to bring him – his father, mother, the father of a team-mate perhaps, and often he would arrive in a white Renault 12 that belonged to the father of his friend Agustin, a car that would be driven down Uriburu Avenue until it reached Boulevard Orono, and then up, crossing Independence Park (where the Newell’s stadium was located) up to Pellegrini Avenue. You had to turn to the left before arriving at Francia and two blocks further you turned left again, by Zeballos Street. The main gate was at number 3185. Inside is a mural with all the names of the playerswho have made it into the first team. Leo’s name isn’t there yet .
Between the entrance and the goal of pitch one there are two small buildings: the café, with tables and chairs, and the office area. There’s always something going on around here: fathers sitting around with coffee or beer talking football, their sons kitted out in their NOB shirts, people going in and out, older men who used to be at the club and who now come by to see what’s happening, friends of the fathers …
In the Malvinas cafeteria, while keeping an eye on the children as they play on the adjacent field, a group of friends chat as they sit at round tables with a beer or a coffee. It is mid-afternoon. Some time ago, someone removed the Malvinas sign that hung in the entrance and now we see it in a corner, abandoned, its corner rusting. Painted on the wall at the back of the set, a building of two floors. The ground floor has a door that leads to offices with random papers strewn about, the odd trophy on the floor and others on a shelf. On the second floor there is a door, which, strangely leads nowhere. Nobody can explain this. Maybe the money ran out and there wasn’t enough left to put in a staircase. Hardly anyone goes up to the second floor, the club’s office is on the first one. On the edge of the set, between
There are plenty of names and they all have huge relevance – this is, after all, their story as well as Leo’s. But allow your imagination to be suspended while you read this. You don’t have to remember who is who, or who says what. In a way, they all symbolise a single character who represents all those that accompanied him in Rosario. So if you get lost in the maelstrom of names, just latch onto the hand of the kid who couldn’t grow.
The action takes place in Rosario, in the late nineties, the last years of a forward-looking Argentina. The first act is set in a cafeteria at Malvinas, the training centre for youth teams of Newell’s.
ACT ONE
Scene One
Voices can be heard off. The set is lit by a single light .
–
Where’s Leo?
–
He’s got hepatitis, so they say.
–
Ah.
The scene goes dark and the words SIX YEARS EARLIER appear. On the wall of the set, the following video is projected:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GFeiJEGjUo
It shows a five-year-old Messi who collects the ball and controls it. He doesn’t pass it, but searches out the route to goal. He dribbles past opponents moving from side to side, until he can hit an accurate shot away from the goalkeeper. And he scores. He turns and runs back into his own half, with the minimum of gestures. Taking little steps. Waiting for the game to restart. Later, his side kicks off and the first touch is to Messi who heads for goal, dribbling once again past whoever crosses his path. The ball is almost as high as his knees .
It is a game played at the Malvinas, a name with particular connotations and where the Newell’s Old Boys youngsters play seven-a-side, also called ‘baby’ football. The simple sports centre is divided into two parts by Vera Mújica Avenue and the best cared-for pitch is pitch number one – it has a stand and hosts most of the games. Such as the one in the video .
Walking from Leo’s home was impossible, it was too far, so someone always had to bring him – his father, mother, the father of a team-mate perhaps, and often he would arrive in a white Renault 12 that belonged to the father of his friend Agustin, a car that would be driven down Uriburu Avenue until it reached Boulevard Orono, and then up, crossing Independence Park (where the Newell’s stadium was located) up to Pellegrini Avenue. You had to turn to the left before arriving at Francia and two blocks further you turned left again, by Zeballos Street. The main gate was at number 3185. Inside is a mural with all the names of the playerswho have made it into the first team. Leo’s name isn’t there yet .
Between the entrance and the goal of pitch one there are two small buildings: the café, with tables and chairs, and the office area. There’s always something going on around here: fathers sitting around with coffee or beer talking football, their sons kitted out in their NOB shirts, people going in and out, older men who used to be at the club and who now come by to see what’s happening, friends of the fathers …
In the Malvinas cafeteria, while keeping an eye on the children as they play on the adjacent field, a group of friends chat as they sit at round tables with a beer or a coffee. It is mid-afternoon. Some time ago, someone removed the Malvinas sign that hung in the entrance and now we see it in a corner, abandoned, its corner rusting. Painted on the wall at the back of the set, a building of two floors. The ground floor has a door that leads to offices with random papers strewn about, the odd trophy on the floor and others on a shelf. On the second floor there is a door, which, strangely leads nowhere. Nobody can explain this. Maybe the money ran out and there wasn’t enough left to put in a staircase. Hardly anyone goes up to the second floor, the club’s office is on the first one. On the edge of the set, between
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