Martín defends, by Carlos Zanon

Martín Machuca Cuadrado plays with number 20 for Unión Deportiva Mairena del Aljarafe. Could the club name be shorter? Yes. Does Martin’s family live closer? Of course. Because Martín and Mairena de Aljarafe play in Seville, specifically in the junior team of the 3rd Andalusian group 5. By decision of the coach, Mairena’s number 20 now plays defense. The kid accepts it with more or less integrity, but what he likes is scoring goals. His mother sometimes sends me a video of his great goals. I always wonder, what is that woman doing? Record all the minutes of the games or let yourself be carried away by your amniotic intuition in that foul taken by Martín, that volley, that sticking your head in the corner and scoring a goal? It is true that in those videos I never see Martín’s face, but because of the mother’s screams I tend to believe it. The kid is 11 years old and, although I haven’t seen him in years, he was always crazy about football. Real Madrid fan, but nobody is perfect.

I remembered Martín because I read an article by Pablo Ordaz in The Country about another Martín, this one a third-grade boy from a school in the north of Spain, who has gone viral after broadcasting it on The day after from Movistar. The freshness and dignity, the friendliness of someone who is recorded without posing or wanting to be cool, without filters, natural and, why not, exuding elegance fair play It’s terrifying. The boy explains that, at recess time, the third graders always play and lose against the fourth graders. That they were on the verge of tying one day, but on another day they were beaten 10 to 2. It is true that there are three or four of them on the team, and the fourth graders, in addition to being older than them, triple their number. But he does not lament or ask for justice. That’s the way it is, he seems to say sportingly. When asked how to reverse the situation, Martín says by defending better and throwing the ball forward. As in life, come on. I don’t know how the Mairena del Aljarafe Sports Union is doing, but it’s certainly better than the other Martín’s third graders, and the defenders are like comedians: they are never valued until one realizes that You also come to this life to have a laugh, accept defeats and, if you can, score the odd goal.

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