Читать книгу Unforgettable Soccer - Luciano Wernicke - Страница 20

It’s happened to all of us, an untimely internal, bothersome cramp that becomes annoying until finally becoming unbearable. When this happens, you can’t move, much less play soccer. On April 12, 1999, Fabián Binzugna, goalkeeper for Deportivo Morón, asked the referee Rubén Favale to temporarily suspend the match against CSD Defensa y Justicia for the B Nacional (Argentina’s Second Division) because his intestinal cramping was unrelenting. At 25 minutes into the second half, the western club of greater Buenos Aires had already made the three changes allowed, and the nearest toilet was in the locker room, about a hundred yards from the goal of the desperate Binzugna. “If you have to go to the bathroom, we’ll wait for you, you are the goalkeeper,” explained Favale, sympathetic to the goalkeeper’s torment. The game stopped, but not the goalkeeper’s feet, which carried him swiftly to the bathroom.

On the way to the locker room, Binzugna was assisted by the team’s physical trainer, who helped him remove his gloves and jersey. But the pain wasn’t receding. Binzugna then discovered with dread that the three toilets in the locker room were occupied by those who gone off the field minutes before: the defenders Gonzalo Martínez and Luciano Kirokián and striker Fernando Rodríguez—all experiencing similar intestinal cramping.

Upon learning of the urgency of the situation, Rodriguez, the least in trouble, got out of the way for Binzugna, who quickly “got rid” of the problem and returned to the pitch. Feeling better, the goalie explained at the end of the match that his and his teammates’ problem had been food poisoning—something they had eaten for lunch had been off. However, there was someone else whose stomach muscles were tested that day—Morón’s poor equipment manager had to endure firsthand (really, on his feet) Martinez’s discomfort as the defender’s relief began several feet before reaching the toilet.