ball magic

October 97 was so special to Argentine fans.

In the middle of this month, they defeated Uruguay and dominated the South American division of the World Cup qualifiers. Raphael also refreshed the number of appearances on behalf of the national team to 2 games.

But at the end of the month, on October 10, Maradona retired.

Even Maradona was inevitably emotional when he announced his retirement.But Maradona has not held his own farewell match, he still has an appointment with football.

On this day, even in far away Italy, in the small circle of football, countless people are happy to express their views on Maradona, Maradona's years in Naples, or 90 years Italian summer.

Only Raphael was silent.

His silence not only exceeded the expectations of Juan and his teammates, but also disappointed the reporters who wanted to dig out some serious information from his famous "Ma Hei".

Rafael was not prepared to accept the interview, nor did he cooperate.

Even if they successfully blocked his car, he would not come out, as if he treated them like air.

Such Raphael is naturally not welcomed by the media.But the current Raphael is no longer the Raphael who just came to Milan—he has his own mouthpiece, and he is still the reporter recommended by Bergomi who works for Gazzetta dello Sport.

This at least allows Gazzetta dello Sport to speak out when he wants to express himself.

Although the so-called "want to express myself" did not happen once, it was more that Anderson asked Juan to pass some news to the reporter.

How do you look at it? It was Juan who became the reporter's "informant".

After dinner, Juan found Rafael at the shooting range in the front yard.

Now he doesn't need to do housework, Rafael did not know where to invite two cooking soldiers.

Since the two crew-cut Chinese with the same hairstyle appeared at their home, they have been contacted by a nutritionist, responsible for their three meals, and all the work by the way.

He was used to the sound of the guns, and in fact he would have fun if he had nothing to do.He waited for a long time until the target throwing machine had thrown all the set flying saucers before the last gunshot stopped.

He saw Raphael remove the muffler, but his eyes caught him precisely.

Juan handed over a cup of ginger tea, which was prepared by the Xiaopingtou duo.Raphael took it and didn't drink it, but put it aside and continued to unpack the toy in his hand.

Juan glanced at the human-shaped target paper riddled with holes, and was startled by the dense bullet holes on the vital parts. After Raphael put it down, he asked, "Are you in a bad mood?"

Originally, he didn't have the courage to come, but Veronica encouraged him in the text message, so Juan mustered up the courage to go.

"It doesn't count." Raphael said after a few seconds of silence.

Juan didn't speak, but his face was "I don't believe it".

While assembling the toy with his hands flexibly, Rafael said, "Do you want to know what Maradona's retirement means?"

Juan shook his head.

If he had known, he would not have asked.

"You get it, everybody gets it. It means the end of his career."

Raphael turned his face to look at him. Under the night, in the light of the surrounding windproof candles, those eyes were sharper than usual, making Juan feel that he could pierce his heart.

"His playing career is over. It will never change. In the future, everyone who wants to surpass Maradona can only surpass the trophies he left behind, one statistic, not one person."

"Maradona became an incomparably glorious page in history."

"You think I'm unhappy, but I'm not. But I'm not - I'm not happy not to be on this page, even if I have a page of mine, with greater achievements."

At this moment, Juan looked at Raphael's clear eyes, finally understood, and fell silent.

When everyone was recalling the Maradona in the past, Rafael was just not reconciled that he was not born in the same era as Maradona!

In the future, Maradona will no longer be a professional player. He will only compare with the already retired Pele, Di Stefano, Cruyff, and Beckenbauer to discuss their historical status.

For Rafael, this means that he has no chance to catch up with or surpass Maradona.

Juan’s mouth is obviously not as sweet as Aimar’s, but he can brag about Rafah in his own way. For example, he said at the moment like the most devout believer: “You will have your own World Cup, at least two. You will do it for you More from our country, beyond Maradona, beyond Kempes, there is no doubt about it."

Raphael thought about the scene for a while, and finally smiled.

When Juan also laughed and shook his head, Juan looked at him puzzled, and Raphael said: "When I was a child, I really wanted to hold the Hercules Cup. Every child will do this I want to. But there are some things that are more important than the gold cup."

Juan was dumbfounded.

Because as a professional player, and a player of Spanish nationality whose motherland has not won any major championship so far, he can't imagine anything more important than the Gold Cup.

"Ego and ego," Raphael said.

If Passarella continues to do stupid things, he cares more about his dignity than the World Cup.

After his rebirth, he has countless paths to follow, and he chooses to play football for happiness.

If he had to lose the ball, cut his hair, and play at the hands of an arrogant man who dropped a homophobic proclamation, he'd rather not play!

Even if he can never surpass Maradona in the eyes of the world, he will never.

Time passed quickly, and October passed in the blink of an eye.The time came to November 10th. After the eighth round of the league, Inter Milan still led the standings.The UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia also went very well, and the players ushered in the international match day again. This is the last match day of this year and the last match day of the World Cup South American qualifiers.

After this round, the top four will get World Cup tickets.

At Colombia's highland home court, Rafael, who had been in the rainforest for a long time, found that he was not used to the highland!But he ended up with the team in a 2-0 victory at the Colombian's home court.

So far, the World Cup qualifiers in South America have ended, and Argentina has won the World Cup ticket as the number one.

The second, third and fourth places are Paraguay, Colombia and Chile respectively.In addition, Brazil, the last World Cup champion, will automatically get 1 ticket. In the 98 World Cup in France, there will be 5 teams from South America participating.

The record of 16 wins, 10 losses and 3 draws in 3 matches obviously made Passarella very satisfied. Passarella was interviewed at the post-match press conference. When asked whether Redondo missed the World Cup, he still did not respond positively to this question. Instead, on this occasion, the "ban" that shocked the world was announced.

"In my national team, all players are prohibited from taking drugs! No long hair! No baseball caps! No earrings! No homosexuality."

Passarella didn't just announce this "selection criteria" to the media.After the post-match press conference, he came to the locker room and announced the ban to the players who had just showered and were about to go to the airport to fly back to Argentina or the country where they played in the league.

After Passarella announced the decision, the locker room fell silent.

Rafael squinted at Passarella, gave him a mocking look, and then continued to pack his bag in the silence.

This made everyone in the locker room look at him, including the bewildered Passarella.

Yes, Passarella never expected that Raphael would be so brainless at this moment!What the hell is he trying to do?want to go?He actually slapped him in the face like this at this moment?

This is the young general he single-handedly selected!

Obviously he is the most valued player!

Just when everyone couldn't understand, or didn't want to understand what Raphael was doing, Raphael, who hadn't dried his hair, quickly packed his backpack, leaving only one bag that he just replaced. That wet and sweaty jersey.

Raphael looked at it for two seconds, and then rudely stuffed it into the bag.

At this moment everyone is anticipating what will happen in the next moment.Under the almost expectant eyes of Simeone, Zanetti, Almeida and even Batty, Rafael stood up.

He is one of the highest altitudes in the team. Standing in the locker room where only he and Passarella are standing at this moment, even though he is thin, he is a little more proud.

Raphael stood up and didn't look at any of his teammates. Instead, he glanced at Passarella, who was born as a central defender, but his stature had nothing to do with being tall. He looked at him so grandly, clearly and coldly.

But it was just such a glance, because Raphael had no interest in taking another look at this idiot.With Passarella's livid face, he walked towards the exit without hesitation and as if no one else was there.

Passarella wanted to yell at him, to stop his words from coming to his lips, but in the end he just gritted his teeth.

No one player can shake his dignity!

No!

In the locker room, everyone has complicated eyes and complex expressions.

They were still digesting this scene, while Zanetti looked at Raphael's back, from shock to heartbreak.

Heartbreak was the word Zanetti used in an interview back in Milan.At this moment, he really looked like he was going to be heartbroken.

Zanetti understands what this means better than anyone.

Raphael's blatant disobedience can almost be regarded as slapping the head coach on the spot.There is no doubt that this will put him out of the Argentine national team.

Unless, like the 94 World Cup, Argentina without Maradona can't even cope with the South American qualifiers, and can hardly enter the World Cup, otherwise even if Passarella dismisses get out of class, it is almost impossible for the next coach to use Rafael again. ...

Simeone is not as delicate as Zanetti, in fact this guy is already stunned!His mind is muddled!

After he reacted, if his reason hadn't told him - the plane wouldn't fly for Raphael alone.He wanted to rush out and ask what this idiot was thinking!What the hell are you thinking?

Candid Almeida remained silent, looking at Passarella.

He actually didn't understand why Passarella suddenly proposed so many bans. Aren't they all the players he picked?Who is he trying to tell?

In South America in November, winter has come out, but the locker room is like an ice cave.

I don't know how long it took, Passarella turned around, looked around at everyone present, and emphasized in a hoarse voice: "Remember my words! No one can be an exception, no matter Raphael, or Maradona!"

He wanted to kill the chicken to make an example to the monkeys, but he thought that the chicken was Redondo who was not there, and it was Caniggia!But I didn't expect it to be Raphael!

But it doesn't matter anymore, his Argentina, who is missing, can still win the championship!

After putting down his harsh words, Passarella walked out of the locker room, but his assistant coach Savilla rubbed his face before he walked out of the locker room with heavy steps.

After Zanetti left Savilla, he packed his luggage almost as quickly as possible. He was going to find Rafael, and he was going to persuade that silly boy!

Batty packed up without saying a word, and his competitor, the young Crespo, was similar to him.

Their speed is also very fast, and Raphael is not difficult to find, after all, they are all on the same flight and take the same plane.

In the VIP room, they were also stunned when they saw Raphael with a calm face reading a copy of "The Economist" to pass the time.

It was Raphael who spoke first.

The 17-year-old boy looked at each of them one by one with those gray-blue eyes, and said uncompromisingly: "Don't persuade me, I know what you want to say. But I know what I'm doing, and I don't care about it." Will regret it."

Simeone is going to drive him crazy!The rest were speechless, only Zanetti walked up to Rafael at this time, sat down and looked at him, "Rafa, it may be more than one World Cup—"

"I understand." Raphael looked at him.

Zanetti said nothing more.

He has short hair, which is rare in the Argentine team, and he is not gay, he does not wear earrings, he does not even have the habit of wearing a baseball cap like Rafael, and he does not smoke that damn drug!

Just because he can accept all of this doesn't mean that Raphael can accept it.

He didn't know if Rafael didn't want to cut his blond hair short, didn't want to change his baseball cap habit, or had a secret sexual orientation.But he knew that none of them were qualified to dictate Raphael's choice.

This day is November 11th.

The Argentine fans who lost Maradona in less than 20 days suddenly found that after losing Maradona, they suddenly lost their crown prince. The Crown Prince whom they regard as their hope!

The author has something to say: Some readers stepped on this part of the plot before, and I replied at that time: "If Passarella is Passarella, Raphael is Raphael."

Rafael will play for Argentina before the "ban", under Passarella, but after Passarella announces the ban, he will not stay under him for another day, hour, minute, second .

This is my favorite Rafa, though--for.

PS: This is an update that was accidentally sent out in the draft box.

My copybox is dead again.