It was on December 2, 2020, when one of the Antioquia soccer legends decided to end her sports career. David González leaves calm, happy and with his duty accomplished. That boy who made his debut on August 25, 2002 against Atlético Nacional, guarding the goal of Independiente Medellín and who played his last game with Deportivo Cali was on December 1, 2020 against Vélez Sarsfield of Argentina in the South American Cup, it was felt calm with a decision he had made several months ago.
In dialogue with the YouTube program ‘La disidencia’, González spoke about this special moment that he is living. “I may have omitted to tell Cali to wait until the end of this program, but I must clarify that Cali always had the intention of renewing me, since four weeks ago we had started to touch the subject. Four months ago I had made the decision to retire, it has nothing to do with eliminations or anything like that. This was a decision that had already been made and nothing could change. I’m happy, I’m happy, regardless of how Velez’s game ended, it was a decision he had made. I want to do different things, if I decided to continue it was more for the economic and I did not want to make a decision for money. I am happy, people tell me that I am very sorry, but it is not like that ”, he declared.
Regarding that dialogue that he imaginatively wanted to do with that boy who dreamed of cutting off the red of his loves, González indicated that “as he grows up, dreams grow and I can tell that boy that I fulfilled all my goals in football, that my parents have seen me play, they have seen me retire and I hope they see me undertaking other things, directing in the future ”.
Regarding this determination, “for some time I began to separate the David player, the David person. While you would be lying if people sing to you, you feel happy. I got to a point where it didn’t feel right to be recognized just for being a soccer player. I felt better as a friend, as a dad and I was moving away from that superficial world, that is what I am saying today, I may not know what to do at a time. It was a determination that I made with time, with conscience. If he had been champion, the farewell would have been different, but it did not alter the decision. Only two or three colleagues knew and were not sure that I was going to withdraw seriously. At the end of the game, we had a talk with Alfredo (Arias) and I took the opportunity to say goodbye to the teammates, it was an emotional talk, a bit sad, but I felt very good. In the end, I wanted to be remembered because I was a good teammate, not because of what I achieved on a court ”.
Furthermore, “I was one of those who said I was going to play until my legs didn’t give me any more, and there I didn’t have the image where I was going to retire. That is why I never thought if I was going to leave Medellín. In January, with Cali, it was the first team where I was on a professional roster and in the end I decided to retire, not to pigeonhole it into a team. There are things that reveal more to me at this time than football did. When I was younger I was very materialistic. Although I never lost the love of playing and I always enjoyed every training session. But the engine to renew was money and it is something that was not going to move me much “.
The now former player referred to his departure from the DIM at the end of 2019. “In Medellín they simply felt that a process had ended, I accepted it, I went to Cali and they insisted on me to stay in the team, especially by many people who made the effort to stay and that hit me very hard. It was already decided. I feel like I responded, I gave a lot to football and right now I have to think about myself ”.
Speaking about his position in the field, David specified that “as a goalkeeper, the responsibility is very great, I cannot make a mistake and every year I wanted to take risks. The pandemic played an important role in this decision; in March if they gave me a renewal, I took it. When the competition started, I already knew that at the end of the year I was going to retire, the calmer I was, the better I was ”.
Among what he remembers most, González commented that, among the most important things, were “in the debut against Nacional, the titles, the Libertadores matches, but also the lost finals, because they are also memorable, you keep them in a little drawer . When I came back from England, they made me less and less goals. When you are older, you are better positioned ”.
Finally, he spoke about his future, where he was put ‘to order’ to take over as coach, David took his ATFA course. “I am at the service of the team that wants to hire me, I still don’t know if I want to prepare more, I have been studying, in any case I am ready in case any team wants to hire me as a technician.”
Juan Camilo Alvarez Serrano
FUTBOLRED correspondent
Medellin
En Twitter: @juanchoserran8
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