Soccer is capricious. Abelardo, Pablo Pérez, Cuéllar and Jony celebrated a record promotion to the First Division with Sporting seven years ago. That team, the one with the guajes, did it after overtaking Girona in the standings in a heart-stopping League final that is already part of history. On Sunday, in the first of the three finals with permanence in Second at stake, they will host Girona, with whom there has always been a certain rivalry since then. “We only think about achieving victory”, affirm, in a meeting organized by LA NUEVA ESPAÑA, the four members of that Sporting who continue in the squad. Spirit of the gourds in El Molinón to win again at home.
Jony is the first out of the locker room. The training has just finished in Mareo, he is wearing the same clothes with which he exercised in field number 1 of the red and white facilities and it shows that he has just wet his hair. There is freshness beyond that. The countenance is that of whom he has recovered some optimism. He has not participated for two months and Sunday is the day marked to see him again on the green. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a start, but it shows that being available again is already an important triumph. He came to Gijón with the purpose of recovering minutes and also the spirit of the guajes team. That year he took part in 41 matches and scored seven goals. Now he just wants to see his team beat Girona
“He is very committed,” Abelardo stressed about Jony, a few days ago, when he was asked if the Cangués could be recovered for last day’s match against Huesca. He, Pitu, knows him like few others and is being one more ally in matching his return to the needs of the team. Both arrived in their day hand in hand to the first team, after Abelardo rescued him from Avilés to turn him into a professional footballer. They shone together in that Sporting of the guajes, the same one that only lost two games in the entire League and added 82 points, and they did it again in Alavés.
Now, they are allies to seek the tickles of the defense of a Girona led, among others, by Bernardo. The former rojiblanco was another of the pillars of the last rojiblanco promotion. He knows the style and strengths of “Abelardism”.
Cuéllar joins the meeting with the tranquility of a veteran. He was already at Sporting de los guajes and he still is now, that in his second stage at the club he has had to play when the team is trying to escape from the burning relegation. He entered the team due to Mariño’s injury and, since then, neither Martí nor Abelardo have changed the name of the person in charge of placing himself under the sticks. He was another of the proper names of that team of guajes. He won the Zamora trophy as the goalkeeper with the fewest goals scored in the category (21 goals in 36 games) and claimed leadership that has been one of the reasons why the club made his comeback last summer. His experience has made him know how to handle himself in tense situations like the current one and he is one of the main voices in the locker room, especially with the final statement before taking the field.
Pablo Pérez was a luxury secondary in that perfect script for a movie promotion. The man from Gijon combined starts and substitutions in a forward shared with Guerrero and Carlos Castro. He scored seven goals, the year he scored the most times in his career. It was also the year that he participated the most. He did it in 37 games, jumping starts in 17 of them. He does not know if he will arrive for the match against Girona, since he has muscular problems, but his commitment and intensity in his work have always served as an example for his teammates. He has started training with the group and is awaiting progress. Whether he arrives or not, he completes four examples in the locker room of how Sporting is capable of resurfacing at the most difficult moment, in the most unexpected situation.
