Andorra”What has changed? The world has changed”, reflects Ildefons Lima (Barcelona, 1979), Andorran since the age of two, now retired from football, paving the way to June 22, 1997. It is the day of his debut with Andorra: in a match against Estonia on the island of Saaremaa, just the second in the history of the Pyrenean country’s national team. It’s looking back a long way: “A lot, a lot, a lot.” He remembers exchanging pesetas for kroons and calling home from a cab to say everything was fine. He keeps a photo taken with a disposable Kodak camera and the jersey from that duel, one of the first in a living collection of more than 1,200. And it also saves the last one, on September 12, 2023 in Switzerland. Between the first and the 137th: 26 years, two months and 19 days. 9,578 days. He has the Guinness record for the longest career in the world of national teams. He debuted at seventeen and has said goodbye at 43 and two daughters, aged 12 and 10.
His cell phone, on a table in a café in Andorra la Vella, lights up and reveals the wallpaper photo: of the game in Sion (Switzerland), with his family. “It’s a night to remember. I was expecting applause and that was enough because it was away from home, but the stadium stood up. It was very emotional,” says Lima, a youngster. He played 27 matches in Segona between 2002 and 2004. His replacement in Switzerland was born in 1999: a year and a half after his debut. It is not an isolated case: half of the 16 Andorrans who played in Switzerland had not been born when Lima debuted with the national team. “When you start, you look at those in their twenties as if they were veterans. “These are already finished”, you think, and the years pass and the finish is you, but you see that you are not so bad and so you reach the 30 and then 40,” he explains.
He continues: “I had the idea of continuing to play with Andorra B, in Tercera Catalana, like last year, but after the game I put my boots away and said to myself: “I will never wear them again. I don’t want to play more.’ It was the best way to end, honestly.” This Thursday’s match against Kosovo will be the first as a spectator: “Many people tell me that I will miss it, but no. I have been retired for a few days and I am more than happy. My body needed another thing”. He has already registered for two half marathons, with the challenge of doing a marathon on the horizon: “I want to do things alone. The other day a colleague told me to go play padel and I told him no. I don’t want to depend on anyone.” He says that he will not regret the retirement because he feels that he has taken all the juice, and more, from football: “Why stop? Because I’m not old anymore, it’s been days. If you retire at 33 you can regret what you could have done this or that because you were still good, but at 43 what else do you want to do? If you can’t do anymore,” he admits.
Six wins, 20 draws and 111 defeats with Andorra
No one has played more years in a national team and no one has more games or more goals (11) with Andorra, but “the memories are above the records”. “Someone will beat the records, but the memories I have are brutal,” he says. He has played at Wembley, in Saint-Denis. And, among other big names, “against the two Ronaldos”: the Portuguese, Cristiano, and the Brazilian, Nazário, in a match prior to the 1998 World Cup. He was 18 years old: “A teacher booed me, in front of the whole class, telling me that we would make a fool of ourselves and that we would ruin the name of Andorra. Since we lost 3-0, he later apologized to me.” Giovanni, Rivaldo and Cafú scored. “The worst defeats I have suffered with Andorra have been by 6-0. It has its merit. The difference would be 60-0 or more: here with passports we are 30,000 and we play with countries that are millions: no longer passports, but of licenses”, he emphasizes.
He has had six wins, 20 draws and 111 defeats with Andorra: “But it is normal. The strange thing is that Germany loses. Here you know that you are Andorra and that you will have to suffer on the field. I remember an interview with Mascherano who said that he didn’t enjoy playing. He, who has played with Argentina and with Barça. I thought: “Come and play with Andorra and you’ll see”. Over the years you learn to enjoy it, because you notice that you’re running out of it, but in the field you often experience it as an ordeal. It’s very nice to play for England at Wembley, against Lampard, Gerrard, but during the game you wish it would pass quickly and be over. You know you’re Andorra and you have to lose, but nobody cares likes to be kicked eight goals”.
Lima emphasizes that you can find and that you must seek dignity in defeat: lose less, lose for less, not finish last. “The fact that the defeat is not a brutal defeat is also a matter of pride. Or, when you play against a team much superior to you, to make the opponent sweat and say: “Holy shit, these guys from Andorra have touched our necks”. Pass the no matter what happens, you can’t put your arms down. You have to hold on. Because it’s one thing to lose 6-0, a result that can happen, which you can see in Primera, but if you get 12, how do you explain it?”, add.
He talks about David and Goliath and Asterix and Obelix and, surrounded by mountains, he smiles happily looking back: “I can’t ask for more. It’s a beast. I’ve been privileged with the wafer.”
2023-10-11 13:45:45
#Losing #difference #merit
