A phone call from Luis Rubiales to Ednaldo Rodrigues at the beginning of June last year closed the celebration of a friendly match at the Santiago Bernabéu between Spain and Brazil. The meeting, which will serve to give visibility to the fight against racism and violence in football, will be presented under the motto ‘One Same Skin’. The initiative, negotiated at the time personally by the former president of the Spanish Federation and the Brazilian Football Confederation, came in response to the episodes of racism suffered by Vinicius in the Spanish League: El Sadar, Montjuic, Metropolitano, Mestalla, Mallorca , Seville…
Impeached presidents
Nine months after that call Rubiales is on the run in the Dominican Republicwhich has prevented him from being arrested by the Civil Guard during the search of his house in Granada in the investigation opened since May 2022 for crimes of corruption in business, unfair administration and money laundering. Added to that is that the one from Motril was disqualified by FIFA after the incident of the non-consensual kiss with Jennifer Hermoso during the celebration of the Women’s World Cup title that was played in the summer in Australia and New Zealand. For this reason, Rubiales has an open case for Hermoso’s own complaint against her for an alleged crime of sexual assault.
If Rubiales’ outlook is disturbing, Ednaldo Rodrigues’ is no more comforting. Rodrigues was dismissed in December as president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), by order of a court in Rio de Janeiro. The court annulled his election, held in 2022, considering that there was an alteration of the electoral rules before the vote. Then FIFA and Conmebol warned the CBF that they would not recognize the interim president who replaced them and threatened to apply harsh sanctions such as excluding Brazil from international competitions. And on January 4, 2024, the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro controversially restored Rodrigues to the position of president of the CBF.
So this Tuesday Florentino Pérez will be grateful not to have to receive in his box and take a photo with Rubiales, but he will have the enigmatic Ednaldo Rodrigues by his side. The match will have Vinicius as its main protagonist. The Real Madrid forward burst into tears yesterday at the press conference he offered in Valdebebas, where his fight against racism monopolized the intervention: “What is happening is very sad. I fight so that in the near future it doesn’t happen to anyone. I am frustrated by the lack of punishment for the guilty. It is important that these people be punished because then they will be afraid before committing these acts again. “Only us black people know what we went through.” And he left a clear message: ““Football is important, but fighting against racism is more important.”
The Brazilian also wanted to remember those who support him: “I want to thank the Spanish footballers who have supported me and the people who show me their support. I feel supported because there are more and more people talking about this and, although there is racism in Spain and in the world, I hope that less and less is said about it.” Vinicius ended by focusing on the lack of jurisprudence in Spain against racism and xenophobia: “I have spoken with FIFA, UEFA and Conmebol to work with them against racism. And I have also done so with La Liga, but they have told me that the problem is that in Spain racism is not a crime. There are many racists here and many are in the stadiums. I, at 23 years old, have to teach people what racism is. Since I denounced racism the first time, this has grown. They know that what they tell me about the color of my skin can affect me when I play and that’s why they do it. “I just want to play and I would like to go to all the fields with the peace of mind that the color of my skin does not matter.”
Madrid trident
In sports, in addition to the presence of Vinicius and Rodrygo in the Brazilian ranks, where the ‘gironins’ Yann Couto and Savinho also appear, there is great expectation to see Endrick, the brand new signing of Real Madrid, who will set foot for the first time the Bernabéu grass. It is taken for granted that in Brazil, which comes from beating England in Bellingham at Wembley with a goal from Endrick, Coach Dorival Júnior will line up the Madrid trident to enjoy a few minutes on the Bernabéu pitch. Dorival has corrected the drift that the national team took with Fernando Diniz on the bench, the interim coach appointed by the CBF until the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti. Finally Carletto will not arrive because he has renewed with Madrid until 2026, the same date that the CBF signed Dorival as a tenant of the ‘Seleçao’.
Spain will go out with its gala team, waiting for Rodri to confirm his participation, after being absent for a few hours due to a family matter. Heavyweights such as Unai Simón, Carvajal, Le Normand, Dani Olmo, Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams and Morata will return to the eleven. De la Fuente used the friendly against Colombia to test his wardrobe before the Euro Cup, for whose list there are still four or five places up in the air. The player from Haro praised the Brazilians and warned that “this match could be the semi-final or final of a World Cup. It is a match with more focus, more attention and follow-up than others. We want to live up to this atmosphere.”
The match, to the greater glory of Vinicius and his commendable fight against racism, is the last great test for Spain before going to Alemania, where she will arrive as the current champion of the Nations League with a choral team, without exuberant forwards or shining stars. A group in which the youth of Lamine, Nico Williams or Cubarsí pairs well with the hierarchy of footballers like Rodrigo or Carvajal. A team that boasts of competing well in big events. And this is it. A quote that begins splashed by Vinicius’ tears in his fight against this scourge of racism that devastates society and especially football.
2024-03-26 05:50:31
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