From the level grass of a soccer field to walking through the cornfield of his field. From crossing 9 de Julio Avenue for years to driving through the town of Del Campillosouth of the province of Córdobawhere there is only one traffic light to control the traffic of a rural community of barely 5,000 inhabitants. Waiting for the decision of the coach on duty to know if he was going to be a starter while waiting – which today it makes him desperate– that it rains in the town to finish the work of planting. From appearing on the poster of the champion team to not even be present in the family photo of their daughters’ first birthdays. Mario Cuenca attends to THE NATION and he expands on his professional career that lasted 22 years and today has him busy in his fields, far from the demands of sport.
Cuenca He made his professional debut with the Córdoba Workshops in 1996 under the orders of Ricardo Gareca. He was promoted to the First Division with the club he loved two years later in a vibrant final against Belgrano, his classic rival.
In 1999 he won the Conmebol Cupuntil then, the only international title of the “T” in its history. He had a stint in Racing, where he learned what it was like to be a substitute: competed for the position with Gustavo Campagnuolochampion with La Academia in 2001. This typical circumstance of football – and more so of goalkeepers where only one occupies the position – marked him to the point that he reluctantly accepted the decision shouting the team’s goals “out of commitment”.
-Mario, what’s going on with your life?
-I’m waiting for it to rain. With that issue we are punished. We missed three storm forecasts in the last 20 days that went over our heads and didn’t deliver anything. With this weather we could not finish planting, there is not enough humidity. We are the only place in the country where it didn’t rain.
Planting and livestock became his lifestyle since 2010, the year in which his wife Natalia asked him to come back Del Campillothe hometown of both, where today they live and enjoy a life relatively opposite to that of football.
“My wife told me that she was tired and she agreed with the same feeling I had. I had built a house in the town and I told my representative to terminate the contract with Racing. Before making the decision I went to the psychologist because everyone told me: ‘Get ready because it’s brave to stop playing‘. In the second session they told me: ‘Stay calm Mario, you won’t have any kind of problem’. And so it was”, highlighted “Super Mario”, the nickname with which he is recognized in Córdoba, for his outstanding participation under the three suits.
Natalia’s interference in Cuenca’s life was key to being able to stay in high-performance sports. “The fact that you have a woman who accompanies you is essential for the soccer player. If you leave home and are not calm, it is difficult to perform at 100 percent. It is very important that someone accompanies you, supports you, advises you, helps you with your children… When I moved from Córdoba to Buenos Aires, my wife did all the moving. In my life I moved three times and she took care of two of them alone. A soccer player’s partner has to take care of a lot of things while one is away playing a tournament or in a preseason.”Cuenca highlighted.
The now livestock producer participated in several sporting feats such as obtaining the South American Cup with Arsenal de Sarandí in 2007. However, the trophies in the display case brought an emotional cost: not being present in the upbringing of two of his three daughters.
“The only thing that football took away from me is the time to be with my family.. I wasn’t at my oldest daughters’ first birthdays because they caught me traveling to play in the Copa Sudamericana, Libertadores… I missed those important moments and, for example, I don’t have photos with my daughters in their early years. That does bother me and I can’t go back.“, reflected the former goalkeeper.
One of the many peculiarities of the goalkeeper position is that only one is chosen. The other goes to the bank and if there is a third or fourth alternative within a team, they do not concentrate directly. For Cuenca, the only option was to be a starter. If he was a substitute, his mood changed radically and short circuits were even generated with the coach on duty. “I didn’t share the idea of working all week and then sitting on the bench,” he highlighted about this daily circumstance of sport.
-What attitude would you adopt if the coach told you that you were going to the bank?
-I understood it, but I couldn’t handle it. I did not add being a substitute. The phrase is generally said: ‘You have to support from wherever you are’ and the opposite happened to me, I was angry and didn’t collaborate at all. It’s more When I went to the bank I shouted the commitment goals. I couldn’t handle that situation and it was of no use to the group.
This attitude earned him several confrontations with coaches. One of the ones he remembers most was with Guillermo Rivarola in Racing when “it almost came to blows” for having been promised the title and then being relegated by Campagnuolo, who had just won with La Academia in 2001.
Captain in Workshops y ArsenalCuenca took a place of relevance for his colleagues by having direct dialogue with the leaders, who, at times, were late with payments. “I always say that in football what is most difficult to maintain is the word. Being a country person, living here, you are raised with that principle and you have to comply with it. With the leaders it could happen that they did not comply with the agreement and then one as captain told the teammates that they were going to get paid in 40 days and that time passed and they did not get paid,” he explained.
Raised in his father Eduardo’s country, Cuenca, from a very young age, he learned the trade that today gives him an economic livelihood. With the north well marked, much of the money he made from football was used to purchase hectares. Despite the lessons, the former goalkeeper recognizes that many of his colleagues They are not advised on the matter and they suffer when they retire or, even more so, when football expels them unexpectedly.
“The issue of investments has to do with the family one has, if one’s parents instill work in one from a young age. Over time one assumes the commitment to have a family and begins to plan for the future. It’s a shame that no one dares to go club by club to give talks and explain that this will one day end.. He leaves football to you or you leave him, but it ends. Soccer gives you fame, an economic life, but if you don’t think about the day after it is very hard to start again,” he concluded about this reality that disorients a large part of professional soccer players.
