Being in Cadiz
Essential for me. You are there and you don't believe it. It's something too much for me. My way of feeling it, how I want to enjoy it, how I want to spend it. It is something very difficult to say in words, it is difficult to explain because it is something great for me. I will always be grateful to be here in Cadiz. I hope we can keep everything in the best situation, with the best feeling for Cádiz Club de Fútbol. I will try to do my best for others as I have always done.
Cádiz, a paradise where Mágico was more Mágico
I think it has been a thing of God. It has been something divine for me. Whether you like it or not, it has come to play a role in which even with my age, after so much time, I am still grateful to Cadiz Football Club. I still love, enjoy, long for and even feel proud to have been able to be in Cadiz. The Cadiz way of being is special for me. There is the union that there has been with me, with the player, with the Salvadoran.
Cádiz's affection for Mágico
It is the way of being and perhaps, in certain ways, it has been my way of doing things. In this case, in soccer terms. I never pretended much from Cadiz, I never pretended almost nothing, only to have the opportunity to be allowed to play for the team because I felt that it was a nice opportunity for this Salvadoran to be doing things for his small country, in this case El Salvador. That's also where the beautiful, the special part came from. How Cadiz continues to want to tell me something. Cadiz continues to treat me well, wanting to give me something that it feels I have not been able to collect, and no, it is not like that, I am pleased to have been able and wanted to give the best of me for Cadiz. There is a very big thank you from me to Cadiz, this is something of life, this is forever.
The kick-off at the stadium
It was very strong but very nice at the same time. I couldn't believe it, besides, I dwell on it a lot. If one was, it was, past. In that case, the idea of being close to the fans at a given moment on a date as important as the team's birthday. I saw it as quite coherent, which was quite relevant. On top of that, the club saw the idea that I could make a kickoff before a big game. I thought it was excellent to be at the anniversary of Cádiz Club de Fútbol.
Operation Family Father
I think I have never known how to be a father, but one has a heart that when you are a child you have it in such a way, as an adult it evolves and when you are a gentleman, you are already a father of a family. In this case, with my age as a grandfather, I have young children. It is a way that is also included in the theme that it is the anniversary of Cadiz, I am here, the photo with the kick-off. Coming here is a "father of the family operation". I am aware that being a father is not easy. Doing it is not for everyone, you have to know how to do it, you have to work hard, it fails me. This kind of thing failed me in soccer, so it is "Operation Dad" because it is giving me the opportunity to feel what it feels like to do something for a son. I saw it as part of being old.
El Salvador and Cadiz, united
Even when I was young, I didn't know how to see soccer as it should have been in my best interests. I see that Cadiz intends to tell me that I always deserved more for having belonged to this team, I have always felt a friendly hand for the Salvadoran. It is not that this helps El Salvador, but what happened in the 80' was because in the bottom of my soul, my heart and my mind I wanted to be doing for our country. The only way to do that was to play soccer. Other Salvadorans like me were doing their duties, their tasks in other areas. In this case, I had to play soccer and I always had that mentality. I wanted to be in Cadiz, I wanted to be in a team where I could do something for my country. I wanted to play soccer for my country. I have been the way I have been and nobody can be the way they are not, but here I am also helping my country in any way I can.
After the 1982 World Cup, why Cádiz CF?
Maybe because of what Cadiz is like, its good vibes, for being a friendly, hard-working place. Being serious and at the same time knowing how to handle situations in the best possible way. The people are beautiful, charming. I always found a friend, they always treated me as if I was part of their family. I got involved in such a way that I felt like one more in the City, in the Cadiz family. That for me is the essence of the Salvadoran's role with the Gaditano. That relationship was very nice from the heart for soccer.
The machete snake
The blessed culebra macheteada. It is a play like that of any other youngster who starts to invent. It is a long anecdote. In the first team I played in, I was the youngest, but most of them were young. We were the revolution of a team called ANTEL, which produced many good players. We had the tradition or habit of arriving early, we were not very studious and we arrived on time. There were balls, I was lucky to have good players as teammates and I was a kid next to them. They would start inventing touches, dribbles, shots. It was just circus stuff that was done on the spot, they didn't need a change of pace. I came up with Machón, an excellent Salvadoran player, a strong midfielder, and he showed me tricks. It occurred to me to do something practical, something on the flank to catch the back line. I rolled it, I made a feint to where it was not going to come out, and I had the instinct to change rhythm to beat his back. It was easy for me. That's how the famous culebrilla was born. Then we did it a lot in El Salvador, it was a good way to catch the back line with the inertia of the change of rhythm, it was half a goal because it was the typical pass of death. I made it a quality for my team. After that you perfect it. Everyone in the stands expected me to do it. I had no idea what I was doing, I played soccer for fun, I love it. Soccer is a blood thing, I belong to a dynasty of soccer players, of footballers. All my brothers played soccer.
Passion for soccer
When you are young you think differently and you have the joy for the ball, your body is happy to see a ball. The typical butterflies of nervousness. When you know that the butterflies are a positivity for your game. Then it has more value for what you want to do. I think that's my talent. Players in any sport must have talent, but there I felt God's ally because I felt that butterflies. I told myself that I had to play worthwhile soccer, give me a full stadium. The more serious and difficult the challenge, the more God helped me because he gave me wings. It wasn't about winning things, it was about joy and satisfying the noble fans, who, whether you like it or not, have always been and will always be an inspiration for soccer players.
Your favorite goal
I always say my favorite is the one I haven't scored. My favorite goal is the one I haven't scored, the one I'm going to score. It's a way to motivate me. It's a way of being positive about life. It's a way that if you keep that idea, that philosophy, you show that you are alive. It's a way to give me something to do. It helps me to enjoy life. Thinking about the future and always using soccer.
Best goal with the Cadista shirt
The goal against Racing is not bad, it's good. Soccer is the way it is. In that match I remember that I was broken, physically terrible. I was inactive for a season. I went to live for a while in the United States with my grandmother, I lived a life that had nothing to do with sports. That was in 1986. Irigoyen called me to rejoin the team. I hadn't done preseason or anything like that. That afternoon there was a hat-trick and one of the goals was that one. It was a very nice goal. I remember the goalkeeper followed me to the center of the field to congratulate me. It was a beautiful goal and it was in the First Division. The Barça goal had its own thing too, I took it with silly changes of pace. We were one to one at home, we didn't lose to one of the big teams. The Valencia goal at Mestalla was also very good. I was kicked two kicks a little high, I was able to avoid them and when the goalkeeper came out I scored with a Vaseline and we got a point in Valencia. The one I like the most is the one I'm going to score.
Pepe Mejías and a team that was his family
Pepe Mejías is a gentleman. Right from the start. To begin with, he is a gentleman. On and off the field. I was a foreigner, of course, a newcomer. Everything was new. He came and I have a lot to thank him for. Manolito too. To all the Cádiz I met because they were nice teammates, I found a nice Cádiz. Pepe has a lot of quality as a person. He always helped me. If I was behind, if I was disoriented, he always helped me. Chico Linares, Manolito, Chano, the masseur Rovira, Antonio, Luque, Hugo Vaca, etc. When I arrived we were the giant-killers and we had to continue to be so.
Message to Cadiz
I can't find words to explain what I feel. The feeling and the words come together, I go crazy. I am very grateful to God that this fusion exists. A fusion that if we think about it, we can't understand why there is such a meeting. This event is something magical. Not because the soccer player has been called like that, but also because of this interview itself. It's all magic. We have to take care of each other, united. We all have to take care of our Cadiz. A good way to take care of it is to stay together as a team. The Primera División is strong, but beautiful, and it is necessary to maintain the union as much as possible. The noble fans must always be like that. They gave me goose bumps when I was able to applaud them from the pitch. Let's keep trying to give the best for our Cadiz. United, let there be no fissures. We are full of hope because our lungs have taken in a good amount of oxygen to face what is to come.
