The story of Omar Souto, the man Messi hugs in the symbolic photo of Argentina in the Copa América: “Now that he won, you can see everything that Leo does”

-Do you remember Messi’s first day with the National Team?

-How can I not remember? He arrived accompanied by the father and the representative. The physical trainer came out, which was (Gerardo) Salorio and told him: ‘If you don’t cut your hair, you can’t play.’ I said he ignored him, ha. He wanted to play for Argentina … Talking to the leaders of Spain in the World Cups, they come up to us and say: ‘We tempted him in every possible way, and he never wanted to accept playing for us.’

In order to Omar souto, all the players that go through the National Team are special. He has been part of the Albiceleste family for 25 years. But with those whom he has known since childhood, he has a special harmony. And, of course, the Flea is one of them. In fact, the Manager of National Teams was a vital piece in the organization of the friendlies against Paraguay and Uruguay to “shield” him from being snatched by Spain. This is how he told it in the book “Messi, the misunderstood genius”, By Ariel Senosiain.

“I went from the Ezeiza property to a parlor in Monte Grande. I asked for a phone book for Rosario, we only knew it was from Rosario. I tore off the page where the Messi numbers were, I made a random call to my house to justify that I had entered and I returned to the premises to track him down. The first one I found was my grandmother. Lionel’s grandmother passed the uncle’s contact to me. The uncle, the father’s. I called the father, introduced myself and told him that we wanted to have his son, with the detail that I missed the name: I had always heard that Leo is the nickname of the Leonardo ”, recounted the journey in the publication.

Well, Omar was seen, unleashed, in the celebrations at the Maracanã stadium, after Argentina’s 1-0 victory over Brazil in the final, with the signature of Ángel Di María after the assistance of Rodrigo De Paul. But also is the man that Messi embraces in an iconic photo of the national team’s passage through the Copa América: the collective snapshot that everyone shared in the previous definition, taken at the Fluminense training ground, a symbol of the union that was proclaimed by the 28 heroes, the coaching staff and each of the components of the delegation. The captain’s arms surround Souto’s neck, with the affection lavished on a father. Or a grandfather.

“It was something that happened, spontaneous. I had to sit there and at first I didn’t even notice who was behind. Then he put his hands on my shoulders “, described the photo for posterity to Infobae.

The manager was always a staunch defender of La Pulga. “Everyone said ‘don’t sing the hymn, don’t sing the hymn.’ And in reality nobody heard that in tournaments they played the part that was not sung. Now it changed and, did you see? Leo sings it “, he stressed, destroying myths.

“He always wanted to play for the National Team. Forever. And look what happened in this tournament. He could not have played with Bolivia, he could have gone out … And he played the whole game, “he insisted. Asked if in this Copa América he noticed certain new leadership gestures, Souto was forceful: “He also had them other times, but he didn’t win. Now that it was won, you see everything”.

Souto was close to the star and his teammates in previous frustrations, such as the 2015 and 2016 Copa América and the 2014 World Cup. “In America you had to see that locker room, all the kids crying for losing. In Brazil they were bad, but it had been played well, it was a fatality to lose. The whole championship had been played well, it wasn’t that we played badly. In fact, the boys fall apart more when they lose in the juniors. You listen to everything and it truly moves you ”, he compares. This time, on the lawn and in the dressing room, joy prevailed, the feeling of a divine, necessary vindication.

“It was special for themselves. A very nice group was put together with the coaching staff. They all pulled forward. And we had results. If we did not win the Cup, the criticism would return. Luck often covers everything ”, he assures, with his skin tanned by experience.

Over the years, those who are attentive to the day-to-day running of the National Team learned about several of the jokes that the footballers themselves played on Souto. Many of them went viral, as in the previous World Cup in Russia. In one of the transfers from the campus by bus, Souto slept with his head resting against a glass. Sergio Agüero and Ángel Di María noticed it and mischief broke out in them. Using their mobile phones to film him, they approached him and shouted: “Wake up, che!”. And they startled the veteran employee, who ended up hitting his head.

“I don’t mind jokes, they’re all good guys.”, he says, condescending. Throughout the 45 days in which the campus remained in a “bubble” format to avoid a coronavirus outbreak, humor was often the lifeline to run time, to bury tensions. “They have been screwing me with the fact that I’m old”, reveals. But to his curriculum of 25 years in the AFA he added the long-awaited Olympic return with the Senior National Team. Along with Messi, one of the talented “sons” who gave him the Ezeiza estate.

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