Torelló“It was a dream for all of us,” explains ex-player Toni Pinilla as he relives the Olympic gold in football just 30 years ago. The Spanish team was proclaimed champion on August 8, 1992 in a Camp Nou full of banners from all over Catalonia and Spain, even one from Ultra Sur, and in front of almost 100,000 souls. But the road to the podium began two months earlier, with long and intense rallies in the small town of Cervera de Pisuerga (Palencia). More than 60 players passed, so that the selector Vicente Miera ended up choosing the 20 chosen. During those days, a daughter of Miera got married: he arrived at the wedding at 7 pm and left at 1 am in his blue Mercedes, thinking about his daughter and the national team.
There was even a psychologist at the rally. “We used to close our eyes and visualize the game. It was something new: we weren’t used to it and there were people who fell asleep,” recalls Pinilla. “The rally was like Triumph operation“, continues the Badaloní, one of the prize winners with the final call. Albert Aguilà, who played for Osasuna, was one of the four eliminated in the last screening. “He gathered us in an assembly hall and said the list As a forward, I expected my name at the end, but it didn’t come. It didn’t arrive and I already assumed it was alluded to. It was a moment of disappointment because I knew it was a unique opportunity. But it was a possibility: we couldn’t all fit in,” admits one of the castaways from the famous Quinta del Cobi.
The opening ceremony was the wafer. We freaked out”
Tony Pinilla former soccer player
That selection made its debut by beating Colombia (4-0) in Valencia. They were the first Games with an age limit (23) and the last without women’s football. Miera did not want his players to go to the opening because he wanted them to rest. “But we decided to stand up. We wanted to go there. It was the only option we had in life to experience the Olympic atmosphere. We freaked out. It was the wafer,” says Pinilla. They then capped a perfect group stage with a 2-0 double against Egypt and Qatar, and in the quarter-finals and semi-finals they fell to Italy (1-0) and Ghana (2-0), also at Mestalla, then known as to Luis Casanova.
Summary of Spain 3, Poland 2
The final against Poland was played on August 8 at eight in the evening. There wasn’t a soul left in the Camp Nou. They played the game Toni; Ferrer, Abelardo, Juanma López, Solozábal, Berges; Luis Enrique, Guardiola, Mikel Lasa; Alfonso and Kiko Narváez. Kowalczyk made it 0-1 in the 44th minute. At halftime, Miera spoke to his players. “We had to keep a cool head, we could enter history and we couldn’t let that opportunity pass,” he would say later. Abelardo and Kiko turned the score around, but Staniek restored the tie in the 76th. Extra time seemed inevitable, but Kiko –quico according to the shirt – he made it 3-2 at 90. The TVE narrator shouted: “If there is no catastrophe Spain will win the gold. It could not have been in a more exciting, vibrant and agonizing way.” Television showed the kings applauding in the box next to Samaranch. While Narváez disappeared amid hugs and tears, Pinilla hugged goalkeeper Toni. “We went crazy. It’s impossible to win in a more dramatic way,” emphasizes the former forward.
They had shared a room with the Espanyol exporter for the previous two months. “We were like a de facto couple,” he says. Right after hanging the gold he said, “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.” “I was 21 years old. You always hope that life will bring you the same or better things. But your career ends and you see that the best time came too soon,” he says wistfully. “I keep the medal, yes, but I won’t say where,” he adds, regaining his smile. Toni Jiménez, winner of the Games to the detriment of Cañizares, has the gold in the dining room at home, framed: “Each year that passes has more value because at that time we were very young and because of the innocence, since everything goes so fast, not you give so much importance to things. You give them so much more value over the years.” He first gave the medal to the museum of the Spanish Federation, but a few years ago he claimed it. “Now it’s in a good place for people to see,” he says.
The toast of Joan Gaspart and Ramón Mendoza
On the night of August 8, the party lasted until the morning and Jiménez, Pinilla and ex-Blaugrana Ferrer ended up singing My grandfather hugged The party brought together and united Spanish football: Joan Gaspart and Ramón Mendoza even toasted together. Of the big teams, only Jesús Gil was missing: “They gave one ticket per club and he needs at least two”, said Solozábal during the party. The ex-central mattress maker wore a cap with an Indian, because “those at Atlético call us Indians because we hate white people, we live on the banks of the river and our boss is Caballo Loco”.
The joy was so great that Miera and Ladislao Kubala, the Cantabrian’s assistant, ended up dancing because of Luis Enrique and Abelardo. Miera, winner of seven leagues and one Champions League with Madrid during the 1960s and former coach of Espanyol, responds to ARA with WhatsApp audio and the help of his wife, juxtaposing adjectives. “It was fantastic, magnificent, wonderful, extraordinary, unforgettable,” he says from Santander. He is 82 years old. His wife, Margot, completes his sentences: “That is not forgotten. And it will never be forgotten. They are beautiful memories. And thanks to beautiful memories, you live better.”
From a distance, Albert Aguilà also smiled on August 8, 1992: “We were on vacation in Sitges with the family. We watched the final on TV and enjoyed it a lot. For a moment I thought I could be there. But with time you say “or not”. Not everyone made it to the penultimate call. In life you don’t have to settle, but you have to be realistic.”
