Pele and Cruyff Trophy Carranza, 1 September 1974. Barcelona beat 4 a 1.
I still remember like it was yesterday. It was a hot summer night (as if they were not all in Seville) of 1999 and my yo 11 years sitting on the couch watching Canal. The Real Betis He played the semifinal of the XLV edition Carranza trophy against him Vasco de Gama, and goalkeeper verdiblanco, Toni Prats (also it is known to reach two goals kick), He slashed in the area to the front of the Brazilian team. But what genius was that? My team goalkeeper had dared to haggle a forward selection the previous year had been a finalist in the World Cup in France.
It did not matter that this Brazilian, whose name I can not even want to remember, there had never played with canarinha. It was Brazilian, and the mere fact of being already had won my world crack consideration. What was I to know? If there was no humane way to learn at that time on the Brazilian league. Summery trophies were capable of these wonderful things, They allowed us to see our teams, which often they trailed by dust fields, playing against giants of international football. These, at the same time, They were eager to visit our summer tournaments with the hope that some of its stars (certainly not that front which was spared by Toni Prats) It was observed by a Spanish team that will relieve their economic hardships with a few million pesetas.
Teresa Herrera, Carranza, Colombino…
When one looks back and try to remember, or in my case investigated, the participation of teams and major players in this draft trophies, It finds that the four top scorers Carranza trophy son people, Eusebio, Di Stefano y Puskas, almost nothing. Regarding the Teresa Herrera trophy, the oldest in Spain, teams like Bayern de Munich of Beckenbauer, the Santos of Skin, the Dynamo Kiev of Oleg Blok one he Fluminense of Rivelino, to the delight of fans coruñeses summer after summer came expectantly at Riazor. And what about the Colombino trophy? We talk about the summer party Recreativo de Huelva, that invited the first edition Racing Paris y al Genoa, thus creating a triangular European deans.
These tournaments allow fantasy, They gave wings to those fans who were unaware during the summer news team, except for what little they could hear on the radio, and approaching the dates indicated flocked to the stadiums ready (or sofas when television made it possible) to see the big stars that in a world without globalization sounded as remote as dazzling.
International Champions Cup
But today the situation is quite different. The Teresa Herrera, the Carranza and the Colombino no longer interest the big clubs. The International Champions Cup, and consequently income millionaires it implies, alienates related equipment, not only Spanish summer trophies, but the old continent. Long plane rides that fatigue players, but fill the coffers of the football teams, make it unlikely that any player Real Madrid go to unseat people gaditano as top scorer trophy.
these trophies, who once they were born to alleviate the economic difficulties of its organizers (except in the case of Teresa Herrera, it was created as a means pare raise funds for the needy) now desperately struggling to survive, facing a disappearance, if you not put any remedy, will soon surprise.
Depor, with players like Mauro Silva and Rivaldo among others, Teresa Herrera Trophy champion of 1997 (Memorias de Riazor)
Last summer could not dispute the Colombino trophy. The state of the pitch and a conflict between the Recreativo de Huelva and Blackswan Media, company then owns the rights to the tournament (the fact that a company has ownership Colombino It is a sample of the miseries of modern football), They provoked that I could not enjoy a tournament that had been continuously held since 1965. This year has already been announced that the trophy will be played as a single match between Recreativo and the Osasuna the day 4 of September, with the league already begun and attractive format far from the four-team knockout.
Finally, the Carranza trophy, popularly known as trophies trophy, He was very close to not dispute last year, although the situation is saved with a triangular between computer gaditano, the Real Betis Y Las Palmas. This summer will return to the four-team format, but in order to attract top-tier teams, as in the case of Tottenham, the yellow team and the city of Cádiz opted to give a twist and celebrate for the first time Carranza Trophy with women's teams. The already mentioned Tottenham It will face Real Betis, Athletic Club de Bilbao and FC Tacón (still free from the clutches of Real Madrid). the maximum was never so certain "renew or die".
Summer trophies are disappearing, and with them, football lifelong, which wakes us emotions, which brings us back to afternoons couch watching meadows haggling. A day will come, I hope distant, in which the news is that, After many decades of existence, trophies like Teresa Herrera, the Carranza one he Colombino They go down in history alongside many others like Seville O Valencia city. But neither should we be surprised. In a world where players paths Giggs, Maldini O Carragher are an exception and in a league in which club presidents unheeded their fans in relation to the parties on Monday, there is little hope to cling to. If no one remedy, matter of time that these tournaments become so magical, paraphrasing Shakespeare, mere dreams of a summer night.
