From Google Translate (i.e. broken English):
The game that broke Alexis Sánchez professional football
It was the February 12, 2005, in Calama. Players and coaches present at the match between Cobreloa and Deportes Temuco reconstruct the premiere of Boy Wonder in first.
Calama, year 0, ie, February 12, 2005. It's four in the afternoon and the ball is about to take to roll on the lawn of loíno fiefdom. Claudio Puga looks at his watch. Cobreloa, reigning Clausura , faces Deportes Temuco by the opening match of the fifth round of the Apertura. It's Saturday and the dry desert wind harden the faces of the players. The altitude tightened like a noose. So it is summer in the heart of the Second Region. 2,481 spectators line the steps of the Municipal stadium. It's just a football game, another of many. Or maybe not.
Because among the protagonists of the cast is a player who is notable for his talent, but above all for their outstanding youth. Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez has just 16 years and two months, loves football and is awaiting its debut.
22 minutes takes the mining set to debut marker, through José Luis Díaz, celebrating quiet, as if presagiase that the best is yet to come. Five minutes later matches Marchesini, from a free, and at 28, is the Yerbatero González responsible for signing the 2-1. Juan Carlos Madrid restores tables at 34, and nine minutes to halftime, Philip puts Siles in offing to Temuco. "The goal is born of a ball to the back of the defense. I come before Luis Fuentes and crossed define" says the striker. Final whistle and dressing.
But his goal is not, however, what best reminds the player that afternoon: "We had been told there was a guy that his game had already eaten many kicks older, who had quoted for party and had options to get in. We heard all this and were keen to know him, to see him in action, "says the striker.
Nelson Acosta, coach of Cobreloa, keep the ace up his sleeve, but will not use it yet. "I am very simple in handling my players, and I told him I was going to debut that day," he reveals.
The match resumes with the same scoring voracity with which reached halftime. Claudio Gonzalez returns to equalize the contest and Daniel Perez, 50, scores 4-3 for calameño box. A good connection between Eagle and Pato Victor Lira leads to 4-4. They have spent only 57 minutes of play and it seems that everything is possible yet. The young Alexis starts to warm up. "When debuts a player of the opposing team rarely remember, but in this case it is you that memory to mind very clearly," Lira, the architect explains equalizer.
In the band alternates continue exercising. The crash is about to enter its final stretch.
"I was very happy before jumping to the court, and he saw that he had no fear. I never showed fear. I was happy because I was going to debut and because his mother had come to see him." So today the Bare Acosta recalls the lived seconds before the entrance to court player.
But is not the only Claudio Nigretti, then technical director of Temuco, perceives something similar from the sidelines of the visit:.. "I really wanted to go, that I remember perfectly ran out when he called Nelson (Acosta), as desperate start playing, "agrees.
Minute 71
The substituted is Daniel Perez, author of the fourth goal Cobreloa. The mouse is directed toward the side of the box game. Alexis Sánchez, born in Tocopilla, prepares to enter into place. "It was striking because he was small, and very thin," rescues Siles. "It was like a giant in a child's body," adds Lira. "He stood in the playing court as if he had four or five years playing in First Division ", condenses Boris González, former footballer also from Catholic University and Colo Colo, and squire debutante on the grass of Calama.
19 minutes are enough to love. Almost 20. A world for those who always dreamed of being a player "enters and leaves to the midfield because he liked to go back and start making bikes and stuff and give each kick I say.. 'No you can do that in midfield. There you can even fracture. Play up, faces and enters the area. There you will not sleep, "says Acosta, his proud discoverer.
But the young attacker just think dazzle. His style is nonnegotiable. His talent is everywhere. "He started making bicycles down the right side. The five meters and did not know where he was going to leave. He did it all the time and then it was not a resource as known in Chile," argues Siles rival that day of tocopillano.
The stopwatch continues to advance, but time seems to stop whenever you contact the ball skillful player. The score reflects set 4-4, but all eyes point to the child, with angry gestures, not to ask for the ball. "He attacked from the right and I had to add to help the side. We played with two contentions, but he carried much on that side and had to double up the brand, "says the former midfielder Victor Deportes Temuco Eagle.
The technical picture of the visit, Claudio Nigretti, is forced then to chart a new plan. "Alexis changed the face of the party. It was incredible. I had to make a change five minutes left. I put someone specific to mark , to mark a 16 years! "says the Argentine DT.
"He had a way of playing very personal. He was doing more than anything else, were the things he saw that their idols were on TV," adds José Luis Díaz, author of more than 100 goals with the shirt of Cobreloa and present that afternoon on the lawn of Calama.
"The crazy again to all At one point, the left side threw a kick, but he could dodge and ran ran and ran, just wanted you to give him the ball and that you gave and I thought... 'This guy is from another planet, '"endorses Boris González, before continuing with his careful analysis of player:" He would grab the ball and changed rate three or four times on the same play, and I remember (Nelson) Acosta became angry with us because we said that a team of such magnitude as Cobreloa, could not depend on a child of 16 years. But is that Alexis was fantastic. "
Exercise debutante fantasy continues until the final whistle. Rivals do not leave their astonishment "I remember at one corner, one of the players of Temuco came and told me: 'what where did that asshole." Recognizes the former defender.
"The first thing that comes to mind is the irreverent he was, in the best sense of the word, of course. I remember after the game what we discussed in the dressing rooms. That always faced, always going forward. That and what spectacular that was in the way, something that surprised because often frowned upon, and a child who was debuting that day. But that was his style, "explains Patrick Lira, one of the leading players in that group temuquense time.
Rodrigo Pérez, one of football groomsmen Alexis while in the ranks of the Loina entity, summarizes the main features of the player in the beginning: "It was a different player because of his personality, his character and the power that had for his age, "he says.
With four minutes remaining in the match, Diego Guidi wins heading into the game and scores the final head 5-4. No time for more. Cobreloa wins. The party is dying illuminating the birth of a future giant of world football.
There have been more goals, but the result is already the least. The mother of the young footballer fails to contain his excitement and comes running to thank Nelson Acosta confidence in his son. "I remember he came and hugged me. She was crying, kept mourn. They are images that are never forgotten" . Images that evoke the professional debut of Boy Wonder and are already part of the history of Chilean football.
On Thursday exactly a decade of that day will be fulfilled, in the evening when it all started. Ten years after the official birth of Alexis Sanchez, like an oasis in the desert.