“Pelé’s Brother”

Olé, the sports section of the newspaper Clarín, did a very nice write-up on our boy Pereira.  Almost perfect, except for the fact that…it’s also racist at times.  Anyway, click here for the link to the original for those who can read Spanish.  My translation is below.  A decent story about a great guy.  Hopefully he will stay with Argentinos for as long as possible…

Two drops of water: “We can see it now, he is the brother of Pelé” they sang on Saturday after he scored three goals against Newell’s.

Pelé’s Brother

Absolute truth: people compared him to the Brazilian and Pereira reveals that people called his brother, who died two months ago, that.

Words get cut off, tears threaten to appear, his lips (already big by nature) get even bigger.  And he throws out a revelation, incredible, shocking.  “When people started singing “We can see it now, we can see it now, he is Pelé’s brother,” I couldn’t believe it, I was excited, I almost cried, but no one knows why…”, Alvaro Pereira starts confessing to Olé.  He drinks some soda and continues: “The thing is that people used to call my brother Alejandro, who died two months ago of heart problems, Pelé.  They called him that his whole life.  People started singing that I was the borther of Pelé and they didn’t even know why I was thinking the same thing.  Also, my mom, Ana, was in the stands and she started crying.”  He can’t stop.  He lets go: “They had detected a problem in my brother’s heart valve at the beginning of the year. He let himself go and then everything became worse.  It was a really tough time.  On top of that, the relegation of Quilmes happened at the same time and I didn’t think I was ever going to get out of it.  My girlfriend, Cintia, was fundamental, she always helped me.  Then, I got to Argentinos and everything changed.”

At his house in La Plata (”thanks for coming all the way out here,” he will say at the end of the interview) [Trans. note: city located about 60 km (40 miles) outside of Buenos Aires] the left-footed winger received Olé yesterday.  And at his house in La Paternal, he had his late evening consagration on Saturday.  He knocked in three goals against Newell’s and the crowd baptized him right in Diego Armando Maradona stadium.  “That they would call me Pelé, especially in that stadium, is too much, I am not even close to that.  When I played in the Under 20 South American championships with my national team, I looked at the jersey and it said Pereira and I couldn’t believe it.  I thought is that the same Pereira who went to practices on his bike?” he laughs.  Everything goes by quickly these days for the 21 year-old Uruguayan.  Even moreso after his hat trick.  “The phone doesn’t stop ringing.  The have called from everywhere.  I know it is a result of the victory and the goals, but I have my feet on the ground.  Here people think that being a footballer makes you an alien and it’s not like that.  I am a normal guy and when people come up to ask for an autograph, I am very shy.  I wonder, mine?  A month ago I was able to buy a car, but before I traveled everywhere by bus.  When I got to Argentina that surprised me, that they treat you as if you weren’t normal,” Argentinos’ scoring machine says.  With five consecutive goals, he is the top scorer on the team.  However, Alvaro revelas something unknown with this as well: “Two days before the match against Banfield (the first of his goal-scoring streak) I found out that my wife is pregnant.  It looks like I am already coming home with the bread under my arm.  Now I am going to continue with the little dance celebration that has also brought me luck.”

The white teeth appear now and again.  Pereira smiles and he lights up.  And dreams.  “I want to make my mark in the history of Argentinos.  I know it is tough, but when I see the walls in the hall of the stadium, I say: “Look at how great, it would be beautiful to be up there with all of those monsters some day.  It’s just that they criticized us, the incoming signings, when we got here…” he says with a vengeful tone.  “They said that we didn’t have experience and all of that.  We are showing that in fútbol, names don’t matter.”  He already won them over.  He is Alvaro Pereira.  The star of El Bicho.  Or Alejandro’s brother.  Better yet, Pelé’s brother.

Category: Team News

Tags: Pereira, Team News

Subscribe   The Offside RSS Feeds

Print

Share