Horacio Usandizaga, the magnificently-named but rather less impressively brained president of Rosario Central, apologised on Tuesday for his comments last week – made public on Friday – regarding the club’s squad. Usandizaga’s son, Manuel, who also works for Central, appeared before the press to assure them his father was truly sorry.
Referring to the tirade in which Usandizaga the elder told assembled fans (to some applause, it must be noted) that he’d kill members of the first team squad if they didn’t buck up their ideas soon, Manuel told the press, ‘that remark was was a product of the verbal diarrohea he’s always had… that doesn’t excuse it… [but] what matters is that my father is repentant. It’s difficult for him to apologise because he’s a very proud man, but we want to ask forgiveness from the club members, the players, the coach and the Argentine Football Assocation.’
He stopped just short of the apology to a national government made by former Gimnasia de Jujuy president Raúl Ulloa, who asked the pardon of the Bolivian government the day after standing down from his post following referee Saúl Laverni’s ‘Bolivians’ comment to his squad. All the same, the apology was necessary, in spite of club captain Kily González’s prepared statement shortly beforehand which included such platitudes as, ‘every man is fallible’ and ‘that which doesn’t kill us, fortifies us,’ which seems a bizarre choice of words given the content of the speech that set the whole argument off in the first place. For now, there’s peace at Central. Or at least, so the club would like us to believe.
Hasta El Gol Siempre 