Diario de la Copa: «I will leave at five in the morning on the day of the match with Sporting»

Paredes, Fabril and Sacavenense prepare their respective duels against the ‘big three’ in the Portuguese Cup. Throughout the week, the protagonists of the queen race write in the first person in the More soccer. How are these days for semi-professional athletes and for squads that are far from the media spotlight? The essence of the Portuguese Cup in the words of the hero candidates.

CARLOS SAAVEDRA: 39 years old, steering wheel Sport Grupo Sacavenense

. November 18, 2020, five days from Sacavenense-Sporting

«This morning we had another training session to prepare for the match with Sporting, but I have been doing a specific job, due to a pain in the adductor that I felt in the match with Loures. It’s nothing special, I have to train this Thursday, and there are still a few days to go.

I work from one to five in the morning like Iaquinta [colega de equipa], who works with me. I get home at six, sleep an hour or so, then I take my son to school and go to training. I get home at 1:30 pm / 2pm, and then at 3pm I pick up my son from school. Sometimes he lets me sleep for a while, sometimes right after dinner, between 8 pm and 11:30 pm, more or less. At first it cost more, but of course it is complicated. I have to sleep four hours a day. At the end of the week I sleep two or three days less than my colleagues. Some sleep through the night and then manage to rest in the afternoon as they simply play. Of course, there are days when I feel tired, but those who run for pleasure never get tired.

Since March I have been in charge of a cleaning company, works on the red and green lines of the Lisbon metro. It was a job that came through Hugo Cardoso, who was my colleague in Sacavenense [agora guarda-redes do 1.º de Dezembro]. When I arrive I go to look for the sheets, I let the staff in, then if someone is missing I have to take the substitute to that station, bring material. It’s a lot of people and we have 24 stations in my area.

For most of my career I was a professional. Here a few years ago a friend who owns a real estate agency “pissed me off” that I went there. I’ve been working there for a year and, in a way, I’m moving on, but with this schedule now it’s difficult. In March, when the pandemic stopped soccer, I had to look for something else, especially since the housing market also stopped for a while. I needed something more secure and this came up.

I will work at dawn from Sunday to Monday, match day with Sporting. I’m leaving at five in the morning. Then we will exercise and go to a hotel, where we will rest until the game. That’s when I go to sleep for two or three hours. In the early morning from Monday to Tuesday, I don’t go to work, to rest. And so they even warn me if the game is overtime or something. You never know, we have to be prepared for everything.

I started playing in Agualva, but then I continued with the Benfica boys. I played with Jorge Ribeiro and Bruno Aguiar, for example. At that time, Benfica looked more at the physical and I was not very big. Maybe it was a bit there, but I usually say that I did not miss anything, I made my way. The truth is that, from that team, there were not many players who reached high levels, apart from the ones I mentioned. Not even the II League.

Then I went through Estrela da Amadora, where I was trained by Mr. Miguel Quaresma [antigo adjunto de Jorge Jesus]. I was even without playing for a few months because of a punch to a glass that I gave him at home. It almost killed the tendon. At that time, it was not easy to go there to train on trains, the crowd was often attacked.

I ended up going back to Agualva, but then I went to Estoril, where I went up the senior. Mr. Pedro António launched me, who was making the transition. At that time I had very long hair, almost to the tail, and the man told me that I had to cut my hair if I debuted. I played the first game in Loulé, except for a mistake, and in the next training session I appeared with the same hair. The lord forbade me to train and sent me home. The next day the same, until the third day they cut my hair in the dressing room. I had to go to school with a hat. That team had experienced players like Baroti, Paulo Sérgio, Martins, Nélson Veiga … If he was up to date, the kid would complain to his parents and be confused.

In Estoril I was also trained by José Rachão, José Morais and Ulisses Morais. Then Manuel Damásio, José Veiga, António Figueiredo took over and the investment was different. He had little chance of playing. I left for Sintrense but they arrested me six months after a knee operation.

This was followed by Barreirense, one of the clubs in which I most enjoyed playing. In the first year we had a very good team, trained by Daúto Faquirá, and we went up to the II League. It was an incredible year, always with many fans in the stands, both at home and abroad.

In the second year, already in the II League, the coach was Rui Bento. Then I went to Estrela da Amadora, taken by Daúto Faquirá. It was an opportunity to reach the First League, but the club already had many problems. I don’t think I even played in the preseason, I only did a few training sessions and they immediately loaned me to the Trofense, which had an experienced team, with Idalécio, Mozer and Costa. In 2007/08 I was in Odivelas, where I was a colleague of Sílvio [V. Guimarães].

In the space of a year I went from La Liga to the third level. I started to think that it would be difficult for me to go up again and I ended up going to Cyprus, where four or five former Barreirense teammates were. Eleven Portuguese and two Brazilians participated in DOXA.

I was there for five years, I really liked it, it is a spectacular country to live in. But if things go wrong … There are clubs that live a lot from illegal gambling, putting pressure on more Cypriots than foreigners.

I don’t think I have received a full month in Cypriot football. Their policy is to drag it all the way and then negotiate. I had an episode in which the president went to the dressing room and said that everything was going to be dispatched to Portugal, comrades threatened with guns, presidents arriving for training with seven or eight security guards, with guns, in a Hummer.

In 2013 there were problems in Cyprus and I received a call from a former colleague to go to Greece. Those six months in Glyfada were enough to write a book. I traveled without knowing anything about the club, nobody was waiting for me and the taxi driver did not even know the club. When I arrived the numbers that had been spoken were not the same, I said that I was leaving but there we reached an agreement. I didn’t even pay for the plane ticket there. We got to the hotel and they didn’t let us in because the club hadn’t paid, we moved to another and a few times later the scene was repeated. Once we got to the game ten minutes before kick-off, we had to jump walls to train, and sometimes we would train an hour and a half away and have to go by taxi or train on our own. In the midst of all this, they didn’t pay us. I left that at court and left.

Then in January I signed for a Greek third division club, Ermionidas, and we even went up. They paid for everything well, but I went in January with a Nigerian, Patrick Ogunsoto, and since there was no contract, we even asked to receive the money in hand. After two or three games, the president wanted the money back, but the player did not pay it back, and one day the president walked onto the field, during training, and slapped him. The next day Patrick complained to the police and disappeared with the 20,000 euros he had received.

The club that marked me the most was Sacavenense. It’s a different club, and I’m not saying it because I’m there now. All the players who leave Sacavém want to return and feel good, since it is a familiar environment that is nowhere to be seen. People are good, genuine, they don’t get in trouble. They no longer pay because they can’t. It was where I most enjoyed playing.

It is the first time I have played an important match, although I have already played against top teams in the Cup. It is a game to enjoy. I do not know if it will be my last year to play, but it will be to enjoy, to honor the club as well. They can do nothing but give the best of themselves. Who doesn’t want to play with a big one? With the public and in Sacavém it was much better, but we have the opportunity to play in Jamor. I never played there, it is a unique opportunity to play on a mythical stage. It was the best option, since he could not be in Sacavém. We have to prove our worth, but it is collective and not individual. The collective will make the individual stand out.

If I asked someone for the shirt, it would be João Mário or Nuno Mendes. One is a great player, especially playing in my position, and the other is an outstanding player who will give Sporting a lot of money.