He is the man born in our country who scored the most from a corner kick. He was a center of attack who learned to play as a right indicator thanks to Serbian coach Vladimir Popovic, with whom he was champion at the Verdiblanco club in 1974.
Ángel María Torres was nine years old when she had to leave her hometown of La Paila to live in the San Antonio de los Caballeros neighborhood of Florida (Valle del Cauca) because her father, Camilo Torres, was going to work at the Central Sugar Mill. Castile. There the dreamy boy began to play ball on the sidewalk surrounding his house. That’s why her mother always repeated: “Batteries with shoes and tear pants, we don’t have to buy more.” But the passion won and there were few occasions when the protagonist of these letters arrived almost at midnight, after eternal matches, with torn clothes and shoes without soles.
Read also: The schools that marked the history of Colombian football
“There was no shortage of rej and flip flops,” he said viewer the being who did not neglect the study. He was a good student who liked math, algebra and geometry. While his colleagues did not want to see numbers in his modest notebooks, he liked to do all sorts of arithmetic. The numbers fascinated him, he liked football (still).
The Torres family moved to Cali and, as soon as he reached the age of majority and it was legal for him to work, Ángel María started working in a textile company. He helped the household economy and had more freedom to pursue a career as a footballer. He played games that his older brother took him to. He distinguished himself as a central striker and moved to the Barrios Unidos team. The then Deportivo Cali researcher, Víctor Celorio, wanted him for the minor divisions, and the talented young man sold his sports rights to the respective club for 3,000 dollars.
In 1970, Torres played the National Games with the Valle del Cauca team, was a scorer and Santa Fe and Deportivo Pereira offered him $ 40,000 to take him. He was full of anger because he had already signed with Cali and complained to the Verdiblanca institution, at whose sports headquarters he did not go for four months. One day he returned convinced that he would earn much more because of his goals and enjoyed the process until he reached the professional team, although he almost died at sea to go and play a few games on Gorgona Island.
(Pedro Zape: between sugar and clay)
“I was in the minor divisions, I went on a tour there and on the way back the ship stopped and sank. I almost stayed there. Fortunately, the entire team managed to return safely, “said the man who in 1971 wore the Colombian national team jersey at the South American U-20 Championships in Asunción, Paraguay, which in the same year represented the country at the Pan American Games. in Cali and that in 1972 he was at the Olympic Games in Munich (Germany).
Valle del Cauca liked to play in the center of the attack and “dribble to the goalkeeper to enter the goal with the ball and everything”, but his football concepts changed thanks to Vladimir Popović, one of the Yugoslav coaches who came to Colombian football at that time.
In the presence of Jorge Ramírez Gallego (goal scorer in the history of Deportivo Cali), Torres had to run on the right wing and position himself as the leader on that side. Popović showed him the moves to perform in that position and ÑatoAs they said in the team, he responded with historic performances, and the sugar box was the champion of the local rental in 1974.
With the Cali shirt Ñato He was happy because, in addition to playing football, he shared human beings who filled him with laughter. And even in games. In one against Deportes Tolima from Ibagué, Germán Burrito González noticed that Hébert Barona was not focused and shouted at him: “Hébert, live the game”. The Baroness also shouted, “Long live!” Torres couldn’t help but laugh at that anecdote they later commented on in the dressing room and in discussions with friends, when professional football was already a memory.
In 1976, Carlos Salvador Bilardo came to the technical direction of Deportivo Cali and implemented his extensive discussions on the board, video explanations and some decisions to Ñato they were not so easy to understand. In 1977, during a match at Pascual Guerrero against Cúcuta Deportivo, the extremely angry footballer left the stadium after a decision by Narigón (the nickname of the Argentine strategist who was world champion in Mexico 1986). “In the first half things were not going well for me, but in the second half I improved and I even scored a goal. Unfortunately he took me out. I didn’t like that and I decided to leave the stadium immediately and go home “.
With Bilardo, Cali faced Boca Juniors in the 1978 Libertadores Cup final. At Pascual they drew 0-0. At La Bombonera Torres, he didn’t hit the corner lightly: he couldn’t get the right impulse to hit the ball, because police officers with dogs had been stationed there. The Argentine team was superior, threw 4-0 and won the title. And that’s it Ñato He was a specialist in such standing balls, because together with the Argentine Ernesto Cococho Álvarez rehearsed after training. Witnesses from those days say that out of ten Olympic goal attempts, they scored nine.
And that was transferred to the realm of truth. The Argentine, who holds the national football record, scored nine goals in this way (eight with Cali and one with the Ecuadorian Emelec). And Ángel María, five. One of them in a historic match against Atlético Nacional at the end of the 1978 tournament. The pursuit team took the lead with a goal from the aforementioned scorer Oswaldo Marcial Palavecino. Last minute, corner kick for Cali. Ñato He adjusted the ball, put the perfect effect on it with his right boot and converted a new goal, which gave Valle del Cauca the subtitle (the champion was Millonarios) and the qualification for Libertadores since 1979.
(“Checho” Angulo: God, family and football)
Torres played in this continental tournament, receiving offers from Independiente (Argentina) and Santos (Brazil), but Alex Gorayeb, the legendary president of Cali, did not let him leave the club until 1982, when he had a brief stint in Santa Fe. and Millonarios. . In 1983 he returned to the sugar box and in 1985 he retired with Cúcuta Deportivo. “Until I was 86, I arranged with a manager from Deportes Quindío, but unfortunately he arrived Chiqui Garcia, who told me he was calling me. I’m still waiting, “said Torres, who has no fond memories of the Colombian national team.
“In ’74 and ’75 he played better than all the strikers in the country, where they were very good: Willington (Ortiz), Ernesto Díaz, Ten Castañeda … But the coach was also better (Efraín Alligator Sánchez) did not call me in the first instance. He did it when someone was injured. So I reluctantly went, I told him I didn’t want to be there and I came to my club “, explained Ñato Torres, who was not suffering from retirement. Later he was a physical education teacher, coach of the minor divisions in Cali and worked in a notary office, because a fan of the Verdiblanco club wanted to have him there as a partner.
Ángel María Torres is currently dedicated to watching football. Admire Manchester City and Barcelona. The one who needs unbalanced extremes, like him. On Saturday, he will watch the match in which his boyfriend Deportivo Cali will look to qualify for the next phase of the League. A game in which your mind will resume the agonizing Olympic goal it scored in 1978 against Atlético Nacional.