Jose Maria Rodriguez |
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (EFE) for Jonathan Viera to drop the phrase. And the captain did not disappoint: “Today I do see a lot of parties here,” he exclaimed amid yellow delirium.
It is about to be a year since that night of June 1, 2022 at the Heliodoro Rodríguez López stadium, when the team had just received its first jug of cold water in the playoff for promotion by conceding 1-0 at the home of his eternal rival, CD Tenerife, just when he was believed to be in the best shape, when everything seemed in his favor to return to the Santander League.
Jonathan Viera had to show his face. He returned to the pitch, looked at the Heliodoro stands with a defiant smile and tried to encourage his people, taking advantage of the obligatory television interview: “I see a lot of parties here…”, he said, “and it seems good to me. But we are waiting for you on Saturday in Gran Canaria with our people. It’s going to be a totally different game. Ninety minutes there are very long”.
The following Saturday, the home field factor was not what was expected, UD Las Palmas was defeated 1-2 at the Gran Canaria stadium, the dream of promotion faded and “I see a lot of partying here” turned Viera into meat of meme and object of all kinds of ridicule.
T-shirts were even made with the phrase and the chicharrera fans had a great time at carnivals reminding all Canarians who crossed their path the “I see a lot of partying here”.
Increasingly mature, more tempered, aware that he is probably the best player in the category, Jonathan Viera promised that the team would try again the following season, he conceded the darts with sportsmanship and even laughed at himself. But surely he had been waiting for a year for the day to come when he would get rid of that “I see a lot of partying here”.
And that moment came this morning in the Plaza de España, where the team celebrates the promotions with the yellow tide. Most were already waiting for him in the stadium at the end of the game, but the captain bit his lip to keep from letting go in the television interview.
Surrounded by thousands of people, at the edge of 2:00 in the morning, Viera waited for all his companions to climb one by one to the stage of the celebration, took the microphone and started: “Today I do see a party.” But he stopped in a brief ‘paradinha’ that served him to remark that he was not planning to invite “anyone else, because they don’t deserve it” to the yellow celebration, and end up chanting a “chicharrero who doesn’t bounce” that cleared up any doubts who he was referring to.
It was time to close the circle: “Last year was very hard, but we told them to trust, that there was a huge group of footballers… Today I do see a lot of partying here.” And the square exploded.
It was the turn of the coach, Xavier García Pimienta, to close the euphoria, another surrendered to the charisma of captain Viera.
“The captain said it last year: we will try again. And internally we said to ourselves: We are going to make it. You have shown that you are the best fans of the Second Division and next season you will be the best fans of the First Division”, concluded the Catalan coach.
García Pimienta has made UD Las Palmas grow, he has more than earned the renewal by taking the team to the First Division and has exhibited a more than remarkable identification with the club.
But that “you have” and that “you will be” shows that you can further polish your peninsular linguistic ways and start talking to your fans, that there is confidence. EFE