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“Che, did you know that there was a kid who, from here, from Los Andes, went to Real Madrid?”
The story of Jorge Tuninetti It is one of the most implausible since soccer is soccer in Córdoba.
A legend that is told in the fields of the Cordovan Soccer League, more precisely in the José Ignacio Díaz neighborhood, where the humble club The Andes It is a refuge for the kids who still choose a ball before the corner.
Jorge Tuninetti was one of them, one of those boys “rescued” by the ball. And introduced into a fantasy that was beautiful when presented to him and his family. The representatives of occasion offered him everything. He was 14 years old and plane tickets were on the table.
The Real Madrid, in Spain, I was going to try it, with great chances of signing him.
And Tuninetti, better known as “Peky”, traveled to Europe. His name, back in 2001, came out often in The voice of the interior.
It was “the” sports news of the year: a boy who jumped from the bare fields of the ACF (Cordovan Football Association at the time) to Real Madrid.
Before, he had stayed in a test in River, which offered him the pension and a great future. But he chose to go to Spain. Because to bet you have to bet big, he thought.
With only googling one can find notes in the Olé newspaper, in the Marca newspaper of Spain and La Nación newspaper. Everyone echoed this romantic and magical story.
Precisely, Marca newspaper titled in May 2001: “Madrid follows the new Riquelme”.
“Peky” was not the new nothing. It was Jorge, a 14-year-old little boy who moved her beautifully.
On May 27, La Voz dedicated a full page to her story. “Jorge Tuninetti’s incredible week. At just 14 years old, ‘Pequi’ passed the test at the Spanish club, which agreed to sign him. Now he has the most difficult part: learning to live with what it means. “
What it meant to live with it can be told today by Tuninetti, who never officially played for Real Madrid, who had agreed to sign him waiting for his European citizenship to come out so that he would not occupy a foreign position.
But the citizenship process of “Peky” took … three years!
Sure, Real Madrid couldn’t wait for it. He was there for three months, until he was told “very pleased” and that white dream ended.
Tuninetti stayed in Europe and went where soccer was leading him, with good and bad decisions.
He passed through the Lugano of Switzerland, where he spent a year. Then, in different tests in Germany and Italy. But nothing like what he went looking for. He also played in the Spanish promotion, without transcending.
In the middle, he returned to Córdoba. Institute bet on signing him. Was 16 years old.
“It is curious that Belgrano and Talleres have not been interested in a player of their talent,” said Diego Bobatto, president of the Institute at the time of signing their bond.
“You are not going to notice differences between Real Madrid and the Institute,” Juan de Dios Castro, vice president of the club, jokingly threw at him.
Phrases that can be read in the clippings that “Peky” himself still has.
At the Institute he could barely play at the first local and had a couple of training sessions at the First. Nothing else. He had to keep rowing, with comings and goings to Europe.
He played in Alianza de San Juan, in Argentino B and, later, made a worthy career in soccer in the interior of Córdoba.
He settled in Colonia Caroya with his family and wore the Deportivo Colón and Alianza de Jesús María shirts, where he was also a junior coach.
Today, at 33 years old, he decided to stop playing and work in a plastic products factory in Córdoba. Accept to chat with Mundo D to remember all this way.
“It was a beautiful life,” says Tuninetti. As if this was another life. As if everything that happened to her 14 years had happened to someone else. Not him.
–What happened to the life of “Peky” Tuninetti?
–Uhhh… so much has happened. Look, I stopped playing about five months ago, because it was complicated with working hours. A little earlier, I had also stopped directing in inferiors, because it was dedicating all Sunday to him and seeing almost nothing to my lady and my children. Since I came from Spain in 2010, I came to play Deportivo Colón and settled in Colonia Caroya. I was playing there for five years, I was the junior coordinator and coach. From there I went to Alianza, where I was also a technician, I kept playing and directing. This last time, I was going to play without training and I didn’t like it. I felt bad about taking away from the little ones, the ones who train. I said I was not going to play until I could accommodate the issue of hours at work. Two months ago they changed my shift, I come in at 6 in the morning and leave at 14. I want to return. I am 34 years old on July 26, so I am thinking of going back to play.
–The football bug is always…
– Yes, the desire is. I always lived from soccer, since I left at 14 years old, until 2011 when I returned. I don’t drop anything for saying that I work in a plastics factory. It’s going to be two years since I’m already there. Now that I have the whole afternoon free, I wanted to go back to a court. It’s hard the day after the player, when you fold. Is not easy…
–You lived many things at a young age. Was it difficult to handle?
–He who listens to my story always tells me it’s for a movie. At 14 years old I went to Spain and, between twists and turns, a lot of things have happened to me. More bad than good, I would tell you. To this day I see European football, people who play in the Spanish First Division and I say: ‘Those have been my teammates.’ You are here, you get up at six in the morning, it is hard. I have no drama in telling it, I am not ashamed to say where I work. I am aware that I passed it, I lived it and the time it lasted, I loved it. I can’t blame myself, because it was largely not my fault. They were bad efforts, I did not have anyone telling me which was the way. Being a boy, handling myself, not having anyone trained next to me, it was all very complicated. I made the wrong choice and when I wanted to return, it was late. I have a son in Spain, who is 12 years old and plays there. The smallest I have here also plays. I always tell them, if you want to be players, perfect. But I am not going to force you to anything. I don’t want to do to them what they did to me …
–What things go through your head when you watch a Real Madrid game on television?
–Uhhh… Many things (pauses). When they pass images where they train, of the property. I say, “think I was there” … It’s okay that I wasn’t there much, but I wore the Real Madrid shirt, I trained with those colors, I wore those clothes. You get a nice feeling, difficult to explain. I was a partner (Roberto) Soldado, also of goalkeeper Diego López. They continue to play at the high level. And one says: “Why couldn’t one?” Soccer is for those who play well and also for those who have a magic wand. Someone comes who touches you from above and takes you to first. I love to watch soccer and sometimes I get mad. I see some footballers and think how they can be playing at that level. Eye, it is not that one believes wow! … But he had the conditions to be there.
-How did ‘Peky’ Tuninetti play? In Spain they called you the “new” Riquelme …
-Look, the last tournament I played here, I was not ready to play, due to the weight. So I ended up playing ‘2’. And I love the post. I was always slow, my strength was always the ball, the ball between the lines, the pass. And when you play in the back you see everything … Soccer is becoming fast. And I was pulling back. I had the shrimp, but when I was a boy. Later, when I went to European football, I played behind a point and had to run. They went looking for the place of double five and there I settled, because I handled both legs, both profiles. Here in Alliance if I played hitch. The stopped ball was also my strength …
–What message did you give to the boys that you had to direct?
–I always tried to tell them what little I know, what one learned and lived on this path. I told them that you have to take advantage when the train passes, but you have to choose well. I had the bad luck that I handled myself. Because when I went to Spain, the one who was supposed to be my manager disappeared after 15 days. But from everything I could learn and be stronger. For a reason we are here telling what happened and without hiding anything. Many know my story and when they saw me playing in Alianza de Jesús María they wondered what I was doing there … The first time was fight after fight, because they shouted at me ‘failed’ and ugly things. Then it became a common insult. Sometimes I would answer, I would get angry. I never wish evil anyone … My lady also fought in the gallery. Until I said, ‘Don’t get bad blood.’ Commenting on the lives of others is very easy. But you have to live those lives to have an opinion. I am proud of what I lived behind a ball. There is nothing to regret. As I told you, it was a beautiful life. And I lived it.
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