This appears in the Monday, May 14, 2012 edition of the Business Mirror.
The life,
miles & smiles of Angel Guirado
by rick olivares
“Look.”
Angel Guirado held out his cellphone
and showed me videos of his goals back during his club days in Spain. In one
sequence, he latched on to the ball, accelerated forward and unleashed a volley
before the defender could close him down. Goal! Guirado jumped up and punched
his fist in the air. What was not seen on cam is that he ran to the sidelines
to kiss his fiancée. That said a lot: his first love, football; and his second
love, Rocio Carvajal, his fiancée.
“El amour,” he gushed as he now has a
chance to put both of them together.
In July of 2012, Guirado will marry
his girlfriend of five years. It hasn’t been easy keeping a long distance
relationship alive. The couple have a saying, “One dream. One illusion.”
Translated, it means, that what whatever dream they have, illusions they may
be, the two of them will strive to make fulfill them.
Angel Guirado’s life since the age of
five has defined by a football. “Es mi
vida,” he shrugged. “It is my life.”
In his first visit to the Philippines
eight years ago, the Guirados visited his mother’s hometown of Isabela, he
asked around for a football but there was none. Today, with the rapid growth of
the sport throughout the archipelago, one can find the game and a football
almost everywhere. “See? Good things happen if you wait,” he smiled.
That smile. That toothy, infectious
smile of Angel Guirado’s is one of the first things you will notice about him
(aside from his 6’2” frame). He always seems to smile and have a good laugh.
“When you are unable to watch movies in Manila because they are in English, I
look for company so I can socialize and have fun. I enjoy being around people
and having fun. We tell jokes. Laugh,” he explained with a guffaw that
punctuates his sentence.
Football on the other hand, is serious
business. He made it clear to his fiancée that he’d try to play the game that
he loves for as long as he can. However, after his marriage, he has to face the
long and hard decision of relocating his wife to Manila if possible at all.
There are so many things to consider.
He was born in Malaga, Spain, a
southern city off the Mediterranean coast. Like every other Spanish youngster,
he fell in love with football and hoped to have a career in it. The problem is,
he is not alone. Roughly 15 million Spanish males also hope to have a career in
football. The game is deeply rooted in their culture, pastime, beliefs, and
thinking. “It is the main sport in Spain. It’s very difficult to be a
professional in Spain because everyone plays and understands the game. If you
play in Division One, then you know you are among the best in the world,” he
says.
Unable to play for the first division
team of his hometown Malaga, Guirado suited up for the lower division Mataro in
Catalonia.
While at Mataro, he got to play in two
friendlies with star-studded Barcelona that at that time had Frank Rijkaard as
its coach and Juan Roman Riquelme, Ronaldinho, Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars,
and a young Xavi, Carles Puyol, and Andres Iniesta. “I couldn’t sleep the night
before the game,” recounted Guirado who thought that at the time that he would
have a chance of impressing the Blaugrana. “But we lost 2-0. And then in the
second match, we lost again by a bigger margin.”
In another match, this time against
Sevilla, he had Dani Alves marking him. “He is very difficult to get around,”
remarks Guirado. “And he is very fast.”
After bouncing around for seven years
with Cordoba, Atletico Madrid, Deportivo de la Coruña, Levante, Santa Eulalia,
Estepona, El Palo, and lastly Ronda, one would think of giving up a child’s
dream and look for a real job.
However, Guirado is nothing short of
resilient. “Sometimes, you have to find your luck elsewhere,” he reasoned out.
It has been over a year every since he
made his debut with the Philippine Men’s Football National Team. In 15
appearances, he has scored five goals. With top club Global, he has added two
goals and had a bunch of assists.
He can now speak a little English and
Filipino and he promises to work harder at mastering the two languages. The
recent controversy where the match commissioner of the friendly with Malaysia
accused him and Azkals teammate Lexton Moy of sexual harassment has hurt him
mentally and financially.
His cousin, Rafa Garcia, brother of
coach Caloy Garcia of basketball club Rain or Shine, laughed at the
accusations. “He is so conservative,” related Garcia. “He wasn’t even in favor
of those controversial Bench ads (that featured members of the Philippine
Volcanoes rugby team in their underwear).”
A couple of potential sponsors have
reportedly hedged from their initial plans of landing him as an endorser.
Guirado smiled and a said he harbored no anger or dislike neither towards the
accuser nor to critics. “Such is life,” he simply said. “Like boxing, it’s how
you roll with the punches. What is important that I prove to people that I am
not that kind of person and I continue to work hard and keep to my dreams.
Things happen for a reason and maybe this is a lesson for me not to take things
for granted.”
He sat silent for a minute but his
eyes blazed with activity. He was clearly
thinking and thinking some more. "It will all be good," he said. Then he pulled out his cellphone once more and played
a video of a recent Azkals match. “Look.”
We watched. And then we laughed.
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