“Dad, I still can’t believe you’re gone. It hasn’t sunk in, or rather, I don’t want it to. It’s so hard for me to imagine that I’m never going to see you again, that we’re never going to talk again. I know you were suffering and that this is for the best, but you left us far too soon. We still had so much left to enjoy together.
“You kept asking me to play in one last World Cup, and just days before it began was when your condition got worse. It was the first time you weren’t going to be there with me at a tournament, but Mom kept telling me you were going to get better and that you’d be well enough to travel. I kept telling you we were going to reach the final so you could make the trip.
“After every match, I waited for and missed your message. That’s when I realized how serious the situation really was. Even so, I couldn’t stop thinking about going as far as possible, to give you more time and the chance to watch one of the games.
“We reached the final, but you couldn’t be there. I wanted to win it so I could bring the trophy to you and show you another one. I couldn’t. My legs just couldn’t give me any more. This time I tried to push beyond what my body could handle, but I couldn’t. I never managed to feel physically right.
“When I got back, you thought we had lost the final on penalties. We couldn’t talk about anything that had happened. You weren’t able to enjoy any of it. We didn’t become champions, but you have no idea how much we enjoyed every match. Once again, you were right: I had to be there and play in it.
“I’m telling you all this because it was the only thing we never got the chance to talk about. You already know everything else. We spoke every day and saw each other whenever my commitments allowed us to.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. I don’t know how to keep going. All I ever did was play football, and now I have serious doubts about whether I’ll keep doing it for much longer. You were by my side from the very beginning, and there was so little left until the end. Why couldn’t you hold on just a little longer so we could finish it together?
I know your happiness came from seeing your family doing well, your wife, your children and, above all, without anyone else knowing, from watching me play…
“It had always been that way since I was little. You took me to every training session as soon as you got home from work. Mom took me to many of them because you were working.
“And of course, you never missed a single match. How much you suffered watching me, and how much you enjoyed it, even though you never gave me too much praise.
“You were my dad, my friend, and my representative. You always knew exactly who you needed to be in every moment, and you were never wrong about anything. Despite some arguments or disagreements, you were always right. In the end, things always turned out the way you said they would.
“I’m going to miss you so much, but you’ll always be present, especially in the way I raise my children, because I teach them and raise them the way you and Mom raised me.
“Rest in peace and watch over us from above, just as you did here. Thank you for everything.
“I love you, Dad. ❤️”
