In the Chinatown of sydney there is a sports bar that has traditionally been one of the great temples of rugby, until the arrival of world. Or rather they arrived the matildas, the nickname of the Australian national team, the makers of a new homeland tide of soccer fans. the good of Cooper, one of the bar’s regular drinkers (“During the day I swallow all kinds of humanitarian dramas in an NGO and at night I drink beer to forget them,” he says), had never seen a game in his life until rugby was taken away from him. the telly to show the Matildas. He is now the biggest fan. But if someone asks him about a player, he points to a Spanish woman, although it is impossible for him to pronounce her last name correctly.
«The one who fought all the balls the other day. She entered like a motorcycle, very fast », releases Cooper after giving up on the last name. His friend Palm, a real fan, who boasts of having seen all the World Cup matches, gives him a cable: «Salma Paralluelo. Pa-ra-llu-e-lo. Is incredible. I’ve read the story of him in the newspapers. Sports programs talk a lot about her. They say she was an athlete ».
Palm is right. The athlete who changed the athletics track for a soccer field is becoming a media phenomenon outside the Spanish borders, especially thanks to the large Anglo-Saxon media, not only those specialized in sport. the front of Zaragozawith only 19 years, has been one of the revelations of the tournament and the most decisive player for Spain in the crosses. She still has a chance to dazzle in the grand finale.
What do the international media say about her? «Salma Paralluelo could have been preparing for the Olympic Games next year if he had decided to stay on track. But he chose soccer and has led Spain to the World Cup final, scoring two crucial goals to help his team get closer and closer to their first major trophy », they say on the Canadian channel CBC.
Everyone remembers his goal in extra time against Netherlands in the quarterfinals and the decisive goal in the 81st minute of the semifinal victory against Sweden.