I confess that I followed a dream for almost 50 years , and have had , in the end , the satisfaction and excitement to see it become reality .
The dream was to fly one day to Montevideo to meet Abbadie , never forgot the idol of my youth. A dream that nothing and no one could erase, because the dreams of adolescence are our true essence, and live with us forever. That morning of 13 November 2004, when the windows of the Hotel Columbia , with the sea in front of the Atlantic ocean , in a beautiful Montevideo as a childhood memory , I saw -and immediately, who was posteggiando the car, for a moment I lost control of everything and I can not say what he felt or thought.
I only know that a few minutes later, facing each other, we looked at how to shake hands (he did not even have an idea of who I was, knew only from my telefonata- I was a fan of Genoa), and instead we were hugging each other, like two old friends, both moved by the fact that time, once again, nothing he could against the force of memory. As Genoa player, was born and raised in the myth of Pilcher, Cattani and Beccattini, old hearts rossoblu that for years have been the pillars of a team that was increasingly impoverished talent; and nell'infatuazione for Verdeal, the whimsical South American school of Argentina, who had played in Brazil with football legends like Ademir and Zizinho, and that knit Rossoblu had been able to give genoani the last dreams of grandeur.
After Verdeal had arrived Boye, another Argentine, another champion of racial, national and repeatedly champions Argentina, the volley of power and an extraordinary precision. But I was too young age to be able to truly appreciate the football skills. Until, in the summer of '56, he came again from South America, Abbadie.
This time I was the right age. I had cut his teeth on perfect geometry, ground ball, Larsen, elegant and combative median Norwegian, and I was impressed by the "serpentine" irresistible Carapellese, in Genoa that he had found a second youth, to the point of being called again to play in the national team.
But Abbadie was really from another planet, and changed, with the way he plays, the way I understand football.
Football as art. Art and intelligence here, in two words, the message of Abbadie. A clear message of the South American school.
Two years before coming in Genoa, Abbadie had been among the major players in the World Cup in Switzerland, which had participated playing right wing in the Uruguayan squad, he stopped in the semis after -only time supplementary by great Hungarian Puskas. Specialized commentators, had put Abbadie formations ideals of the World, and us fans obviously knew. Therefore, the news of his purchase, in that unforgettable summer of '56, broke a lot of enthusiasm. And in the first friendly of August to Ferraris, against a good Udinese, although the town was on vacation, a good number of fans was present in the stands, in the grip of curiosity and emotion.
Genoa, further weakened compared with previous years and hurtling toward irreversible decline, unfortunately showed modest team, but Abbadie exhibited an extremely high level of class, as long you could not see in the basin of the Ferraris. For two years, even though he lacked the support of the midfield (which had been dismembered before his arrival, and never rebuilt), to the point that often, himself, had to do as a midfielder and puncture (played with 7, with the ' with 8 and 9), Abbadie delighted his many fans with performances of rare intelligence technique and refined talent.
His style, as do the champions, was unique. Running strides, tall and very elegant movements, holding the ball at least a meter forward. It always seemed that the marker could anticipate it, and yet at the last moment it was as if the same it removed to let him pass. It took me some time to grasp that imperceptible fake body that Abbadie performing at full speed, thanks to which regularly put defenders out of time and could continue acting in speed going straight ahead, as if the defenders themselves had not been there. Except the last one that regularly stretched a moment before he could enter the area. View it as of mid-field and draw on the grass of the Ferraris those perfect straight lines, it was one of the most beautiful and spectacular things I've ever seen on the football field.
In Naples scored one goal by taking the ball to head up to the midline of the field and, at full speed, after having slid elegantly along the body from head to toe, then he passed half the opposing team, in unstoppable progression, until when, at the height of the penalty area, shook the center and flashed the great Bugatti, with a shot tight and arched, which bagged the applause of the same Neapolitan public (he was still playing in the Vomero), which bestowed the Our star players a standing ovation.
Football Illustrated (thankfully documents remain) honored him with the photo on the front page, and in the record, the envoy wrote that, at some point in the game, the coach of Napoli saw fit to release Morin (Napoli) nightmare (that's right!) Abbadie, changing marking, (without getting any results because Abbadie continued to rage).
But Abbadie was a nightmare, not only for the poor Morin. It was also for the whole Sampdoria, in the famous derby 1 November of '57, known to history as "the derby of Abbadie". That day the Genoa down the field with only one point in the standings, last and disconnected from everyone, and with a very small team.
Young Lions, Corso and Firottto, received by the great Uruguayan champion, over the 90 ', a dozen balls asking only to be pushed into the net. Many mistaken, sometimes by a pitch, but three slipped, allowing the Genoa to get an unexpected victory on the eve, and his fans raise their heads at the city level.
In that famous derby, won 3-1 by Genoa, neighbors, future coach of the Italian team, sprained an ankle on a fake deadly Abbadie, who fled from all sides.
Monzeglio, coach of Sampdoria, he thought to put then on Abbadie, the best of her, the great Ockwirch, one of the last exponents of the legendary Danube school worth it also, like Genoa, in serious decline.
No worries mate, I know I leave this in good hands. 
) but I know he was superb for them so no worries, just ask Chrome to translate it for you.
