El hijo del viento

A lifetime without stopping, even when he should have. Claudio Paul Caniggia, born in Argentina exactly 50 years ago, in someone that in 2012, at the venerable age of 45, decided to come back to play football and got signed by Wembley, a semi-professional English club. But before that, he had a long career in true football, with many years in Serie A, with many appearances for the Albiceleste, beside a certain Diego Armando Maradona.

After his early years with River Plate, Caniggia started a long pilgrimage in our Serie A, at the times the best and most fascinating league in the world. The Son of the Wind, called this way for his incredible speed on the side, also with the ball in his feet, he rose the hierarchies of our championship, starting from Verona and arriving at Roma, with a long break at Atalanta. During his very first season with the Giallorossi, he was found positive to cocaine and banned for 13 months. Here it begun his slow but relentless, which will bring him in Argentina, Scotland and Qatar.

Caniggia’s best moments were undoubtedly those with the Selección, with a second place at Italia ’90 World Cup and two gold medals, one in ’91 Copa America and another in ’92 Confederations Cup. He will be remember for his goal agains Italy at San Paolo Stadium, which equalized Schillaci’s lead, forcing the Azzurri to face penalties and therefore elimination. Maybe that will remain Cani’s highest point in his career, which could’ve been much better without some bad injuries and other bad choices. But as De André used to say: “You cannot stop the wind, you would only waste his time”.