« I tried to be the best »
Former captain and coach of the national football team of Romania, Gheorghe Hagi, said, on Wednesday evening, at the launch event of the autobiography entitled ‘My Road’ from the Academy of Economic Studies, that the volume describes its journey alive and shows how to build a success.
‘I think these words that have been said about me are a bit big. Because I tried to be the best, I don’t know if I succeeded. The book is called ‘My Road’, a road that started in Săcele with a child who loved the ball. I loved her, I trained, I worked … and I had the biggest chance to have the best teachers who trained me and who made me better. I’m not talking about all the colleagues I had, because they all helped me to be better. Because I practiced collective sport, not individual sport. So behind me there were many people who helped me. Because the team wins trophies, the player only makes the difference from time to time. It’s my small road until I got big and old. I left Constanța and returned to Constanța where I now built an academy. It was my duty, because football made me known in the world. What is in this book is good. Here you can read how a success is built. This shows the book, how great success is built. Football was my first love, « Hagi said.
He explained that in his career he generally made good decisions that helped him and that he had withdrawn from the activity when he could no longer train.
‘We chose the name of the book because it is a trip, we all have our life. It’s a journey where you have many opportunities and make decisions. You do not always make good decisions, it is important that at the end there are more good. And I think I made more good decisions than bad. If we did not make good decisions at times I did not get to where I am and I could not do those performances and reach the first 100 in the world of all time. But I learned from criticism, from defeats, they all made me stronger. My quality was that I was ambitious and I wanted to be better than the others. I always liked the ball and I liked to win. That made me play until 36 and a half, and at that time I don’t know how many were up to that age. And I tell you why I retired, I retired because I couldn’t train anymore. The hardest thing in football and other trades is to train. At the match it is pleasure, but at the match you play as you train. You can’t help but love training and then be on the field at the match. That doesn’t exist. It’s something I wrote in the book, the hardest in football is training … it’s rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal, « he said.
‘I the first thing I loved was the ball. After that, when I grew up, the family, the wife, the children came. I thank God for giving me a wife who understands me and two good and serious children. I am proud and fulfilled, I can sleep quietly that I gave my best. The most beautiful thing I experienced was three years old when I told my parents to take a ball. It cannot be another more beautiful moment. And when I first saw the ball I fell in love with her. And I tried to control it so that it would not bite. I was 10, but when I was younger I was more selfish. That is why I came out the goalscorer of Romania twice. But after 23-24 years I tried to step more, which is why the number 9 that played in the team with me scored many goals, « Hagi added.
Questioned by Aurel Țicleanu, present at launch, Gheorghe Hagi acknowledged that he would have liked to play at Craiova University.
‘I know I was and I am loved in Craiova, but unfortunately, the roads were. Not my fault. The people from Craiova did not expect me at the airport when I returned from the national team, the students from Student Sport was waiting for me. What do I do? I would have liked to play at Craiova University with you, because I know you have a very high quality: you have a spirit, « Hagi said.
The former national decar did not forget two of the coaches from the national team who called him captain.
‘What would I tell Gică Hagi when he was 17? Mircea Lucescu must answer this question, I do not know what he saw in me. He took me to the national team at 17. He came to see me at a match Steaua-Lighthouse, in the second half I did what I wanted on the field and I also gave an empty from 30 meters directly in the win. And then, Mircea also to say what he saw in me to put my captain at the national team at 20 years old. Two dynamovists made me captain at the national team. The first was Mircea, and the second Cornel Dinu. Two dynamovists gave me the banner at the national team. What would he see about me? ‘Hagi laughed.
At the launch of the Aubiographic volume ‘Hagi – my road’, held in the Aula Magna Hall of the Academy of Economic Studies in the Capital, former colleagues, opponents and coaches of Gheorghe Hagi, such as Mircea Lucescu, Gheorghe Popescu, Florin Răducioiu, Marius Lăcătuș, Ștefan Iovan, Ilie Bumb, Ilie Bumb, Ionel Ganea, Dorin Mateuț, Jean Vlădoiu, Emil Săndoi or Iosif Rotariu.
