“Sometimes football is so similar to life that it is scary,” said the writer Eduardo Sacheri. Watch the celebrations Students from Río Cuartowith their stories, reflects to us that this sentence is very real.
In the south of the province of Córdoba, the “Southern Empire” woke up with a roar that had been stored for too long, won the final of the Primera Nacional Reduced and rose to the elite of Argentine football. A party has been going on for a week.
However, this increase cannot be explained by tactics or statistics alone. It is a story marked by lives that learned to resist before they learned to play; Lives that had to become strong out of obligation long before football gave them a victory. That’s how it is in the team he led Ivan DelfinoEach player seems to carry a story on his shoulder, a scar, an intimate duel and that was crucial to this historic conquest.
Among all these stories, four names strike with unique intensity: Brian Olivera, Alejandro “Colo” Cabrera, Gonzalo Maffini and Javier Ferreira. They didn’t just get up, they survived.
Historical: Estudiantes de Río Cuarto is promoted to the First Division
Great archer and great guy.
TO Brian Olivera Nothing was easy for him in life. Institute fanatic, since he was little, he trained in the same category at the La Agustina estate Paulo Dybala and Gustavo Gotti. Brian is an archer with cat-like reflexes, but above all, a guy who knew how to see himself on the edge and not give in.
“Three years ago I was given a diagnosis that I could never have imagined… You have testicular cancer,” he recalled some time ago: the world seemed to collapse on him. They told him that he would no longer play, that the hands that trigger a promotion today were destined to say goodbye to football. But he chose an alternative: resist. He endured chemotherapy, was afraid, and experienced unforgiving early mornings. “Life gives you a new chance,” he said, and that chance today is an indelible postcard: Olivera celebrating with the glass and hugging her teammates and loved ones.
Now he projects more. “My dream is to play in the Primera. If it is in Estudiantes, much better. If not, we will see other options, now is the time to enjoy this moment,” he said a few days ago in Río Cuarto.
A character who played with the heart.
“Colo” Cabrera is an outstanding player. A “Cincazo” who looks like a mix between the old central midfielders and the modern midfielders. He plays, he makes people play and he is a reference. But despite his talent, it wasn’t easy for him.
The native of “Los Cóndores” was reborn in a field. Idol in 2019, hero of that promotion to the First National, returned to Estudiantes at a time when the shadows were thicker than the light. Injuries put him in a corner. He even thought about leaving everything behind. “A year ago I wanted to stop playing football. Today I like to do what I like. I had a difficult time with the injuries, they were difficult moments,” he admitted some time ago.
The midfielder played again, he smiled again, he felt important again. His return was an act of faith. A common thread that once again united the team with its brightest past. And it became a legend because in a few years, when this milestone is remembered, the image of “Colo” Cabrera will appear most often.
So close and so far: When Estudiantes de Río Cuarto shared tournaments with Talleres, Belgrano and Instituto, but without playing against them
Oh, my captain, my captain.
The poet Walt Whitman wrote his famous verse: “Oh captain! My captain! Our terrible journey is over / The ship has overcome all the rocks, we have won the long-awaited prize / Nearby is the harbor, I can already hear the bells and the whole city greeting you …/”
Beyond the game that this chronicler allows, the beginning can be ideal to describe the defender Gonzalo Maffinithe captain of the “León”. He was a beast during the tournament, but he stood out in the finals. However, playing these types of games this way has a lot to do with their history. Maffini carries a different kind of wound. From General Cabrera, where he made his debut at the age of 15, his destiny seemed to have followed a straight line. Belgrano discovered it, he had it in subordinates. But in 2010, life broke through this barrier: the death of his sister Mariana forced him to return to his city. He had to be with his people.
Eventually he returned to the game, he did so in the regional league and he stood out. At this point, the Estudiantes de Río Cuarto opened the door for him. And everything happened in “León”, he also carried the memory of the lost finals of 2021, small defeats that still burned. Today Maffini looks up without lowering his gaze: the “lion” brought him back to the place where he was always meant to be.
Back to success.
Also making an appearance is Javier “Chuky” Ferreira, the striker who was born in San Pedro del Ycuamandiyú, Paraguay and, paradoxically, never played in his country’s football. A pilgrim of the destination, a survivor of paths and borders. He lived through the entire Argentine rise and in 2023 life asked him for a break. He was away from the courts for personal reasons, a whole year of silence, questions, doubts to which there are not always answers.
And he came back, he did it with a goal at Acción Juvenil de General Deheza and in Río Cuarto it was noted: his glorious past at the club gave him the chance to return. “I came back stronger and returned to a club that I love,” he emphasized. His return was more than a footballing contribution: it was a sign. A way to remember that the “Lion” always saves a place for those who know how to wait. Sometimes it doesn’t go backwards, but forwards.
The roar of the “lion” is not just sporting, it is human. Brian, “Colo”, Gonzalo, “Chuky” are just examples of a team that, with wounds, resilience, sacrifice and head held high, managed to consolidate a team that made history for the “Inside of the Inside”. Their story and that of Estudiantes de Río Cuarto is a story that today finally belongs to Primera.