"Sabino, to me the squad that overwhelmed them," shouted Belauste to ask for the ball from his teammate on a free kick.
The myth of Spanish fury was born a century ago, during the first official matches of the national team.
Belauste finished that ball with such impetus that it knocked down the goalkeeper and three Swedish defenders.
Goal.
The victory by two goals to one allowed Spain to pass the round in the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games. Then the Italians arrived, injuring Pagaza and causing the expulsion of goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora.
At a time when football did not allow substitutions, the figure of Silverio Izaguirre emerged, a Basque striker who made his debut that day.
In his only match with La
Roja
He ended up as a goalkeeper, contributing in a vital way to keep going in a competition in which Spain would hang the silver medal.
The Spanish National Team played its first official match on August 28, in the initial stakes of those games.
The rival, Denmark, had already been a finalist in two Olympics and this time they started as a favorite.
But the Spaniards did not know it and went for it.
It was won by a goal to nil and the result triggered the euphoria of a team that was about to miss the competition.
Spanish football then was not professional and only the northern teams played on grass pitches.
However, the biggest stumbling block was organizational.
The regional federations were at odds with each other and the crisis worsened four months before the games, when the board of the Spanish Federation resigned en bloc.
The panorama with which the assembly that had to agree on the first list of selected was reached was bleak.
“The federations in the north wanted to send an entirely Basque team to Antwerp.
The Catalan raised the same thing with the players of FC Barcelona, recent Cup champions, others proposed to choose the best player from each club and some proposed not to go to the games fearing a historical ridicule ”, recalls the journalist Alfredo Relaño.
Despite the differences, a list was drawn up.
It included players who would later become Spanish football myths such as Zamora, Samitier or Alcántara, which he rejected "for love."
Silverio Izaguirre during his time as a Real Sociedad player.
Real society
Makeshift hero
Among the chosen ones Silverio slipped, who would become an improvised hero.
The boy was born in San Sebastián in 1897 and died prematurely at the age of 38.
He took his first steps at Esperanza.
In 1918 he signed for the Royal Society, where he remained until 1924. In between, a brief stint in Oviedo.
With the Donosti team he played 12 official matches that were enough to win two regional championships.
"He was a very physically powerful footballer, capable of playing inside and left winger in a time of five strikers," explains Ángel Iturriaga, historian and soccer expert.
In his opinion, getting a place in the national team was very expensive, since Silverio's demarcation was covered by Acedo.
After beating Denmark, the Spaniards faced host Belgium, who defeated them.
The road to gold was closed, but the Bergvall system gave a second chance: those eliminated played a consolation tournament to compete for silver and bronze medals.
Spain played in the first round against Sweden and won.
On September 2, 1920 she faced Italy.
The Spanish coach gave rest to several regular players.
Among them, Acedo.
His place in the lead was taken by debutant Silverio.
Pagaza was injured in the first half and had to leave the field, leaving the team with one man less for the rest of the game.
The chronicle of journalist Ignacio Galea in
Mundo Deportivo
highlights that the remaining four forwards covered the absence with enthusiasm, so much so that Sesúmaga managed to score two goals, one just before the break.
The Italian attacks intensified in the second half.
Zamora had to intervene miraculously on several occasions.
With 12 minutes to go, Badini charges sharply against Zamora and he hits him.
The referee expels him.
Spain is left with nine.
Silverio crosses the entire field to offer to play as a goalkeeper.
Fortunately, the referee allowed Zamora to stay near the goal to guide him.
The journalist Félix Martialay tells in
Antwerp.
There the Spanish fury was born,
sweating in jets, screaming.
The Italians hung aerial balls over the improvised goalkeeper without him leaving the door.
In one of those centers, Zamora desperately screamed for him to clear, but he continued motionless.
Zamora closed his eyes.
And then Silverio put out his left hand and saved the ball.
Zamora rebuked him.
Silverio, smiling, replied: "But man, can't you see that I'm a fool?"
The forward kept a clean sheet getting the long-awaited pass to the third round. Czechoslovakia's failure to appear led them directly to the consolation final, where they won the silver medal after defeating the Netherlands by three goals to one. For many footballers, the games marked their first trip abroad, so they combined duty with intense late-night parties. All those memories crumbled when the Civil War affected those who did not die in their youth, such as Pichichi, Sesúmaga, Patricio or Silverio himself. The last survivor, Sabino, the one from the platoon, died in Getxo (Vizcaya) in 1983.