Manchester United was going through the departure of Peter Schmeichel and was looking for a worthy successor for the great Danish goalkeeper. Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to invite Carlos Roa, who then sparkled in Mallorca and the Argentina national team. The Red Devils were ready to pay six million euros for the goalkeeper, but the transfer unexpectedly failed.
Roa himself refused the transfer, who unexpectedly ended his career at 29 years old. It's all about religion: the footballer was sincerely sure that the end of the world would come in 2000, for which he had to prepare.
«Only God can judge me»
The Argentinean grew up in a believing family and attended a school of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The characteristic features of her teaching are the belief in the imminent second coming of Christ and the observance of the commandments, with an emphasis on the veneration of the Sabbath, which is set aside for rest and communion with God. At first, the influence of religion did not affect Roa's career in any way. He was an ordinary, sociable guy who attended church on weekends. br>At the age of 27, he moved to Spain, where he spent the best football years. The Argentine played for Mallorca, with which he was able to reach the final of the King's Cup, win the Super Cup and qualify for the Champions League. Before his move, the club from the Balearic Islands vegetated in the Segunda. The Marca publication even recognized the Latino as the best goalkeeper of the season in the Example.
A bright game in Europe allowed him to go to the World Cup in France in the status of the first number of the Argentina national team. The tournament made him a national hero — Carlos did not concede a single goal in the group stage and took two shots in the penalty shootout in the round of 16 game against England. After that, he spent a powerful season at Mallorca and received a call from Sir Alex.
By that time, football for Roa was no longer in the first place. Faith was everything to him. Carlos already then reproached himself for every game on Saturday.
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“I can assure you that people who do not have a spiritual connection with God will soon be in trouble. My wife and I decided it was time to reach a deeper level of devotion to religion. Besides, I can't play football on Saturdays anymore. Of course, not everyone will understand me, but only God can judge me,” Carlos explained his decision at a press conference.
Together with his wife, he returned to Argentina and began to wait for the end of the world. Roa lived in the countryside, read a lot, and was engaged in self-development. So he spent a whole year. When he realized that the world was not going to collapse, he decided to return to football.
There was no need to look for a new team, Carlos was again in Mallorca. A long idle noticeably affected the game of the Argentinean. Leading European giants no longer paid attention to the goalkeeper, and he himself did not always get into the starting lineup. Often this was not even due to a deterioration in form. Upon his return, Roa insisted that he would only enter the field in those matches that did not fall on Saturday.
Returned to sports and overcame cancer
He was no longer called up to the national team , and his career slowly went downhill. Carlos played in «Albacete» and returned to his homeland. There he had to suspend his career again, but this time religion had nothing to do with it, the goalkeeper was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
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“Things began to improve in my life when God sent me a new test. But the strength of my faith helped me cope with the disease. It was a test after which I was reborn,» said Roa.
After several courses of chemotherapy and a long recovery, Carlos returned to the field and played until the age of 37. The talent of the Argentine allowed him to manage his career much better and spend several seasons in one of the European giants. But religion has always been more important to him than sports achievements.
Carlos himself never admitted that he made a mistake by leaving football at the best moment of his career. Spiritual balance was for the goalkeeper in the first place. In several interviews, the former goalkeeper assured that he made an exceptionally right decision in 1999. His faith was not shaken even by the fact that the end of the world never arrived. Roa remains a staunch Adventist and continues not to work on Saturdays, devoting this time to fellowship with God.