Football Journey

Colombia with her own strangely twisted championship – two-phased, like in most of South America, but unlike almost any championship in the world. Torneo Apertura was played as normal league championship. The final table, however informed the second phase. The top two teams qualified to the final round. The rest, depending on their final standing in the Apertura moved to either Group A – the top 7 teams, or Group B – the bottom 7 teams, of Torneo Finalizacion. Deportivo (Cali) and Atletico Junior (Baranquilla) finished with equal points at the top – 35 each – and goal-difference decided the winner of Apertura:

Atletico Junior bested Deportivo Cali with +20 goals vs +17. Both teams moved to the semi-final round of the championship, yet, still had to play Torneo Finalizacion. Goal difference was also the dividing point for 4 clubs in the middle of the table – 2 stayed among the top 7, Millonarios and America, and two moved to the lower placed teams in Group B – Atletico Nacional and Independiente Santa Fe.

Torneo Finalizacion is a bit puzzling: every team played 21 matches – a number making no sense. Perhaps some results and points were carried from Apertura, but even that does not fit well. Anyhow, one thing was sure: that at least two teams of Group A had nothing to play for, since they already qualified to the next stage. And Atletico Junior did not play seriously – they finished last in Group A with 10 points, 4 less than the tema immediately above them. Deportivo Cali acted differently – they played seriously and finished first in the group. Once again goal-difference decided the first and second, but this time Deportivo prevailed – Millonarios had worse record. But Millonarios had nothing to worry about – they qualified to the semi-final round too.

Group B was not as easy as Group A.

With 28 points Cucuta Deportivo won the group and moved to the semi-finals. The second spot had to be determined by extra play-off: Atletico Nacional and Deportes Tolima finished not only with equal points, but with the same goal-difference as well.

Deportes Tolima lost the first play-off match 0-4 and was unable to recover at the home leg – they won, but only 1-0 and Atletico Nacional went to the semi-finals.

Eight teams divided again into 2 round-robin groups played the semi-finals. The top two teams of each group moved to the final tournament. A quick look at the participants… and one is puzzled. Atletico Junior and Deportivo Cali qualified from Torneo Apertura. Millonarios qualified from Group A of Torneo Finalizacion. Cucuta Deportivo and Atletico Nacional qualified from Group B of Torneo Finalizacion. That makes 5 teams… America (Cali) classified as well, but why? They finished 7th in the Apertura and 3rd in Group A of Finalizacion – unless they were allowed to go ahead because the winner of Group A was already qualified to play from the Apertura. The last 2 teams were Once Caldas and Deportivo Pereira. Why? They were 4th and 5th in Group A of Finalizacion. Third and 4th and the Apertura. At least looking at the final tables, that seems to be reason: they were the teams just below those leading both tournaments and getting qualification spots from either the one or the other championship. But if one is just below the best, the trend continues – Once Caldas and Deportivo Pereira finished 3rd and 4th in semi-final Group B. Normal round-robin was played, no points were carried from earlier stages, and after 6 games Atletico Junior and Atletico Nacional ended at the top of Group B, going to the final stage. Atletico Junior were curious winners of the group – they finished with negative goal-difference – 8-10. Champions, allowing more goals than they scored. On the other hand Once Caldas scored the most goals at this stage – 17. The next high scorers finished with 11, but unlike Once Caldas, they both qualified to the final.

No anomalies in Group A – America, having weak season so far, finally found their form and finished first. Deportivo Cali got the second qualification and Millonarios and Cucuta Deportivo were eliminated.

Once Caldas, the best scorers by far at the semi-finals, but unable to reach the final stage.

And the Final Quadrangle at last – again a round-robin group, every team playing twice against the rest, no points carried from earlier stages. The winner is the new Colombian champion and second placed team goes to Copa Libertadores as the second Colombian representative. No surprising heroics from the teams, which stayed in the shadows during the year: Atletico Nacional did not win a single match and finished last with 4 ties and 2 losses.

America (Cali) got bronze with 1 win, 2 ties, and 3 losses.

Strong season for Deportivo Cali (Cali) – they finished 2nd with 2 wins, 3 ties, and 1 loss. Scored most goal in the final tournament, but also had leaky defense, so they were not exactly a contender – they were second best from start to finish this year. They got the second Colombian spot for Copa Libertadores, so, overall, it was excellent season.

Standing from left: Dulio Miranda, Gabriel Berdugo, Omar Alfredo Galván, Jesús “Toto” Rubio, Rafael Reyes, Juan Carlos Angel Delménico.

First row: Fernando Fiorillo, Oscar Bolaño, Juan Miguel Tutino, Miguel Angel Converti, Bonifacio Martínez.

Atletico Junior (Barranquilla) deservingly triumphed – perhaps their tactic helped: they slowed down at the beginning of Torneo Finalizacion. It was meaningless stage for them, since they already qualified to the semi-finals by winning Torneo Apertura, and very likely saved strength for the final effort. There they made no mistake. At the final, they did not lose at all – 3 wins and 3 ties. Los Tiburones (The Sharks) won their second title. This was a period when Argentine coaches were at the helm of the club, but the current one was the oldest and most famous:

Jose Varacka coached Atletico Junior to their first title in 1977, and now, in his second spell, won again. He was yet to coach Atletico Junior in the 1980s – twice. As a general note, the club had the habit of hiring same coach again and again – Varacka was not exception: Brazilian coach Othon Dacunha coached Junior in 1969, 1982, and 2003; the great Uruguayan Luis Alberto Miloc – 1967-68, 1969-71, 1975; the Colombian Marcos Coll – 1973, 1975, 1981, 1982. So far, the record holds Julio Avelino Comesana – he coached Atletico Junior on six occasions (the latest was very short spell in the spring of 2014). But Varacka made them champions twice in his first spells.

Paraguay – nothing special, apparently.

Resistencia SC won the Second Division for a third time – after they did so in 1966 and 1975. One of the many clubs located in Asuncion, but deserving a note. Resistencia was found in 1917, but was hardly heard of. The reason is their location: Resistencia hails from barrio Ricardo Brugada, one of the poorest parts not only of Asuncion, but of the entire country. Money was scarce, indeed, but also there was local competition – three more clubs are situated in the neighbourhood: Oriental, San Felipe, and 3 de Febrero. Too many clubs in such an area mean none had money or chance for having any. Winning Second Division was heroic success therefore.

Predictable First Division…

Cerro Porteno finished 2nd. Not much for them, since only titles count, but those years belonged to their rivals.

Olimpia dominated Paraguayan football – they won their 3rd consecutive championship and this victory was not at all the end of their run. It was practically the same team, which conquered the world the previous year – one of the best formations in the history of Paraguayan football. Alas, such a team automatically makes championships boring: the winner is known in advance.

The Peruvian First Division had less complicated formula than most South American championship: a standard league format was played at first and after it the top 4 teams moved to play a final tournament, deciding the title and the second Copa Libertadores participant. The bottom 4 played relegation tournament – the last in it was directly relegated and the 3rd finisher – a promotion-relegation play-off against the losing finalist of the Copa Peru. All teams carried their records from the first stage – a rule, which, at least theoretically, could make the final stage meaningless. Half the league – those between 5th and 12th place in the opening stage – had a vacation after the first stage. So, two of the best Peruvian clubs finished early – Alianza and Universitario had a weak season. Alianza finished 5th and Universitario – 9th. Add Deportivo Municipal (Lima).

Standing from left: Raúl Obando, Franco Navarro, Rodolfo Quijaite, Duilio Poggi, Avila, Humberto Ballesteros,

First row: Pedro Bonelli, Eduardo Malásquez,  Adhemir Arroé, Hugo Sotil, Roberto “Titín” Drago. Having Hugo Sotil did not help Deportivo Municipal – they finished 6th.

At the bottom of the table were Sport Boys (Callao) – 13th with 25 points, Melgar F.B.C. (Arequipa) – 14th with 25 points, Coronel Bolognesi (Tacna) – 15th with 24 points, and Juventud La Palma (Huacho) – last with 21 points. They made the relegation group, with Juventud La Palma obviously weaker than the rest. After 6 more matches between themselves, the clubs finished as they started: Melgar got the most points and exchanged places with Sport Boys, but the the other two maintained their starting positions.

Juventud La Palma added just 2 points in the last stage, unable to beat anybody – 2 ties – and ended last and relegated with 23 points. Nothing surprising, really. Coronel Bolognesi was also weak – 1 win, 3 ties, and 2 losses in the final stage kept them well ahead of Juventud La Palma, but also well below Sport Boys and Melgar F.B.C. They finished next to last and went to play relegation-promotion play-off against Gonzales Prada (Lima), the losing finalist of the Copa Peru. At last the boys from Tacna prevailed – they won both legs 2-0.

Standing from left: Héctor Revoredo, José Zevallos, Luis Advíncula, Amado Tejada, Reynaldo Bernaola.

First row: Américo Nieri, Victorino Vicente, Moisés Chumpitaz, Luis Gil, Enrique Boné, Roberto Zevallos.

A weak season, although not exactly a surprise, Coronel Bolognesi managed to keep their place in the First Division.

Most important was the final top group: Asociacion Deportiva (Tarma) – 4th with 36 points, Alfonso Ugarte (Puno) – 3rd with 36 points, Atletico Torino (Talara) – 2nd with 38 points, and Sporting Cristal (Lima) – 1st with 41 points. Looked like a provincial challenge to Lima dominance, but only at a glance. The stronger and more realistic impression was that Sporting Cristal had no real opponent – and this was right: in the final stage they only increased the distance between themselves and the rest. Alfonso Ugarte dropped to 4th place with final 40 points. Asociacion Deprotiva moved to 3rd place with 42 points – not bad for them, ending the season with bronze medals. Atletico Torino kept second position with 44 points.

Standing from left: Don Ítalo Espinoza, Percy Maldonado, Fernando Guerrero, Julio Núñez del Prado, Jaime Delly, Manuel Carrizales.

First row: Percy Gómez, Lucho Vitonera, José Zapata, Paco Montero, Jorge Jaramillo y Humberto Correa.

Unable to really win the championship, but wonderful season for Atletico Torino – they qualified to play in the Copa Libertadores.

Familiar new champions – standing from left: Carlos Carbonel, José Navarro, Juan Carlos Oblitas, Ruben Díaz, Hector Chumpitaz, Ramón Quiroga.

First row: Roberto Mosquera, Alfredo Quezada, Oswaldo Ramirez, Julio Cesar Uribe, Julio Aparicio.

Sporting Cristal had easy sailing to another victory – at least by looking at dry numbers. Looking at their squad, it also made sense – compared to the competition, Sporting Cristal had superior team: Chumpitaz, Oblitas, Uribe, Quiroga. Tradition was also on their side – who else, if not Alianza, Universitario, or them. Since the chief adversaries were weak this year, it was only logical Sporting Cristal to be the winner.

Second title in a row, their 7th all together – Sporting Cristal really established itself during the 1970s. Not bad for a club named after beer brand.

 

Peruvian second level was still without a league, but ‘Copa Peru’ was played instead, as established in 1967. At first regional tournaments were played, consisting of provincial teams, which won the earlier departmental rounds, and the winners of the 8 regional groups (of 3 teams each) moved to the national stage. There they were joined by the winner of the 9th group, where Lima clubs played– just like everywhere else in South America, the capital city had not only too many clubs, but more professionally organized too and there was no way to ignore them: unilke the regional groups, the Lima group was made of 7 teams. Goal-difference did not play a role – when teams had equal points, a play-off was staged to determine the winner. To the second stage – Etapa Nacional – qualified: Los Aguerridos de Monsefú [Lambayeque] , Universidad Técnica de Cajamarca [Cajamarca] , Deportivo Aviación [Loreto], Octavio Espinosa [Ica], Juan Bielovucic [Huánuco], Pesca Perú [Arequipa], Deportivo Garcilaso [Cusco], Miguel Grau [Apurímac], Unión Gonzales Prada (Lima). Naturally, no famous clubs played that low, so most names hardly mean anything for anybody outside Peru.

The next stage was slightly different: still round-robin groups, three of them of 3 teams each, with the top 2 teams going to the finals. However, in case of equal points the winner was determined differently: instead of play-off, goals mattered – whoever scored more, finished higher. If this was unable to determine positions, then goal-difference was decided. As every tie-breaking rule, results were bordering to the ridiculous: in Group 1 U.T.C. (Cajamarca) finished last, despite the fact they were the only team with positive goal-difference in the group. But they scored one goal less than the Los Aguerridos and Deportivo Aviacion and since all teams ended with 4 points, U.T.C. was eliminated just because they scored one goal less. Deportivo Aviacion had negative goal-difference and Los Aguerridos, first at the end had 6-6 goal-difference.

Group 2 had 4 teams, not 3… because here Leon (Huanuco) was automatically included – they were relegated from First Division the previous season. Leon finished 2nd, behind Gonzales Prada, which scored one goal more then them. Did not matter much. For the record, Leon was the only teams ending this stage without a loss. For those more inquisitive a point of interest could be the last team in the group – Juan Bielovucic. A Croatian name of famous aviator.

Group 3. No trouble here – points decided everything. Miguel Grau finished last, the other two teams moved ahead to the final.

The final was again round-robin tournament, played entirely in Lima. The 6 teams qualified from Etapa Nacional played one-round mini-league, and the winner was promoted to the First division. Simple? Nothing is simple… there were 7 teams at the final stage, not 6. Aguas Verdes ( Zarumilla) was invited to the final. Why? Because they were the losing finalist of Copa Peru the previous year.

Comercial Aguas Verdes – straight to the final, because they were good one year earlier. Standing from left: Juan Girón, Walter Valladares, José Morán, Valqui, Edel García.

First row: Augusto Gemmell, Pedro Campaña, Rolando Vargas, José “Chimbote” Mendoza, Miguel Santín, Julio García Lapoublé.

Luckily, points decided the winner of the final. Cities and departments are given between brackets.

FINAL TABLE

Pts – P – W – D – L – GF – GA

1. León (Huanuco,Huanuco) 10 – 6 – 4 – 2 – 0 – 8 – 2 [Promoted]

2. Gonzales Prada (Lima, Lima) 8 – 6 – 3 – 2 – 1 – 6 – 4

3. Los Aguerridos (Monsefu, Lambayeque) 7 – 6 – 2 – 3 – 1 – 6 – 4

4. Pesca Perú (Mollendo, Arequipa) 5 – 6 – 1 – 3 – 2 – 5 – 6

5. Deportivo Aviación (Iquitos, Loreto) 5 – 6 – 2 – 1 – 3 – 5 – 9

6. Aguas Verdes (Zarumilla, Tumbes) 4 – 6 – 0 – 4 – 2 – 3 – 5

7. Garcilaso (Cusco, Cusco) 3 – 6 – 1 – 1 – 4 – 5 – 8

Since second level clubs are rarely seen, here is a picture of a modest team, which played well this year:

Los Aquerridos finished third in the final of Copa Peru. It was success for them. Standing from left: Cadenillas, Cañola, Cabrera, Elcolobarrutia, García, Mell.

First row: Camacho, Muñoz, Ramos, Celli, Samamé.

Leon (Huanuco) – proud winners of Copa Peru and returning to top flight after a single season in the second level purgatory.

This was not the end, however. The second placed in the Copa Peru final still had a chance for promotion – Gonzales Prada went to a play-off against the next to last finisher in the relegation group of 1st Division.

The Chilean First Division differed a bit from the Second Division’s formula of the Apertura – all league members played in the tournament. The groups were not even, for it was impossible to divide 18 teams fairly, so two groups had 4 teams and two groups – five. Group 4 was the toughest – the biggest clubs from Santiago were all there: Colo Colo, Universidad de Chile, Universidad Catolica, Oalestino, and Union Espanola. Not fair for them – three were going to be eliminated early – but never mind. The group winners were without real competition in every group, but even the 2nd placed teams were still ahead of the losers – except in Group 4, where Universidad de Chile and Universidad Catolica finished with 8 points each and better goal-difference qualified Universidad de Chile. The following teams moved to the ¼ finals: Cobreloa and Iquique (Group 1), Concepcion and Naval (Group 2), O’Higgins and Magallanes (Group 3), and Colo Colo and Universidad de Chile (Group 4).

The ¼ finals went without any trouble – with one exception, the winners won both legs. Only Colo Colo faltered in their home match against Concepcion – 1-1 – but not in the away match, which they won 4-0. In the other pairs Cobreloa won over Magallanes 1-0 and 2-0, Universidad de Chile – over Naval 1-0 and 2-1, and Iquique over O’Higgins 3-1 and 3-2. No extra time, no complications.

In the ½ finals Colo Colo eliminated Cobreloa 1-0 and Iquique – Universidad de Chile with same result. The losers got a bonus point each to carry to the real championship.

The final was predictable – big Colo Colo vs small Iquique, easy… but it was not easy. Iquique bravely won 2-1 and Copa Polla-Gol.

Standing from left: Luis Acao, Eddy Campodonico, Manuel Maluenda, Wilfredo Arriaza, Claudio Sanchez, Oscar Valenzuela.

First row: Fidel Davila, Jaime Carreao, Omar Sauvageot, Gega, Juan Ponce de Ferrari.

Champions of Chile – this is usually the text for this photo, yet, one cannot see any official list of Chilean champions mentioning Iquique this year. And rightly so – the Apertura does not count. All it brought to the champions was 2 bonus points to start Campeonato Nacional with. But it was great for the boys and their fans. By the end of the year it was even better…

It was, because after the end of Campeonato Nacional Iquique was in the relegation zone. The bonus points helped them not – they were ahead of the real losers anyway and behind the the better teams bonus points or not. Because of the reduction of the league 4 teams were directly relegated – the last four. The quartet was made of true outsiders – the whole group finished far behind the rest of the league. The last two were fading clubs, once upon a time among the best of the country.

Green Cross (Temuco) was dead last with 18 points. Their downfall was long and painful – originally a Santiago club, they had to relocate to Temuco in 1965. Nothing good happened to them since then.

Santiago Wanderers (Valparaiso) suffered similar fate – like Green Cross, they were in long decline. They finished 5 points ahead of Green Cross, but there was no comfort in that: 17th they were and goind down to second division. A point ahead of them finished a club, usually ending in the relegation zone:

Lota Schwager (Coronel) – they did not play often first division football and when they did, they were expected to finish low. 16th place under normal circumstances would still keep their hopes, for this was a spot playing promotion-relegation tournament after the end of the season, but this year it was direct relegation.

And directly relegated were the 15th – Coquimbo Unido, which, Lota Schwager, was familiar outsider, expected to finish at the bottom. The only thing about Coquimbo Unido was their record of ties – 15, the highest number in the league.

Iquique, the winners of Apertura, finished 14th – not directly relegated, but still in grave danger, for they went to promotion-relegation tournament. Perhaps the most interesting thing about them was the sponsor: they advertised Pioneer, and Naval – Sony. The battle of the ghetto-blasters, one may say. There was more to rivalry, although not involving Iquique. Naval, representing the Navy, was traditionally a rival of Aviacion (Santiago), the Air Force team. A military rivalry, which Aviacion lost this year.

Club de Deportes Aviacion finished 15th , a point ahead of Iquique and 3 points behind Naval. One may think that military dictatorship would elevate military clubs to leading positions, but it was not so. Aviacion actually was dissolved in January 1982. For the moment, they were going to play in the promotion-relegation tournament.

With 34 points Naval (Talcahuano) escaped relegation and that was all they did. Better than the pilots.

Up the table.

Universidad Catolica had miserable season, finishing 10th.

O’Higgins (Rancagua) came close to medals, but only close – with 40 points they finished 5th. Concepcion bested then by a point and got the 4th place.

Colo Colo finished 3rd with 43 points. They scored the most goals by far – 76, 12 more than second best Concepcion.

Universidad de Chile got silver medals, happy to be ahead of Colo Colo perhaps, but still without a title.

The champions were a surprising news – Cobreloa (Calama). Not exactly impressive in neither attack, nor defense, the boys dressed in orange won most matches this season – 17 – and along with Universidad de Chile lost the least – only 4. 48 points – 1 of them a bonus carried over from the Apertura – gave them 3 points lead at the end. The bonus point was symbolic – without it, they were still first. Which was fantastic – the club arrived in the first division only 2 years ago and was little known even in Chile before that.

 

Standing from left: Juan Paez, Oscar Wirth, Mario Soto, Eduardo Jimenez, Enzo Escobar, Hugo Tabilo

First row: Oscar Muñoz, Victor Merello, Nelson Pedetti, Luis Ahumada, Paulo Veiga.

First ever title and as it turned out, not first and last either, but even if it was, it would have been amazing success. The rapid climb of the club to the the very top was a result of good deal of money invested, but compared to the squads of the previous two-three seasons, this one was a testimony not only of good investment, but of good work as well. Previously, Cobreloa succeeded thanks to imported aging stars like the great Uruguayan goalkeeper Mazurkiewicz. There were no such players this year – there were three little known foreigners instead: Paulo Sergio Veiga (Brazil), Oscar Roberto Munoz (Argentina), and Nelson Pedetti (Uruguay). Little known perhaps, but they did their job well enough – Pedetti in particular established himself as an important player in Chile, spending almost the whole of his career there. The local players were similarly little known – practically, the champions had only one noticeable player: their new goalkeeper Oscar Wirth, freshly obtained from Colo Colo. Both club and player benefited from the transfer – Cobreloa needed strong keeper and Wirth, although already considered for the national team, was more or less a back-up for Adolfo Nef, arguably the best Chilean keeper of the 1970s. (Curiously, Nef and Wirth were both of German descent – eventually, Wirth went to play in West Germany for a while). An almost anonymous squad meant strong collective approach to the game, hard work, and discipline – which boils down to the coaching authority. Perhaps the coach was the real hero of the champions: Vicente Cantatore. Few knew him as a player – the Argentine had a long career, but was never a star. His late playing year were in Chile, where he stopped playing in 1973 – at the age of 38! – and started his coaching career and taking Chilean citizenship too. Cobreloa was his 4th club and his first big success. And he built on this success, becoming highly respected coach, moving to Europe and working in Spain, where he finally retired in 2001, his last spell with Sporting (Gijon). In 1980 neither Cantatore, nor Wirth were internationally known and there was still little chance they would be: fantastic season for Cobreloa, well deserved title, but skepticism is strong in football – great as it was, the victory looked like one time wonder. Cobreloa was going to prove skeptics wrong.

The season was over as far as title was concerned. It was not over in two other aspects: the promotion-relegation tournament took place. The 3rd and 4th of the Second Division and the 13th and the 14th of the First Division. This was the beginning of the end of Aviacion – they finished 3rd in the mini-league and were relegated. 4th was Santiago Morning and they remained in Second Division. Iquique won the tournament with 2 wins and 1 tie and preserved its place in the top division. Second was La Serena – they tied all their matches, which was enough for promotion.

Lastly, there was another mini-league – the Liquilla, deciding the second Chilean representative in Copa Libertadores. The 4 teams immediately below the league champions played for the spot: Universidad de Chile, Colo Colo, Concepcion, and O’Higgins. The big Santiago clubs pulled themselves together and dominated, but neither prevailed – both finished with 8 points. Colo Colo had better goal-difference by far, but it did not count. A final play-off was played and Universidad de Chile won 2-1. They were declared champions of Liquilla and were going to play international football. Colo Colo was to stay home – a rare thing for them.

Happy winners – Universidad de Chile saved the season by qualifying for Copa Libertadores. Not a title, but still good enough.

 

Chile had both peculiar championship formula and seasonal changes, needing few notes. The First Division was going to be reduced to 16 teams, so the last 4 teams were relegated. The two above them played promotion-relegation tournament with the 3rd and 4th in the Second Division. One practical reason for the reduction was Campeonato de Apertura – the formula of it was cup-like: at first the first division clubs were divided into 4 groups and 18 teams made strange numbers: 2 groups of 5 teams and 2 of four teams. As for this championship, played in both top divisions, it was a curiosity: the clubs gained little from it. It was nice to win a trophy, but the official champion, the second represent in the Copa Libertadores, and the unfortunate relegated teams were all decided in the second championship. The only thing Campeonato de Apertura gave was a few bonus points to the top teams, carried to the second championship: 2 points for the winner and 1 point for the losing finalist and semi-finalists. Not much to really fight for – as the second championship amply proved this very year. Rules also differed: the second championship had traditional ones – 2 points for a win and 1 point for a tie. Perhaps aiming to stir the teams into more attacking football, in Campeonato de Apertura a scoreless tie brought no points, but bonus point was given for wins in which the winner scored 4 or more goals. Such experiments did not bring results in other countries and the pattern was repeated in Chile: those few teams, which got extra points were top in their groups anyway, without exception. With or without the extra points, they were first. In both division there was not a single club qualifying to the ¼ finals because of extra points. Finally, not a single club benefited from the points carried from Apertura to the second championship. Lastly, Ferroviarios relocated to Talagante and the name was changed as a result – now it was Talagante Ferro.

The Second Division had one more anomaly: 22 teams in the normal championship, but only 20 in the Apertura: Cobresal and Atacama for some reason did not play. Eight teams qualified to the second stage: Arica, La Serena (Group 1), Union San Felipe, San Luis (Group 2), Rangers, Curico Unido (Group 3), and Malleco Unido, Huachipato (Group 4). The ¼ finals produced the next strange thing – at least to the eyes of non-Chileans: goal-difference did not count. Or may be it counted, but in peculiar way. Half of the quarter-finals were not a problem: San Luis won twice against Arica – 4-0 and 2-1, and La Serena against Union San Felipe – 2-0 and 1-0. The other pairs were different… Huachipato won at home 1-0, but lost the second match 0-2 to Curico Unido. Goal did not count, only wins – so extra time was played as a tiebreaker. Nobody scored and the match went into penalty shoot-out. At last Huachipato prevailed. But the last pair did not reach this stage: Rangers lost their home leg against Malleco Unido 0-1. Then they beat Malleco Unido in front of their home crowd. By how much? No matter – extra time was to be played anyway. Huachipato prevailed here, but the record – since with or without extra time this is one match – stays 4-2. Which makes Rangers a winner on goal-difference… the same should have been the case in the clash between Huachipato and Malleco Unido: the record gives advantage to Malleco Unido after extra time: 2-1. Complicated rule… apparently, the extra time was counted separately as a tiebreaker. Go figure by mere numbers.

No such problems in the one-legged ½ finals: San Luis won against La Serena 2-0 and Rangers beat Huachipato 3-1. The losers got one extra point to carry to the second championship.

San Luis won the final 2-1. Rangers got a bonus point for the second championship. San Luis got 2 points and the trophy: ‘Copa Polla-Gol’.

Fine champions, but was it worth the effort? All this games for 2 points…

The second championship started all anew and for real – not for nothing its name was Campeonato Oficial. Standard league format, the last two relegated to the lower levels of Chilean football, the top two promoted to first division, and the 3rd and the 4th having one more chance for promotion in a mini-tournament against the 13th and the 14th in the First Division. Long championship – every team played 42 matches. As it turned out, the bonus points from the Apertura had no effect on anything.

Curico Unido (Curico) finished last with 31 points and said good-bye to Second Division.

Goal-difference decided the second unlucky team: Ovalle (Ovalle), Trasandino (Los Andes), and Independiente (Cauquenes) ended with 34 points.

Independiente had the worst goal-difference of the three and took the 21st place in the final table. Too bad – they were newcomers to the league, the highest achievement of the modest, usually amateur club. They fought bravely, but luck was not on their side.

Luck was not on the side of the clubs, which did not play in the Apertura either:

Regional Atacama (Copiapo) finished 16th.

Cobresal (El Salvador) was 14th, one point better than Atacama. Having to play fewer games than any other club in the league apparently was not a bonus to both clubs.

One more club should be mentioned: Union Calera (La Calera).

The only second division club with world-class star: Elias Figueroa played for them this season. Yet, Union Calera finished only 10th . Figueroa was aging and the immediate impression is that he was no longer at his best – but he was still going to play in the American NASL and at the next World Cup finals. Even so, he was unable to elevate his current club this year.

But what mattered was only at the top of the league. A small difference eventually built up and two teams reached the relegation-promotion stage.

With 50 points La Serena finished 4th – 2 points ahead of Huachipato. The bonus point made no difference at all. So far – good enough.

Santiago Morning, the only club from the capital playing in Second Division this season, finished 3rd with 51 points. Good for keeping hopes for promotion, but the team was not good enough to fight for direct promotion.

Two teams more or less dominated the league and quite easily got promoted.

Nublense (Chillan) finished 2nd with 55 points, leaving Santiago Morning 4 points behind, but they were also 4 points behind the champions. Still, well done – Nublense was directly promoted and that was more than enough.

The champions were the truly superior club this year: first they won the Apertura and continued their triumphal march in the grueling championship of the league. 21 wins, 15 ties, and 6 losses. 72-41 goal-difference. 59 points – 2 of them were bonus, carried from the Apertura, but even without them they were first. First in everything: most wins, least losses, most goals scored, least received.

A second trophy for San Luis (Quillota), but this title really mattered – up they went to first division football. An excellent season for relatively small club.

First Division at a glance promoted attacking football – almost 2.5 goals per game were scored. Ties were not in favour – only 3 clubs finished with 10 or more ties, but none tied half of their championship matches, unlike other countries. Looked like a triumph of attacking football, but such conclusion could be wrong: it was not that much attacking approach, but inequality of the opponents, producing goals and reducing the number of ties. The outsider of the league was Rentistas – they finished 14th. Last with 12 points – the nearest opponent ended 5 points ahead. Rentistas was relegated and no surprise here: traditionally, they were third rank club and hardly able to stay in the First Division for long.

Huracan Buceo – like Rentistas, a third rank club – finished safely 13th, but they were not really in danger of relegation for the most of the season. Weaker then most of the league, they were much stronger than Rentistas and that was most important.

Danubio, a typical representative of the second rank clubs, finished 8th. Like most clubs, mid-table position was their usual dwelling – a bit up or a bit down the table, depending on the year. And no wonder why – no noticeable players. Standing from left: Carlos Berrueta, Jorge Seré,Tomás Lima , Sergio Santin, Cesar Vega.

First row: Néstor Silva, Luis Malvarez, Ricardo Cuayatto ,Julio Noble, Eliseo Rivero. One player’s name is missing, but whose?

Danubio distinguished itself, however, by beating the champions twice – 2-0 and 3-2. The only club in the league to do so

The season was good for small Bella Vista.

Without well known players, Bella Vista not only finished 4th, but they were the 2nd highest scoring team this year with 43 goals. Not bad at all, but there was even bigger good news coming.

Weak season for Penarol – they finished 3rd, a point above Bella Vista.

The reason may have been the absence of Fernando Morena, but in any case Penarol underperformed and were not at all competing for the title.

The silver medalists were a surprise, yet, they deserved their medals.Wanderers.

Standing from left: Raul Esnal , Nestor Montelongo , Julio Acuña , Ariel Krasouski , Gualberto De los Santos, Luis Fleitas .

First row: Juan Jose Cabrera , Jorge Barrios ,Jorge Yanes ,Enzo Francescoli, Luis Acosta .

A good team, but not really able to run for the title. Second place, however, was a high achievement. They finished with the best defensive record in the championship, allowing only 16 goals. Naturally, collective effort brought success, but two players deserve mentioning: Ariel Krasouski and Enzo Francescoli, both very young and bursting with talent. For the moment, Krasouski was the bright rising star – Francescoli was still unknown. Unfortunately, the season really finished on sour note.

Their was no real competition for the title this year – one team was high above the league, leading comfortably and almost effortlessly winning the title. Nacional had a fantastic year – they won the Uruguayan championship, then they won Copa Libertadores and finally capped everything by winning the Intercontinental Cup. Reigning supreme and collecting their 33rd title – actually, with so many titles, it is a bit pointless to mention the number: one more championship won and certainly not the last victory, at least on domestic front.

Looking casual, may be even dour, on picture, but the cups in front of them speak of themselves. Excellent season indeed – Nacional conquered the world. This photo was taken when trophies piled up, so one key player was missing: Hugo de Leon moved to play for Gremio in Brazil after the championship of Uruguay finished. Yet, even without him half of the Uruguayan national team is here, plus some interesting veterans – because of them, this vintage is considered ‘veteranos’, and they were certainly essential for the victory. However, again because of them this squad is judged not particularly great, but rather the swan song of the old stars, therefore, without much future. Also, there were other curiosities: Nacional started the championship with heavy loss – 0-3 against Bella Vista. After that, they lost just three more matches – two of them against Danubio, and their 4th loss – against Sud America. However, they were strong when mattered most, beating Wanderers twice and keeping Penarol at bay with a win and a tie. It was additional drop of sweetness, for no matter how the season went, the derby with Penarol was the most important. At then end Nacional finished 6 points ahead of Wanderers and had 9 more than Penarol, having the best goalscoring record in the league by far – the champions scored 53 goals in 26 games. The next best scorers, Bella Vista, managed just 43. Such a record suggests attacking football, and this is the other interesting point about the champions: attacking-minded they were not:

Their tactical scheme was unusual for the time, but certainly with strong defensive emphasis – 5-2-3 – with Blanco playing a sweeper. The midfield was apparently changeable, which means they had no outstanding playmaker. The three veterans – Blanco, Esparrago, and Milar – enjoyed one last trimphal run, and they needed that badly at the end of their careers. Hugo de Leon was excellent, but perhaps the most important player was Victorino – the goal-scoring machine, perhaps having his best season. Almost all starters were current or former national team players, but the squad was considered a bit old and without much future in it -especially after de Leon, one of the younger stars, left. No matter – old or young, this players just rolled over everybody.

Since Nacional was both domestic champions and Copa Libertadores winners, Uruguay had 2 spots in the next Copa Libertadores tournament – the usual ‘Liquilla’ took place to determine who will represent the country internationally and here something surprising happened. Penarol won the first spot, apparently ambitious to save the season – nothing strange in that – but the second spot was clinched by Bella Vista. Wanderers, the second best team in the championship and certainly having better players than Bella Vista lost. Krasouski and Francescoli probably were still too young and inexperienced to prevail and go to international football.

The 1980 Uruguayan season ended positively: it looked like the national football was improving and restoring its faded glory. It was good year, indeed – but not for all. The championship was orderly as ever – compared to other South American countries. Club Social y Deportivo Villa Espanola won the Third Division and was promoted to the Second. The Second Division had more familiar champion, but the promoted clubs were two – First Division was expanding again from 14 to 15 teams.

Liverpool won the second promotional spot. The club experienced ups and downs frequently, like most smaller clubs, but its more natural place was first division, so fans were more than glad to see their team going up.

But Liverpool did not win the Second Division – Rampla Juniors did.

Posing in grand style, but one can understand it: Nacional and Penarol ruled Uruguayan football, leaving nothing for the other clubs. Any trophy was cherished, therefore – and Rampla Juniors were fresh champions, if only of the Second Division.

Happy winners, but, understandably, having no familiar names in their squad.

 

 

Why not, indeed? River Plate, the supreme champions of Metropolitano, must have been the big favourite for winning Nacional as well. However, running simultaneiusly two championshps was a challenge. Campeonato Nacional General Don Jose de San Martin had different formula – a cup format really, but with direct elimination only in the last stages. To a point, it was a dilemma – concentrating for Metropolitano or for Nacional? Metropolitano had higher value, at least for the clubs from Buenos Aires. Nacional went through provincial stages and eventually reached the 1/8 finals stage – 4 groups of 7 teams each, which played twice against each other, and the top 2 teams quilifying for the ¼ finals. Here some teams not playing in the Metropolitano league tried their best. So did some teams underperforming in Metropolitano and trying to compensate. At the end, mostly familiar names qualified, but also two surprise names: Rosario Central and Atletico Racing (Cordoba) from Group A. Estudiantes (La Plata) unfortunately finished 3rd. Atletico Racing not only did not play in First Division, but had no chance of even dreaming of first division football – Campeonato Nacional was their chance to prove their worth. They did – Estudiantes, Velez Sarsfield, and Racing finished behind them. Argentinos Juniors and Union (Santa Fe) qualified from Group B – both teams obviously in good form and repeating their strong performance from Campeonato Metropolitano. Talleres (Cordoba) was unlucky 3rd. Newell’s Old Boys and Independiente topped Group C – both teams determined to compensate for weak Metropolitano season, and taking advantage of relatively weak opponents. Group 4 finished with a surprise – Insituto (Cordoba), not playing in the first division, finished first. River Plate, the strongest team in Argentina, clinched second place only because of better goal-difference – Platense (Florida) was the unlucky loser.

It may have been just a little slip of River Plate, not paying enough attention at first, and wanting only to qualify as easy as possible. But it was not so… in the ¼ finals mighty River Plate was eliminated by Newell’s Old Boys.

Newell’s Old Boys forgetting how mighty River Plate was and eliminating them: standing from left: Gallego, Simón, Demagistris, Daniel Killer, Piazza , Civarelli.

Front row: Víctor R. Ramos, Juan A. Acosta, Yazalde, Santamaría, Talavera.

Independiente certainly tried to save the season and having relatively easy opponent – Instituto (Cordoba) – qualified for the ½ finals. Atletico Racing continued to play well and eliminated non other but Argentinos Juniors. Maradona’s team was unable even to beat the lowly opponent – one tie and one loss. Rosario Central eliminated Union.

There was no Buenos Aires representative at the semi-finals: one pair was Rosario derby in which Rosario Central eliminated Newell’s Old Boys. In the other semi-final the ambitions of Independiente were cut short by Atletico Racing.

Provincial final – Rosario vs Cordoba. First division vs non-leaguer. Rosario Central vs Atletico Racing. Each team won their home leg and goal-difference decided the winner: Rosario Central.

Atletico Racing (Cordoba) – what fantastic run they had! It is not a club heard of often – even at home they are dwarfed by Instituto and Talleres. Too bad they lost at the end – would have been wonderful victory of the underdog – but enthusiasm eventually bowed down to class and experience. Atletico Racing was unable to top Rosario Central in the 1/8 final Group A and the final was no different – second twice. But never mind – it was excellent season and fantastic achievement. Higher than Maradona!

Rosario Central on top again! Well done! If nothing else, the club continued its strong presence in Argentinian football. To the world, it was best known for Mario Kempes – it was his performance at the 1974 World Cup making the club a familiar name outside Argentina.

There was no young exciting player among the champions – there were two fading veterans instead: standing from left: Bauza, Sperandío, Santecchia, Marchetti, Craiyacich, Carnevali,Chazarreta. Crouching: Jorge A. García, Orte, Gaitán, Ghielmetti, Trama, Bacas, Giuliano, Teglia, Palma, Espinoza.

Carnevali and Chazarreta – stars at the beginning of the 1970s, unfortunately, tainted by the weak Argentine performance at the 1974 World Cup. Forgotten names by now… so it was great they won a title. Rosario Central got the second Argentine spot for the 1981 Copa Libertadores. The other spot went to River Plate as Metropolitano champions.

The last note on Campeonato Nacional is about the second promotion to First Division – it was a curious one, escaping logic. Since most teams were first division members anyway, it looked like the best non-league club should have been promoted. That was the losing finalist Atletico Racing (Cordoba). Cordoba got promotion allright – but it was another club.

Instituto (Cordoba) got the second promotion to First Division. Why? Guessing does not help. Certainly Instituto ranked higher than Atletico Racing – historically. It may have been more successful this year provincially. But Instituto was eliminated at the ¼ finals – Atletico Racing reached the final of Campeonato Nacional. If this championship counted for promotion, the only possible reason could be the 1/8 groups: Instituto won theirs and Atletico Racing finished second. Guessing or no guessing, Instituto moved up to play Metropolitano First Division the next season.

 

The problems of Argentine football were chronic and there is no point repeating them year after year. Perhaps one result from them was the increase of ties – 1980 was a season of ties for sure. Only one team – Union (Santa Fe) – finished with less then 10 ties. Even with Maradona Argentinos Juniors tied 16 games, winning only 13. The record belonged to Quilmes and Racing – both finished with 18 ties, exactly half of the total matches of the season. Racing had almost ‘perfect’ final record: 9 wins, 18 ties, 9 losses, 35-34 goal-difference. Almost a goal-per-match scored and received. Quilmes outscored Racing by 2 goals – like almost everybody else in the league (only three teams scored same or less goals then Racing. However, defensively Racing finished second – only River Plate received less goals). Just one club scored more then 60 goals this season – River Plate (64). Some clubs failed, particularly Independiente (14th) and Estudiantes (12th). At the end of the table were clubs from Greater Buenos Aires – the last three were relegated.

Tigre (Victoria) ended dead last after terrible season – they finished with 21 points.

All Boys (Buenos Aires) was 18th with 23 points. Like Tigre, they were clear outsiders, well weaker than the rest of the league. All Boys distinguished themselves with the worst strikers this year (29 goals) and won the least number of matches – only 3.

Quilmes finished 17th – the memories of their great victory were still very fresh, yet, the club plummeted so quickly to relegation.

Standing from left: Fanesi, Palacios, Milozzi, Moralejo, Zárate, Bourgeois.

First row: Godoy, Bianchini, Andreuchi, Gáspari, Salguero.

Unlike All Boys and Tigre, Quilmes fought and had a chance to survive, but eventually was outpaced by San Lorenzo de Almagro, which finished 3 points ahead of poor Quilmes.

San Lorenzo survived, but hey had very poor season indeed – to see them that low in the table was unusual. But this was nothing compared to the disastrous season the most successful Argentinian club of the 1970s had:

With 35 points, Independiente came close to the unthinkable – relegation. True, they were more successful internationally than domestically, but to see them finishing 14th… a crisis was looming at last. Few other traditionally strong clubs had weak season as well: Velez Sarsfield finished 15th, Estudiantes (La Plata) – 12th, and Boca Juniors – 7th. Mighty Boca even ended with negative goal-difference: 43-47.

On the positive side were few provincial clubs, which may not had been stronger than the big clubs, but at least took advantage of the weak performance of the biggies. Union (Santa Fe) was 5th, the only club with less than 10 ties this season, and a team obviously dedicated to attacking football – they finished with 16 wins, the second highest number in the league. Unfortunately, they lost too many matches – 13. Two points better than Union were Platense (Florida, Greater Buenos Aires) and Talleres (Cordoba). Not bad for both teams, but with 41 points they really fought only for the silver medals and lost.

Thanks to better goal-difference, Talleres clinched the bronze medals. Well done, overall – those were good years for Talleres, having a strong by their standards.

Argentinos Juniors finished 2nd with 42 points – one better than Talleres. Excellent season, one might say. Captained by Diego Maradona, already a superstar, the team soared. Unfortunately, Argentinos Juniors were essentially one-man team – surely Maradona was magical, but still one man was unable to win the championship. Maradona was the top scorer of the season – with 25 goals, he practically had no rival (Dante Sanabria of Huracan was second with 22 goals), but his goals were only good enough for second place. Defensively, the team was a disaster – 12 teams had better defensive record than them, including the relegated Quilmes. Finishing second was great, no doubt, but Argentinos Juniors was not even for a moment competing for the title. And Maradona was leaving… so the future was shaky already.

There was no competition for the top place in the league – River Plate comfortably won one more title 9 points ahead of Argentinos Juniors.

‘One great team’, they were called – and what else, after so confident victory – but there is a ‘but’. Passarella, Fillol, Luque, Alonso, Tarantini, just coming back from England: half team current World champions. Add Lopez, Commisso, Pavoni… and keep in mind Saporiti and Gonzalez. Strong, but just a bit short from excellent. However, much better composed team than any other and clearly superior squad, compared to the rest of the league. One more title, why not two titles?