César Luis Menotti, the charismatic coach who led Argentina to win its first World Cup in 1978, died this Sunday, according to the Argentine Football Association. He was 85 years old.
In a statement released on its social networks, the AFA said that “regrets to report with great sadness the death of César Luis Menotti.” The note did not specify the causes of death.
“Goodbye, Flaco dear!” added the statement when referring to the coach’s nickname.
The announcement of the AFA It took place while the final of the Argentine League Cup among students of the Plata and Vélez Sarsfield in Santiago del Estero. Before the start of the second half at the Madre de Ciudades stadium, a minute of silence was held in tribute, while some images of Menotti were played on the giant screen.
According to local media, Menotti He was admitted to a clinic in March due to severe anemia. According to such reports, he underwent surgery for phlebitis in April and later returned home to continue rehabilitation.
“It is an immense pain to have to say goodbye to you. You left us a lot during your time in the Argentine national team and in football. Without a doubt, your passage to immortality will be with the best memories of all of us who love the ball,” The president of the AFA, Claudio Tapia, published in X.
Also the Argentine president Javier Mileiwho this Sunday embarked on a trip to the United States, reacted to the news: “RIP. “Deep pain for the departure of the leader of a group that has given one of the greatest joys to the country.”
:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/PPUEJ2UMERAVTCMLYWYZY6WTBI.jpg "César Luis Menotti: story of the World Cup winner who loved Creole music and praised Sotil")
“Although I adhere to another school, it would be foolish to deny the contribution of César Luis Menotti. Goodbye, Flaco…”, added the president.
Menotti’s crowning work was when he directed the Argentine team that won the world at home, in a memorable 3-1 final against the Netherlands, with a double from Mario Kempes and a goal from Daniel Bertoni, at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires.
Considered one of the most emblematic and influential coaches in Argentine football, he was identified as the person primarily responsible for laying the foundations for the successes achieved by the Argentine team over the last few decades.
History of César Luis Menotti
Born on November 5, 1938 in Rosario, Menotti He also had a career as a striker for several clubs in his native country. Apart from the Argentine and Mexican national teams, he coached the Spanish clubs Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid.
He was a political activist as an affiliate of the Argentine Communist Party, a lover of boxing and an admirer of the words and work of Mario Benedetti, Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luis Borges, Mario Sábato and Joan Manuel Serrat, among others.
Through talks with intellectuals, Menotti He says he learned what life is.
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“I invited Benedetti to eat at my house, when I was (as a coach) in Peñarol (1990-91). For me it was ten years of learning. But I didn’t ask: I listened,” Menotti recalled in an interview. “And I stayed one day at Sábato’s house, and I didn’t argue either: I learned.”
And once they did a report on me with Borges, and when I asked him if it bothered him that I smoked, he told me: ‘what intoxicates me is not the cigarette, but the stupid conversations.’ So I ask about everything… but not about football, because about football… I know!”
Undoubtedly football Menotti He knew a lot, in a career that began as a player in the club he loved, Rosario Central (1960-63 and 1967); Racing Club (1964); Boca Juniors (1965-66), all of them from Argentina; The Generals, United States (1967) and in the Brazilian Santos (1968) and Juventus (1969-70).
In Santos, he had Pelé as a teammate, whom he never hesitated to describe as the best footballer among legends like Alfredo Di Stéfano, Maradona, Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi.
Menotti was named coach of the “Albiceleste” in 1974. With a colorful vision of the game, he was identified as the main person responsible for laying the foundations for the successes obtained by the Argentine team over the last decades.
Pride for Peru
César Luis Menotti felt great recognition for the Peruvian soccer player, Hugo Sotil.
“He ‘Cholo‘ Sotile. Note that in Spain It was as much or more than Johan Cruyff. What player the ‘Cholo‘, my God”he said in an interview with Fernando Jiménez documented in his book ‘The Mouth of the Tunnel‘.
“That was extraordinary. When I was managing Barcelona, the Spanish leaders spoke wonderful things night and day about Sotil. I remember a game in Mexico ’70 when he painted the faces of the Bulgarians. “I don’t forget anymore,” he added.
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Arturo Cavero and Chabuca Granda
According to the last interview he gave for a Peruvian channel, in 2021, the remembered World Cup player expressed his great love for Peruvian music, highlighting Arturo Cavero and Chabuca Granda.
“I have a photo this big in my living room.“, he commented, feeling admiration for the author of the ‘Cinnamon Flower‘.
“A football match without an audience is like watching ‘Chabuca‘Granda alone at the Teatro Colón“I speak as a player and coach,” he said.
World Cups
It all started in 1978, the first of the three World Cups won by Argentina so far. Menotti was convinced that the team did not have the recognition it deserved because that World Cup was won under a military dictatorship that would have taken advantage of that party to show that Argentina was a thriving country, and at the same time took advantage of the popular effervescence to minimize complaints about violations. to human rights.
Humanitarian organizations say that under that regime (1976-83) some 30,000 people died or disappeared due to state terrorism. Even today, on a sporting level, a match against Peru is questioned in which Argentina needed to win by 4-0 to advance in that World Cupbut finally won 6-0 amid unconfirmed versions that the military regime had influenced that result with a bribe to Peruvian players.
“The way the ’78 National Team played was really subversive,” Menotti highlighted. “While others left the country, I preferred to fight against the dictatorship from within, and the exiles have always accused me unfairly of that. Even today they continue to accuse me, as I have been able to corroborate when crossing paths with the Montonera colony (a former left-wing guerrilla organization) of Argentines in Spain.
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Discussions with Maradona
But Menotti used to say that Maradona always reproached him for leaving him out of the World Cup in Argentina.
“Diego doesn’t forgive you anymore. “He doesn’t forgive you for that or for taking him out in a match,” Menotti told El Grafico magazine in December 2014. “Once I took him out, I think, against Panama, because they were kicking him to death, and he didn’t speak to me for 15 days.” ”.
If with Maradona the relationship had its ups and downs, but both respected and praised each other, with Bilardo the enmity was eternal. Menotti died after more than 40 years without speaking to Bilardo.
Menotti used to say that that fight was for personal and not sporting reasons, in which both were at opposite ends.
While he was prone to open, technical and aesthetic football, Bilardo had a predilection for extreme tactics and obtaining results even with actions at odds with fair play.
“It was a personal dispute; I would never fight with a guy because he plays libero or stopper,” Menotti declared. “It was magnified because each one won a World Cup, but it was a debate that wasn’t worth a nickel.”
World teams
In addition to directing the Argentine national team, Menotti He was also a technician Mexico in 1991-92 and among other teams he led the Spanish Barcelona (1983-84), where he also had Maradona under his command; Atlético de Madrid (1987-88); Peñarol of Uruguay (1990-91); Sampdoria of Italy (1997) and Tecos of Mexico (2007), when it was the last time he was in action as a helmsman.
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His debut as a coach was at Newell’s Old Boys in 1970-71, and also in Argentina he coached Rosario Central, Huracán (where he was champion in 1973); River Plate, Boca and Independiente. He also led Argentina when it became U20 World Champion in Japan, in a team in which its attackers Maradona and Ramón Díaz stood out.
Among his colleagues, Menotti admired the Spanish Pep Guardiola, whom in interviews he proposed as Argentina coach after the departure of Alejandro Sabella after the World Cup in Brazil in which the “Albiceleste” was runner-up.
“Guardiola (in his brilliant time in Barcelona) was a devastating hurricane, it destroyed all the traps and lies, destroyed it, annihilated it in such a way that now even the Italians want to have the ball and play,” Menotti stressed at the time.
Menotti was not afraid of death. “What bothers me sometimes is playing basketball with my grandchildren and not having the physical response.”he highlighted in 2014. “Also, it’s the only thing I’m sure of: I don’t know anyone who hasn’t died at some point.”
Source: Gestion
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