Month: February 2016

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.