Author: Vesselin

Toyota Cup – or the Intercontinental Cup. The new name did not capture the minds yet and actually never did, but one thing was already certain: the venue was comfortable enough for the Europeans and the date agreeable. Aston Villa vs Penarol. When one looks back, Penarol had more than the edge – unlike Aston Villa, they had much more well known names. But that could be only from the distance of time – at the real moment Europeans were familiar with the English squad, which was not particularly famous, but still had some newly discovered talent. May be that on paper, not so on the pitch – playing at the end of the year in Northern hemisphere theoretically favoured the English team. However, Penarol was on a roll: they won Copa Libertadores only a month earlier. And it showed.

Shaw was perhaps the most dangerous Villa striker, but Penarol was perhaps better prepared to battle an English team: the long Uruguayan tradition to play fearless physical and dirty kind of football quickly took away whatever advantage in strength Aston Villa had.

Aston Villa was ‘impotent’ in front of the net, according to El Grafico, but fair is fair: Penarol was determined to win and defended fought for every inch, to the last.

It was not just defensive play – Penarol attacked dangerously in every opportunity.

Jair shined – and made himself ‘discovered’.

He opened the result from a free kick in the 26th minute.

Walkir Silva made it 2-0 in the 67th minute. Some sources, including the international statisticians site, give Charrua as a scorer – at best, it could be Silva’s nickname, for there was player no with the name of the extinct aboriginal inhabitants of Uruguay on the pitch. Aston Villa was unable to return a goal and lost.

PEÑAROL – ASTON VILLA (ENG) 2-0 (1-0)

Luis Paulino Siles CRC, Chan Tam Sun HKG, Toshiakazu Sano JPN

63.000, National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan

1-0 Jair 27, 2-0 Silva 68

 

PEÑAROL: (Coach: Hugo Bagnulo)

Gustavo Fernández, Walter Olivera, Nelson Gutiérrez, Víctor Hugo Diogo, Miguel Bossio, Juan Vicente Morales, Venancio Ramos, Mario Saralegui, Fernando Morena, JAIR Gonçalves, Walkir Silva

 

ASTON VILLA: (Coach: Tony Burton)

Rimmer, Jones, Ken McNaught, Desmond Bremner, Williams, Evans, Mortimer, Cowans, Shaw, Peter Withe, Morley

The end – winners ready to celebrate.

Captain Walter Olivera lifts the Intercontinental Cup.

At the top of the world.

Jair got one more trophy too – the player of the game gets brand new Toyota.

The triumphal moment.

Penarol won its 3rd Intercontinental Cup, a great success.

Unfortunately, Aston Villa lost. Miracles cannot happen all the time – the team was no longer in the from which made them champions of England and Europe. To a point, Aston Villa overachieved and perhaps failed to build on their success. A good squad, but hardly extraordinary – no enough classy players to keep them on top for long. May be they were tired and preoccupied too – December is important and much demanding month in English football.

Kings of the world! Standing from left: Victor Hugo Diogo, Nelson Gutiérrez, Miguel Bossio, Walter Olivera, Juan Vicente Morales, Gustavo Fernández.

First row: Walkir Silva, Mario Saralegui, Fernando Morena, JAIR Gonçalves Prates, Venancio Ramos.

Fabulous year for Penarol – in their illustrious history that may not have been the most legendary squad, but certainly the season itself was one of their very finest. Champions of Uruguay, champions of South America, champions of the World. No doubt, due has to be paid to the man behind all that success: Víctor Hugo Bagnulo Fernández.

Nearly 70-years old Bagnulo (born 1915) was not all that well known internationally, but he was already a Penarol legend: he mastered the great Penarol of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the squad, which dominated the world – although, the fruits came under the guidance of Roberto Scarone. Bagnulo, however, was successful too – before 1983, he already made Penarol champions 4 times and qualified Uruguay for the 1974 World Cup (not the best campaign, so he was replaced before the finals). 1982 was the finest year of his career, winning everything possible with Penarol – just before retirement, so it was fantastic to end his career as a conqueror of the world.

Penarol had a good chance to become domineering team, if one considers what they had at the end of 1982 – but it was not to be, largely for economic reasons. Bagnulo retired, which was inevitable, but, if it was an European club, Penarol would have hired reinforcements right away – something impossible in Uruguay.

The South American player of the year. Essentially, the voting was battle between Zico and Maradona for some time – this year Maradona (Barcelona, Spain) was voted 3rd, Falcao (Roma, Italy) – 2nd, and Zico number 1.

Introducing Zico would be ridiculous by now, so instead of words a few pictures (not all from 1982) will suffice:

The sacred number 10 not yet given to him – Rivelino had it at the time of the photo.

A failed free kick, but still spectacular.

Celebrating a goal with Socrates – what a pair!

The ‘White Pele’ posing after scoring 500 goals – half of  record of the greatest one.

Zico won its 3rd continental award this year, thus emerging ahead of Maradona, who had been number one twice at the moment, and equalizing the record of Elias Figueroa. Two factors played a role: Brazil was very impressive at the World Cup – and Argentina was not – and Flamengo won the Brazilian championship. Meanwhile, Maradona struggled both with the national team of Argentina and with his new club Barcelona. Zico was greater than Maradona, as it appeared, but, unfortunately, he was much older than his rival and given the fact he was present since 1971 in professional football and nicknamed after Pele for years, success came a bit late – the star was aging. This turned out to be his last number one award. As for the award itself, it was still run by its founder – it may be strange, since South America had such famous publications as El Grafico (Argentina) and Placar (Brazil), but the Venezuelan newspaper El Mundo (Caracas) was behind the award and there will be quite a few years before the Uruguayan El Pais (Montevideo) took over. And there was a bit of controversy: today the ranking above is the established truth, but back in real time not so – the Soviet weekly Football-Hockey reported in its first issue for 1983 something different: Zico – 1st with 301 points, Maradona – 2nd with 296, Fernando Morena – 3rd, Socrates – 4th, and Passarella -5th. No Falcao at all. May be another unofficial voting? Who knows.

Copa Libertadores. Lady Luck played a joke this year, mostly affecting the second round of the tournament. Yet, considering the state of some famous clubs, the role of the draw may not had been decisive factor. Flamengo qualified directly to the second round as current cup holders. Argentina and Bolivia were in group 1 – easy for the gauchos, one may think. There was some irregularity in the opening match between The Strongest and River Plate, for the hosts won 1-0, but the points were awarded to River Plate. However, everything settled back to the normal in the second leg: River destroyed their visitors. One Jose Pekerman scored the only goal for the Bolivians. River Plate sailed easily throw the preliminary group, but not so Boca Juniors – they lost their matches in Bolivia, they were unable to beat Jorge Wilstermann at home, and the derby with River Plate went against them. Boca was eliminated, the only real surprise in the first phase of the tournament.

1.River Plate (Buenos Aires) 6 5 1 0 9- 2 11

2.The Strongest (La Paz) 6 2 1 3 6- 7 5

3.Boca Juniors (Buenos Aires) 6 1 2 3 3- 5 4

4.Jorge Wilstermann (Cochabamba) 6 1 2 3 5- 9 4

Group 2 was the toughest and, to a point, unfair, because Brazil and Uruguay were in it. Defensor (Montevideo) was the obvious outsider, but only one of Sao Paulo, Gremio, and Penarol was to go ahead. As it happened, the Brazilian clubs struggled, Defensor played bravely, and Penarol was the strongest, losing only one match – visiting Gremio, 1-3. Gremio had a good chance to take the second place, for they played the last group match at home against already bottom placed Defensor – but the outsiders won 2-1. Yet, the match did not matter – the Brazilians were already out.

1.Peñarol (Montevideo) 6 4 1 1 7- 3 9

2.São Paulo FC 6 2 2 2 7- 6 6

3.Grêmio (Porto Alegre) 6 1 3 2 6- 6 5

4.Defensor (Montevideo) 6 1 2 3 4- 9 4

Group 3. Colombia and Venezuela. The most predictable group and no matter how well or bad the teams played, the expected became a reality.

1.Tolima (Ibagué) 6 3 3 0 9- 3 9

2.Atlético Nacional (Medellín) 6 3 2 1 6- 4 8

3.Estudiantes (Mérida) 6 1 2 3 3- 7 4

4.Táchira (San Cristóbal) 6 0 3 3 2- 6 3

Group 4. Chile and Ecuador, the Chileans were favourites, of course, and did not falter. Perhaps the only sign of what could happen later flashed in the very last group match – Cobreloa hosted the second leg with Colo-Colo and won 2-0. The result was crucial for the first place – before it, Cobreloa was a point behind. Colo-Colo needed just a tie and having been historically the stronger club, it was perhaps expected that they would manage to go ahead. But Cobreloa had entirely point of view.

1.Cobreloa (Calama) 6 3 3 0 9- 2 9

2.Colo Colo (Santiago) 6 3 2 1 8- 5 8

3.LDU (Quito) 6 1 2 3 8-12 4

4.Barcelona (Guayaquil) 6 1 1 4 8-14 3

Group 5. Peru and Paraguay, the second toughest group in the first stage. Olimpia was more or less the favourite and did not disappoint. Deportivo Municipal was the worst team at this stage – they lost all matches.

1.Olimpia (Asunción) 6 4 2 0 12- 3 10

2.Mariano Melgar (Arequipa) 6 4 0 2 9-10 8

3.Sol de América (Asunción) 6 2 2 2 9- 8 6

4.Deportivo Municipal (Lima) 6 0 0 6 3-12 0

Second stage, serving also as semi-final. The five group winners and Flamengo, divided into 2 round-robin groups, the winners going to the final. Here happened the worst: Flamengo, Penarol, and River Plate made Group 1. Group 2 was inferior. Yet, the expected tough, close, possibly entangled into equal points race did not happened – River Plate, seemingly very strong in the first stage, was just a punching bag now – they lost every match they played, leaving the fight to Penarol and Flamengo. Penarol was 2 points ahead before the last game – which was in Rio de Janeiro, unfortunately. Flamengo needed a win and was expected to win, but Penarol was not at all ready to go out: they won 1-0 and finished first with perfect record.

1.Peñarol (Montevideo) 4 4 0 0 8- 3 8

2.Flamengo (Rio de Janeiro) 4 2 0 2 7- 4 4

3.River Plate (Buenos Aires) 4 0 0 4 5-13 0

Group 2 was expected to be a race between two clubs – the Colombians, Tolima, did not count. The program worked for that too – the last two group matches were between Cobreloa and Olimpia. Olimpia made no mistake in the match before the big clash: they won at home 2-0 against Tolima and lead the group with 3 points. Cobreloa had 2. The first match was in Asincion and Cobreloa managed a 1-1 tie, which did change their position in the table, but there was still a game and Cobreloa was the host – only win was getting them to the final and they achieved it – 2-0.

1.Cobreloa (Calama) 4 2 1 1 5- 2 5

2.Olimpia (Asunción) 4 1 2 1 4- 3 4

3.Tolima (Ibagué) 4 1 1 2 2- 6 3

The final – between one of the most successful South American clubs and a team from a country which never won Copa Libertadores, but also the team which played at the previous year final. The winners of 1982 were out, but the losing finalist of 1982 was again at the final. May be this time they would be successful. Naturally, Penarol had their own ambitions, especially because the last time they reached the final was in the distant 1970 and they won the cup for last time long time before their last final: in 1966. So, old power versus a maverick club, which emerged from the lower leagues only a few years ago. Interestingly, good luck was still with Cobreloa – so far, they played their last and decisive matches at home. The final went the same way – the opening leg was in Montevideo. And Cobreloa had much to smile after the last whistle.

1st leg. Centenario, Montevideo, 26-11-1982

 

Peñarol – Cobreloa 0-0

 

Peñarol: G. Fernández, W. Olivera, N. Gutiérrez, V. Diogo, Bossio, J.V. Morales,

V. Ramos, Saralegui, F. Morena, Jair Gonçalves, W. Silva (D. Rodríguez).

Cobreloa: Wirth, Soto, E. Gómez, Tabilo, Alarcón, Escobar, Letelier, Merello (Puebla), Siviero, R. Gómez, W. Olivera (Rubio).

 

Referee: Assis de Aragão (Brazil)

Attendance: 55,248

Cobreloa had the edge, but nothing was certain – many finals were decided by a third match, including the very final Cobreloa played in 1981. By names, Penarol had the stronger squad. Cobreloa, however, was perfect precisely in their last, all-decisive matches at home. Hard to tell… and hard it was on the field.

 

It was 0-0 one minute before the final whistle and a third match was to be played… when Penarol scored.

And from another angle:

Fernando Morena delivered, as he did so many times – but may be there was no goal like this one in his long career: 1-0 in the midst Santiago, just before the final whistle. A golden goal, giving Copa Libertadores to Penarol. The struggle was over, the match was over.

2nd leg. Estadio Nacional, Santiago, 30-11-1982

 

Cobreloa – Peñarol 0-1

89′ Morena 0-1

 

Cobreloa: Wirth, E. Gómez, Soto, Tabilo (Martínez), Alarcón, Escobar, Rubio,

Merello, Siviero, R. Gómez, W. Olivera (Letelier).

Peñarol: G. Fernández, V. Diogo, N. Gutiérrez, W. Olivera, J.V. Morales, Bossio,

Saralegui, Vargas, Jair Gonçalves, F. Morena, Ramos (D. Rodríguez).

 

Referee: Romero (Argentina)

Attendance: 70,400

Walter Olivera received Copa Libertadores.

And what more deserving picture of the two legends – Walter Olivera and Fernando Morena – holding the Cup. Their first. At last.

One can feel sorry for Cobreloa – brave season, only to lose at the last minute. And losing the big final for second year in a row… And by a single goal… Tough. But Cobreloa, as good as they were, lacked big names in their squad and in South America personalities often counted more than collective play.

Penarol won their 4th Copa Libertadores and their first since 1966. The long wait was over, they were again kings of South America, they went ahead of Nacional after trailing them on the internacional stage after 1970, and finally the great stars of this era – Olivera and Morena – won a really big trophy. And there was something more: Nacional won Copa Libertadores in 1980, but their squad was pretty much made of old, nearing the end of their careers, players. Penarol had much promising squad – Walter Olivera, Fernando Morena, and Juan Morales were aging, but behind them were younger players, still rising stars – Victor Diogo, Nelson Gutierez, Gustavo Fernandez, Miguel Bossio, Walter Silva, Verancio Ramos, Mario Saralegui, and the Brazilian striker Jair Gonsalves. It was clear, that the club would not be able to keep most of them for long – and it did not – but the group was big enough to provide for continual success. These players defined Uruguayan football in 1980s, as it happened – they just established their names in 1982. Considering the difficulties the Uruguayan football had at this time, the future of Penarol was quite good – especially when compared to Nacional’s. Considering the difficulties the Uruguayan football had, one may say that Penarol was not particularly great team – and here personalities must be noticed: Penarol had individuals able to make a difference, to win a game alone, if necessary – Morena just scored a winning goal, for instance – and Cobreloa had no similar players. The whole difference between 0-0 and 1-0, the whole difference between winning a cup and losing again a final.

 

Taca de Ouro. 40 teams started the championship – 2 directly qualified: the champions of 1981 Gremio (Porto Alegre) and the winners of 1981 Taca de Prata Guarani (Campinas). The other 38 were teams selected by their previous year positions, but according to the berths of each Brazilian state. Sao Paulo had the most berths – 6, followed by Rio de Janeiro – 5, and most states with traditionally insignificant football had 1 berth each. Some strange clubs appeared because of that – perhaps the strangest came from Sao Paulo, for they were ranked higher than famous Corinthians which had to start in the lower level: Internacional (Limeira) and XV de Novembro (Jau). Other hardly ever heard of clubs were Internacional (Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul), Gremio Maringa (Maringa, Parana), Taguatinga (Brasilia, Distrito Federal), Desportiva (Cariacica, Espirito Santo), Itabaina (Itabaina, Sergipe). The bulk started the first phase and in the second phase 4 teams, qualified from Taca de Prata joined as well to make the total of participants 44.

The most confusing to outside observer was the first phase: it was played in 8 groups of 5 teams each. The top three teams qualified to the next round. Fourth placed went to direct elimination play-offs , the winners qualifying to the next stage and the losers going down to continue in Taca de Prata. The last team in every group was relegated to continue in Taca de Prata. The first stage sifted out the small clubs, so no surprises happened – except in group F, where Vitoria (Salvador, Bahia) finished last. The rest of the relegated were Nacional (Manaus, Amazonas), Ferroviario (Fortaleza, Ceara), Itabaina (Itabaina, Sergipe),

Mixto (Cuiaba, Mato Grosso), Taguatinga (Brasilia, Distrito Federal), Joinville (Joinville, Santa Catarina), and Internacional (Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul).

The play-offs finished the first phase: Paysandu eliminated America 3-1, Nautico – CSA 6-2, Cruzeiro – Desportiva 1-0, and Londrina and Goias were 0-0, but Londrina qualified due to better group record. Goias was perhaps unlucky, but the only relatively big name eliminated here was America (Natal, Rio Grande de Norte). Thus 28 clubs proceeded to the second phase – the top 3 of the original 8 groups plus the play-off winners. Meanwhile Taca de Prata played two phases and the top 4 of the second phase qualified to Taca de Ouro, rounding the numbers to 32: America (Rio de Janeiro), Corinthians (Sao Paulo), Atletico Paranaense (Curitiba), and Sao Paulo (Rio Grande).

Second phase – 8 groups of 4 teams each, The top 2 qualifying for the next round and the rest eliminated for this year. Half the the teams finished their national championship at this stage – small fry largely, but also some bigger names.

America (Rio de Janeiro) – 3rd in group J,

Treze (Campina Grande, Paraiba) – 4th in group O,

Moto Clube (Sao Luis, Maranhao) – 4th in group Q,

Atletico Paranaense (Curitiba) – 4th in group P.

Paysandu (Belem, Para) – 4th in group M,

Atletico Mineiro – 3rd in group L,

Internacional (Porto Alegre) – 4th in group L,

Botafogo – 3rd in group O. Add Cruzeiro – 3rd in group Q. Some groups were tougher than others, of course, but there were some big failures – Botafogo, surely.

It was simple and clear cup format from this stage to the end: direct elimination or knockouts. The opponents met twice and in case of no winner, whoever had a better record in the second phase qualified. Away goals did not count for deliberation. Here ended the 1982 campaign for Operario (Campo Grande, Mato Grosso), Sao Jose (Sao Jose do Campos, Sao Paulo), Ceara, Londrina (Londrina, Minas Gerais),

Anapolina (Anapolis, Goias)

Bahia (Salvador, Bahia),

Standing from left: Pais. Marião. Ailton. Betão. Paulo Omar, Merica.

First row: João Carlos. Edson.  Roberto Cearense, Givanildo, Joãozinho.

Sport (Recife, Pernambuco), and

Vasco da Gama.

The quarter-finals were the end of the road for

Santos,

Fluminense,

Sao Paulo, and Bangu. Bangu was the only unlucky team – all others lost fair and square, but Bangu and Corinthians exchanged away victories: Corinthinas won 1-0 at Rio, and Bangu – 2-1 at Sao Paulo. Fair, not fair… the rules stipulated that in such a case not away goals, no goal-gifference, no penalty shoot-out, or a play-off decided the winner, but the records of the previous round: Corinthians had a better one and went ahead.

The semi-finals reached familiar names, so when the dust settled, when all preliminary stages were played nothing unusual really happened: small clubs from obscure states had no chance of winning the championship. The big clubs still dominated and, since they were many, momentary lack of form of a weak squad would eliminate some, but still others will step up – as a whole, there was no major shaking of the established order. Under the surface it was a bit different: Gremio and Flamengo was strong at the time and more or less favourites since 1980. The other two came from Taca de Prata, the lower level. Guarani won Taca de Prata in 1981 and was promoted thanks to that. Corinthians underperformed big time in the previous season and could not get a spot in the big Sao Paulo quota. Socrates and company started the 1982 season in the lower level – they emerged from there thanks to the rules and were great after that. Yet, still coming from bellow – so, the semi-finals reached 2 of the top teams of the time plus 2 technically second level teams. And when the games were played, the top teams won quite confidently: Gremio beat Corinthians 2-1 and 3-1, and Flamengo – Guarani 3-2 and 2-1.

How to judge Corinthians? They reached the semi-finals and were quite the talk both at home and abroad. A team lead by Socrates, with whom the whole world fell in love in this very year, and having Ze Maria, Casagrande, Zenon, Biro-Biro, Wladimir was surely one to go far. A champion squad, considering that Brazilian teams hardly had more than 4-5 outstanding players. But it was also unbalanced team – the strikers were wonderful, but it was not so in defense. Perhaps that was why they lost. On the other hand, to start the season and second division and to end it close to winning the national title was remarkable.

Standing from left: Wendell, Jaime, Júlio César, Ariovaldo, Edson, Almeida

First row: Lucio, Hernani, Careca, Jorge Mendonça, Capitão.

Judging by the players here, it was not difficult to understand why they reached the semi-finals this year, but rather why they were in the second division the previous one. Wendell was hardly heard of after 1973 when he was tried in the national team, but surely was among the better Brazilian goalkeepers with plenty of experience. Mendonca, Hernani, Edson, Careca.. an interesting team. May be too young and in need of experience – if able to keep the stars, of course. But wonderful season anyway.

And the final opposed the strongest Brazlian teams of this time – Flamengo and Gremio. It was their time, both teams playing great domestically and internationally, at their peak. Flamengo hosted the opening leg of the final, but it ended in a 1-1 tie. Zico scored for Flamengo and Tonho for Gremio.

No goals at all in second leg, played in Porto Alegre. A third match… and only now there was a winner. Nunes scored the only goal, giving the victory to Flamengo. Nunes was becoming rapidly a club legend: a master of scoring crucial goals.

Of course, it is disappointing to lose even minimally, but Gremio did very well and second place was still a success and something to be proud of. Of course, to win a second title would have been better, but champions in 1981 and 2nd in 1982 – nothing to complain, really. Leao, Batista, Renato, Paulo Isidoro, Baltazar, the strong Uruguayan defender De Leon – Gremio were perhaps the best rounded team in Brazil, having excellent players in every line. Of course, the temper of Leao was a liability – more in the dressing and board rooms than on the pitch – but still Gremio looked better and deeper team than any other.

Flamengo won it second national title – success came slowly for the most popular club of the country: their first national victory was only in 1980, but after frustrating decade they were finally on top, obviously determined to stay there. Actually, in only 3 years they climbed to 2nd position in the all-time table – only Internacional (Porto Alegre) had more titles than them – 3. Flamengo shared 2nd place with Palmeiras, both with 2 titles – but where was Palmeiras now? In the second division. Their last title was in 1973, whereas Flamengo was fresh winner. Leandro, Raul, Junior, Tita, Nunes, Andrade… strong team, no doubt. But they had Zico too. May be less well-rounded squad than Gremio’s, but if not better, then fairly equal and with a genius like Zico any difference could be easily evaporated. A team at its peak, though – nothing momentary or just lucky about their title. Well deserved and even promising, for surely this team was ready to win more and soon.

Second division – Taca de Prata. 46 teams took part in the second level championship – 36, divisded into 6 groups started. The 12 teams, last in the first phase of Taca de Ouro, joined Taca de Prata in its 3rd phase. The group winners in the second phase moved up to continue in the second phase of Taca de Ouro. Strange rules and structure – the winner of Taca de Ouro promoted to first level for the next year, but group winners of the second stage of the same championship going up in the same year, but there was some common sense: a glance at the participants in the second level reveals many familiar names. Familiar, but traditionally second-rate clubs. But the national championship gave quota to all Brazlilian states and they were very different when it came to football – thus, inevitably, obscure clubs started in the top level and well known clubs, mostly from Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Minas Gerais, were in the second level – since they were stronger than many of the top level starters, it made sense to give them a chance to compete at top level. If they were able to qualify. On the other hand, common sense was running thin – it was possible a team starting in second level to finish the year as Brazilian champion. The system catered largely to the big clubs, carrying tons of clout, but the first cracks appeared: poor performance in the previous season put Palmeiras in the second level.

They started in Group D with Anápolis FC (Anápolis-GO), CA Juventus (São Paulo-SP), CE Operário Varzeagrandense (Várzea Grande-MT), Vila Nova FC (Goiânia-GO), and Volta Redonda FC (Volta Redonda-RJ). And finished 4th… since only the top 2 teams of each first phase group qualified for the next stage, Palmeiras was out. Clout or no clout, performance was the measure. Couldn’t blame anybody, but themselves.

Others early finishers were not at the same level of fame.

4th in Group B

Comercial (Campo Grande, MS) was 5th in Group E. To a point, some early losers ring a bell, but only that – nothing like Palmeiras.

The second phase reached Tiradentes (Teresina, PI), Fortaleza (Fortaleza, CE) – group A; Campinense (Campina Grande, PB), CRB (Maceio, AL) – group B; America (Rio de Janeiro, RJ), Corinthians (Sao Paulo, SP) – group C; Vila Nova (Goiania, GO), Volta Redonda (Volta Redonda, RJ) – group D; Campo Grande (Rio de Janeiro, RJ), Uberaba (Uberaba, MG) – group E; and Atletico Paranaense (Curitiba, PR), Sao Paulo (Rio Grande, RS) – group F. So far, Socrates was moving ahead, unlike Luis Pereira. Weird seeing such names in the second division? Well, that was why the second stage had direct promotion.

Four groups of 3 teams each. The last placed – eliminated, the 2nd placed going to the next stage, and the winners moving up to play in the Second phase of Taca de Ouro. The winners were: America – group G, Corinthians – Group H, Sao Paulo – group I, and Atletico Paranaense – group J. No more second level football for Socrates.

And no more football for the losers: Campinense – group H,

CRB – group G,

Vila Nova – group I, and Volta Redonda – group J.

Going to the 1/8 finals: Tiradentes – group G, Fortaleza – group H, Uberaba – group I, and Campo Grande – group J. The rest of the 1/8-finalists came from first level – 12 eliminated after the first phase clubs, the best known of them Goias (Goiania), Vitoria (Salvador), America (Natal), Joinville (Joinville, and CSA (Maceio). The mix seemingly benefited the clubs coming from the higher level, if only by sheer quantity. But the second level teams performed remarkably well.

Only Fortaleza was eliminated – by CSA: 0-2 and 1-1. Meantime, most of the better known clubs were eliminated too: Vitoria, Goias, America.

The second level kept strong in the ¼ finals as well.

Only Tiradentes was eliminated – by Joinville: 0-1 and 2-2.

The semi-finals opposed half of the second level 1/8 finalists to the remains of the higher level clubs, but luck had it teams of the same level played against other. Campo Grande comfortably eliminated Uberaba – 4-0 and 2-0. Joinville and CSA exchanged 2-1 home victories and the ¼ finals records were the decisive factor: CSA had a better one and went to the final.

CSA won at home the opening leg of the final 4-3. Campo Grande won the second leg 2-1. No away-goals rule, no penalty shoot-out – the winner had to be decided in a third match, as was most common in South America. And this time Campo Grande was supreme, winning 3-0, and Taca de Prata with that.

CSA – the popular abbreviation of Centro Sportivo Alegoano – from Maceio lost a trophy. Given the peculiar structure, it is almost impossible to evaluate such a loss: apart from the trophy itself, the winner largely benefited from direct promotion to Taca de Ouro – the very top level tournament CSA started the season in. The state of Alagoas had 1 spot in Taca de Ouro and technically CSA was automatically with the best record of previous season – their main rival, CRB, started 1982 in the second level and was eliminated there earlier than CSA on top of it. As far as state championships played any role in determining Taca de Ouro participants, CSA won the championship of Alagoas for a third consecutive year. Most likely CSA were bitter only because they lost a trophy – otherwise winning or losing had no practical importance.

Not so for the winners.

May be winning a second championship, but for Campo Grande it was huge success – they were small Rio de Janeiro club surrounded by giants. With Flamengo, Botafogo, Vasco da Gama, Fluminense next door, not only winning anything was traditionally out of reach – even dreaming of winning was close to lunacy. Even dreaming of getting a spot in Taca de Ouro was a lunacy – Rio de Janeiro had 5 berths and assuming that Campo Grande had unusually strong year and some of the big clubs a weaker one there was almost no chance to get a berth: behind the famed big ones lurked still well known and much bigger than Campo Grande clubs – America, Bangu, Volta Redonda, the list could easily go on. Winning Taca de Prata meant success on a truly large scale – Campo Grande secured a place at the top level. A great season for club, players, fans. One to be remembered.

Brazil. The most complicated championship in the world… Two levels, which more or less amounts to First and Second divisions, competed for two separate trophies and were named after them: Taca de Ouro – roughly corresponding to the first division championship elsewhere, and Taca de Prata – roughly, the second division. 44 teams played in Taca de Ouro. Two of them had easily understood right to participate: the winners of the championship in the previous years – Gremio (Porto Alegre) and the winners of the second level in 1981 – Guarani (Campinas) – promoted to the first level. The rest were selected by state quotas and previous year records. May be for the first time after the Brazilian national championship was created big club was out of first level, having to play in the second division: Palmeiras, Corinthians. However, there was a bit of mystery as ever in Brazil: Sao Paulo had 6 berths – the most of any state. And here the qualified teams are, filling these berths:

Associação Atlética INTERNACIONAL (Limeira)

Associação Atlética PONTE PRETA (Campinas)

Esporte Clube XV DE NOVEMBRO (Jaú)

SANTOS Futebol Clube (Santos)

SÃO PAULO Futebol Clube (São Paulo)

SÃO JOSÉ Esporte Clube (São José dos Campos)

Corinthians is not among them – according to statistical notes on the championship. But they played in Taca de Ouro.

Rules stipulated relegation after the first group stage – the last placed in every group was relegated to continue the season in second division championship. That meant 8 teams joined Taca de Prata at the third stage of it – or 1/8 finals. Complicated, but comprehensive so far? Mm… Taca de Ouro had 8 groups of 5 teams each at the starting point: 40 teams. According to original state berths – 38 teams, plus the 1981 winners of Taca de Ouro and Taca de Prata – 2, the numbers are right: 40. The final table of the year lists 44 teams. Enjoy the mysteries of Brazilian football – what was the point of winning Taca de Prata, if one could join top level without going that far.

The winner of Taca de Prata is promoted to Taca de Ouro for the next year. Fine. 36 clubs started Taca de Prata, divided into 6 groups. The top 2 of each group moved to the second stage: 4 groups of 3 teams each. Winners of these groups moved to join Taca de Ouro’s current championship in its second phase. Those were America (Rio de Janeiro), Atletico Paranaense (Curitiba), Sao Paulo (Rio Grande), and Corinthians (Sao Paulo). Well, the winner of Taca de Prata would wait to join first level in the next year, but mere second stage winners of the same tournament moved up right away, having a very realistic chance to become champions of Brazil after starting the season in the second division. Funny. But what about the relegated teams – 8 of them went to finish the season in the lower level. Since participants in the top level were selected according to berths given to every state, relegation and final table did not make much sense: those 8 relegated teams could be eliminated quickly in the second level too and still appear in the top level the next year. The puzzle may be solved or may be not… meantime, football was played slowly, almost endlessly, meandering from stage to stage.

Just for informational sake, take a look few of the unlucky clubs not playing in the top national tournaments. In there home states, they were fairly well known and quite strong traditionally – yet, just a small sample of the fantastic number of Brazilian clubs, playing in the state championships, but not able – at least for the moment – the national championships.

Botafogo Utinga

Not to be confused with Comercial (Campo Grande), playing in the second level championship.

Standing from left: Brandão, Nino, Édson, Miro, Nezinho, Lucas.

First row: Silvio, Dorival, Daniel, Guto, Oliveira.

Uniao Sao Joao

Coritiba

Perhaps some ring a bell, perhaps not, but Coritiba (Curitiba) must be familiar name. If Palmeiras (Sao Paulo) suffered in the second level, Coritiba was entirely out of the picture. One may think Brazilian football was beginning to clean itself from favoritism, making first steps to fairness… Better be skeptical.

Campeonato Metropolitano or, to use the full name, Campeonato de Primera Division Soberania Nacional. Perhaps the more important championship for the big clubs – it was a grueling classic league full of derbies and local rivalries. But this year there was the Malvinas war, the World Cup, and that on top of the ongoing political unrest, repression, economic hardship, still on top of seemingly eternal corruption, financial difficulties, and massive exodus of players. All combined… almost impossible to find the key factor, but Maradona moved to Barcelona, Kempes returned to Valencia, and the Italian clubs were offering big money for Argentine stars. River Plate without Kempes and especially Boca Juniors without Maradona were weakened and Campeonato Nacional showed a general weakness of all big clubs, but the second championship was a different matter and only River Plate and Boca Juniors underperformed. Relegation was the prime concern at the bottom of league – which brings a word on promotion. Two teams were going down, two teams were going up – one promotional spot was clear: the champions of Second Division. A play-off between lower placed teams decided the second spot – so far, so good. But the record of Campeonato Nacional shows one more promotion: Atletico Racing (Cordoba). However, they were eliminated at the quarter-finals and if the reason for such promotion would be that the qualifying to the semi-finals teams were all members of First Division, then the question why Atletico Racing still remains, for they were not the only lower-division club at the quarter-finals: San Martin (Tucuman) was also there and ended with slightly better record than Atletico Racing. But whatever the reason, the promotion of Atletico Racing concerned the 1982 championship, not the 1983 one – after playing Nacional, they joined Metropolitano – with them the league had 19 teams in 1982, as opposed to 18 in 1981. So, relegation and promotion for the next season concerned only the bottom of the league as ever.

After 36 rounds were played, the dust settled: Sarmiento (Junin) finished last with 24 points. More or less, expected relegation. The second relegation was decided by a play-off between the 17th, Union (Santa Fe) and the 18th , Quilmes. Both finished with 27 points – that most likely was the reason for the play-off. Union clinched 1-0 victory and survived.

Standing from left: Clide Díaz, Tocalli, Milozzi, Gáspari, Zárate, Oscar E. Gizzi.

First row: Lorea, Acevedo, Víctor L. Martínez, Converti, Oscar A. Gissi.

Interesting anomaly: Quilmes almost won Campeonato Nacional, nearly repeating their success only a few years back, but Metropolitano was not their cup of tea – they were relegated practically at the same time they won the other championship, managed to return immediately to first division and were relegated just as quickly. In a single year Quilmes was vice-champions and relegated – a rare moment of football history.

And it was also interesting to see how the champions of Nacional played in the second championship: nothing much…

Ferro Carril Oeste finished 9th with 37 points – pretty much as they usually performed. Finished above River Plate, though.

Let keep out Racing Club – its horror story was going on for 15 years already and there was no end. 16th place this year was just another sad chapter of it, but nothing surprising.

Argentinos Juniors was 12th. Maradona left them and they sunk immediately.

River Plate finished 10th – if Argentinos Juniors’ drop was well understood – really one-player team and without him there was nothing to keep them up, River Plate was a big collapse. They were on top just and year ago and Kempes was not the decisive factor. But suddenly they were.

Rosario Central ended 8th, which was another unusually weak performance, for they had strong previous years.

The opposite road took two teams – Atletico Racing (Cordoba), newcomers, playing top division thanks to good performance at Campeonato Nacional earlier in the year, finished 7th.

Nueva Chicago, just promoted from Second Division, finished 15th. Not really newcomers, but for them to merely survive among the best was a success.

At the top of the table were well known names, but let not make mistake: it was not like they played all that well.

Velez Sarsfield was 5th – but with 42 points they were not part of the race for the title at all. Standing from left: Cuciuffo, Jorge, Juan D. Cabrera, Pumpido, Moralejo, Daniel Killer.

First row: Bujedo, Lucero, Bianchi, Alonso, Ischia.

Not a great squad… Carlos Bianchi and Daniel Killer were the stars. Cuciuffo and Pumpido were promising, at best – their fame came a few years later. To a point, Velez Sarsfield is more than good example of the state of the Argentine clubs: plausible performance depended often on aging stars, returning form abroad – Carlos Bianchi was still good enough for domestic football and was the only well known name to finish among the best scorers of the season: 3rd with 13 goals (hawever, in Campeonato Nacional – out of top 5 scorers in Campeonato Metropolitano). Younger stars were no longer around…

Newell’s Old Boys – 4th with 44 points. Tata Martino was with them, but… Tata Martino is more famous today, as a coach, then he was at his playing days. Simon, Scoponi, may be Santamaria… not exactly superstar.

Boca Juniors ended 3rd with 48 points. Maradona left them for Barcelona and Boca Juniors immediately followed the fate of Argentinos Juniors – although, it was not exactly the same kind of team and finished higher. Higher, but the title was out of reach, therefore, the season was wasted.

Independiente was 2nd and actually fought for the title – but still lost it. Compared to the squad of the first half of the 1970s, this one was rather insignificant.

Estudiantes (La Plata) won the championship with 21 wins, 12 ties, and 3 losses, 50-18 goal-difference. Six clubs outscored them, but none came even close to their defensive record. Of the bog clubs, they were the only one to play strong and it was great for them, for Estudiantes rather faded away in the 1970s. Yet, a look at the squad tells the story of this season: Trobbiani surely and Brown eventually were the big names.

Another version of the starters shows Alejando Sabella too, but he left to play in England. That was the situation of the Argentine clubs at that time: the best were going to play in Europe, impoverishing already rather thin squads. Success seemingly depended on momentary form – whichever team managed to keep a tight, disciplined, and even outdated defensively oriented group of 13-15 players would likely succeed. Estudiantes was hardly a flashy or memorable team, so imagine the others. Consider this: Maradona left Boca Juniors and a team like Estudiantes had no trouble to finish well above Boca. But whatever the general musings, Estudiantes did well and brought joy to their fans. Nothing more important than a title.

 

The Championships – well, Argentina had two championships and champions for years: Nacional and Metropolitano. A few words before going into them. The 1982 World Cup may have been a disastrous factor, because the leading club performed poorly. The exodus of star players also affected the clubs, particularly Boca Juniors – Maradona moved to Spanish Barcelona. Not just River Plate and Boca Juniors had a weak year – all the big names underperformed: Independiente, Newell’s Old Boys, Velez Sarsfield, Huracan, Rosario Central, and no need to really mention Racing Club, which mostly struggled to survive ever since they lost so much money in 1967, their most triumphal year. Of course, it was not just the World Cup – Argentine football was in desperate financial situation for many years, corruption and mismanagement were the norm, and on top of that were the current and no longer new, but just deepening, political and economic difficulties of the country – so far, crowned by the fresh Malvinas Islands war. Well, when one suffers, another has the best of times.

Campeonato Nacional. The true national championship, to which regional clubs had a chance to rub shoulders with the big boys and, occasinally, even to outplay them. This year was not the year of the small fry, but the year of the very small fry, for many hardly ever heard of clubs not just qualified to play in the Nacional, but actually ruled it. Clubs, like

Union San Vicente (Cordoba) – 7th in Group B. They were not alone – there were many: Guarani Antonio Franco (Posadas), Deportivo Roca (General Roca), and Renato Cesarini (Rosario) in Group D; Mariano Moreno (Junin) and Central Norte (Salta) in Group C; Estudiantes ( Santiago del Estero), San Lorenzo (Mar del Plata), and Atletico Concepcion (Banda del Rio Sali) in Group B; Independiente Rivadavia (Mendoza) in Group A. They all put some fight and inconvenienced the big clubs, of which only one emerged from the group stage: Estadiantes (La Plata). The rest were eliminated… Newell’s Old Boys was 3rd and River Plate 6th in Group A; Independiente – 3rd, and Argentinos Juniors – 4th in Group B; Rosario Central – 3rd, Boca Juniors – 4th, and Huracan 6th in Group C; Velez Sarsfield – 3rd and Racing Club – 8th and last in the table of Group D. Only Independiente was a bit unlucky of the big clubs – they failed to reach the next stage on worse goal-difference. Even the second-tier clubs were not particularly strong, although most of them took advantage of the weakness of the big clubs. So, to the next stage qualified: Quilmes (Quilmes) and Independiente Rivadavia (Mendoza) from Group A; Ferro Carril Oeste (Buenos Aires) and Union (Santa Fe) from Group B; Estudiantes (La Plata) and Talleres (Cordoba) from Group C; and Atletico Racing (Cordoba) and San Martin (Tucuman) from Group D.

In the ¼ finals Estudiantes, Ferro Carril Oeste, Talleres, and Quilmes eliminated their opponents, so at least a first division club was going to win the championship. Quilmes had the toughest time qualifying – they prevailed over Union only by penalty shoot-out.

Here the march of Independiente Rivadavia ended, but the boys deserve a note – a small club, rarely, if at all, playing at big tournaments. They were 2nd – and that only because of worse goal-difference – in Group A, leaving behind Newell’s Old Boys, River Plate, and Instituto (Cordoba). They met Ferro Carril Oeste, historically, a weaker opponent than the clubs they already left in the dust, and were fairly equal – 0-0 and 0-1. An excellent season for this players!

The semi-finals were the true end of the big clubs – Ferro Carril Oeste eliminated Talleres 4-0 and 4-4; and Quilmes won twice against Estudiantes – 2-0 and 1-0.

Unlikely final… Ferro Carril Oeste vs Quilmes. Old clubs, well known in Argentina, but more likely a third-tier clubs, although Quilmes was quite successful in the recent years, enjoying a good spell. So far, for very soon in this very year the spell was over. But at the moment there was no sigh of decline – Quilmes managed a 0-0 tie at the inhospitable stadium of Ferro Carril Oeste. The easiest part was coming – a home game. It was not easy at all – Ferro Carril Oeste won 2-0 and with this – the title.

Quilmes lost, but for this smallish club second place also equals success – vice-champions! Great! Standing from left: Clide Díaz, Tocalli, Milozzi, Gáspari, Zárate, Oscar Emilio Gizzi;

First row: Lorea, Frediani, Acevedo, Converti, Oscar Antonio Gissi.

Not a single big name, not even familiar names – a testimony of this Argentine season.

If Quilmes was happy with 2nd place, imagine the joy of the champions – Ferro Carril Oeste never won a title before. Standing from left: Carlos Arregui, Gómez, Garré, Cúper, Rocchia, Basigalup.

First row: Saccardi, Juárez, Márcico, Cañete, Crocco.

Unlike Quilmes, the champions had a star – not a first rate star, but still a star: Garre. He hardly made the whole difference, but was an advantage somewhat. Well, the real advantage was stronger squad, compared to the one Quilmes had. And what a moment they had! The club from the neighbourhood Caballito, Buenos Aires, was found in 1904 and to this moment their best triumphs were winning the Second Division. They did 6 times, most recently in 1978 – this is to say that first division football, let alone success, was rare thing for the club associated with railroad company at its birth. Their big triumph to date, a true success – champions at last! Yes, they beat just the ‘beermakers’, but first title is historic event for any club in the world. The big golden moment. And as a final note – in the early years their colours were maroon and lighblue – taken from Aston Villa, for the English influence was big: the railroad company was British at that time, so the first white kit with black socks was changed in 1907. In 1911 the colours were changed again and Ferro uses green and white to this very day (except 1974, when orange and white was used, paying tribute to the great Holland of that time). Hector Cuper and Alberto Marcico were the noticeable players of the golden generation, but Oscar Garre was the real stars – the defender was born in 1956 and played for Ferro from 1974 to 1988. He was included in the Argentine national team in 1983 and played a total of 39 matches for it in 5 years, becoming a world champion in 1986. But the real hero was the coach:

Carlos Timoteo Griguol came in 1979 from lowly Kimberley, but he already had a strong reputation from winning the championship with Rosario Central in 1973 and working in Mexico after that. He was at the perfect coaching age – 46: still young, but with plenty of experience. Although one of the best coaches at the time, his name is quite unknown – the reason is he preferred conservative style and because of that he was never seriously considered a national team coach. Conservative or not, he made Ferro Carril Oeste champions for the first time in their history. He made them champions twice, but the second title was still in the unknown future, so let stay with the moment – nobody supporting Ferro will ever forget it.

Argentina. Second Division, or Primera B. Concerns only the Metropolitano championship, largely concentrated in Buenos Aires, and having promotion and relegation. Of course, there were lower levels too. 22 teams divided into 2 groups – the top placed teams continued in direct elimination to compete for the title and the last placed faced relegation to the Third Division. Some well known – today, at least – clubs played in Primera B: San Lorenzo, Banfield, Lanus, Chacarita Juniors, Arsenal, Tigre. Group A was more provincial – the clubs from Santa Fe, Cordoba, and of the Buenos Aires Province were largely there, and the clubs from Metro Buenos Aires were largely in Group B. The geographical division perhaps shaped relegation and promotion, for otherwise the rules seem peculiar: the league system was best organized in Metro Buenos Aires in different league levels and there were the strongest clubs in terms of money and popularity anyway. Thus, one team was directly promoted to First Division, 8 teams competed for the second promotional spot; one team was directly relegated to the Third Division and 2 teams – trying to escape from the second relegation spot. Both teams directly going up and down were related to the Buenos Aires league system – at least, this is the likeliest explanation.

Argentino de Quilmes was last in Group A with 29 points and went down directly. The 10th in Group A – Talleres – and the last in Group B – All Boys – went to the relegation play-off. Since both Argentino de Quilmes and All Boys belonged to Buenos Aires system, points were seemingly the decisive factro: Argentino de Quilmes finished with 29 points and All Boys – with 36.

All Boys won the play-off – the match ended 0-0 and All Boys prevailed at the penalty shoot-out 3-2.

All Boys survived at the last moment.

Talleres went down. That is Talleres Buenos Aires, not to be confused with the better known Talleres Cordoba.

With relegation out of the way, let us move up the tables.

Tigre was 9th in Group A – not a surprise, really, for at that time Tigre was lowly club unlikely to play higher than Second Division football. So was Arsenal, 7th in Group A. So was Lanus, 7th in Group B. To a point, Colon (Santa Fe) was the big disappointment – 8th in Group A. Colon was to be at least a prime candidate for promotion, but failed.

At the top of both groups the fight went on to the next stage: Gimnasia y Esgrima (La Plata) won Group A, followed by Chacarita Juniors, Almirante Brown, and Deportivo Espanol. Deportivo Armenio ended 5th and missed the play-offs by a point. In Group B the champion had direct promotion, so to the play-offs went those placed from 2nd to 5th: Atlanta, Banfield, Temperley, and Deportivo Italiano. Lucky Deportivo Italiano, for they qualified only thanks to the direct promotion of the group champion and better goal-difference than Defensores de Belgrano. Anyhow, Deportivo Italiano, Almirante Brown, Chacarita Juniors, and Deportivo Espanol were eliminated at the ¼ finals. Gimnasia y Esgrima and Banfield lost at the semi-finals and Atlanta and Temperley faced each other at the final. Temperley won its home leg 2-1, then Atlanta won 1-0 at home and the matter had to be settled by penalty shoot-out, which was dramatic: Temperley finally won 13-12!

A great moment in the history of small Temperley – they clinched promotion to First Division. Standing from left: Issa, Cassé, Piris, Masotto, Villalba, Aguilar.

First row: Dabrowski, Scotta, Finarolli, Lacava Schell, Espósito.

The direct promotion went to San Lorenzo. Perhaps the reason was they had better record – San Lorenzo won fair and square Group B – 23 wins, 11 ties, and 8 matches lost, 56-27 goal-difference, 57 points. 10 points ahead of second placed Atlanta. And 7 points more than the record of the champions of Group A, Gimnasia y Esgrima (La Plata), which finished with 49 points.

If for most second-division clubs a promotion was a big success, for San Lorenzo it was a must – the club was among the big names, they were champions full of stars not that long ago. But they suffered a decline, leading them to second division football. Quick return to the top league was expected – and achieved – but San Lorenzo was still in poor shape: the names of the squad clearly tell that – Rubén Cousillas, Oscar Quiroga, Osvaldo Biain, Hugo Moreno, HéctorOsvaldo López, Ricardo Collavini, Rubén Darío Insua, Leonardo Madelon,Carlos Schamberger, Armando Quinteros, Jorge Rinaldi, Hugo Paulino Sánchez, Eugenio Morel Bogado, Carlos Suárez, Eduardo Abrahamian, RubénAraoz, Pablo Comelles, Ricardo Demagistris, Raúl Moreno, HugoVerdecchia, Miguel Batalla, Marcelo Milano, Oscar Ricardo Ros, Omar Dagorret, Héctor Raúl López, Claudio Marasco, Claudio Pérez.

Well, at least San Lorenzo returned to First Division.

Uruguay. Usually, the least complicated and easy to understand championship, but not this year. Relegation was a messy mystery – the rest was normal. The First Division was going to be reduced again – from 14 teams to 13 in the 1983. Hard to tell why and also hard to tell when the decision was made because the seasonal records do not tally. The simplest way was 2 teams relegated and 1 promoted from the Second Division. Relegation was never just the last in the final table – usually, it was a combined record of the few previous seasons, the newest league members excluded, and the the team with least combined points going down. But not this year…

Colon FC (Montevideo) won the Second Division. Normally, no problem – this was the team promoted. But Colon did not get to play top league football – it was not promoted at all, not even participating in the promotion/relegation tournament. Yes, Colon was a tiny club, but since the whole championship involved only Montevideo clubs, it was nothing unusual for a small club to play in the top league. Anyhow, Colon won the Second Division and nothing more.

But promotion still was an issue, for after the end of the season promotion/relegation tournament was played between 4 teams – Liverpool, 11th in the First Division, and arguably, the last in the combined league record – otherwise, there was no reason for them to be facing relegation. Its opponents came from Second Division: Fenix, El Tanque Sisley, and Racing. Colon was not among the participants and one may think that at that stage the next year to league would have been still 14-team strong, Colon getting direct promotion. But which club was going down, if that was the case? Never mind, worse follows. Fenix won the relegation/promotion tournament with 7 points and better goal-difference than Liverpool, also with 7 points. As most often was the case in South America, goal-difference did not count and Liverpool and Fenix met again: Liverpool won 2-0. By the record, they were safe…

Liverpool – leaving 3 teams behind in the championship, but having but having still to fight for survival and, seemingly, successfully. After winning the promotion/relegation tournament Liverpool was relegated. What was the point for this promotion/relegation tournament, then? Anyway, Liverpool won and was relegated. Colon won and was not promoted. No team was promoted, in fact, and the the league was reduced – same members minus Liverpool. If you are collecting amusing anomalies, South America is your prime source: there not only a team with a negative goal-difference quite often finished first, but now a winning team was relegated.

In another country, even South American one, a team like Huracan Buceo was to be relegated without any fuss: they were dead last with 16 points.

River Plate was 13th with 19 points. Clearly, Huracan Buceo was hopeless outsider this season, but had nothing to worry… River Plate had no worries too.

Miramar Misiones, 12th with 20 points also had no worries.

Liverpool – 11th with 22 points was the only team to worry. Never mind the seasonal performance, never mind the following win of the promotion/relegation tournament…

Rampla Juniors finished 9th – there is the sense that Rampla should have been much higher, just bellow Penarol and Nacional, but reality was different for a long time: may be popular, but Rampla for a long time was kind of declining and practically a mid-table club, more likely to fight to survival instead of for medals.

Danubio was slowly moving in the opposite direction of Rampla Juniors – not down, but up. Slowly, though – they finished 7th, distinguishing themselves as the team with most ties this year: 12. Standing from left: ÁlvaroPérez , Javier Zeoli , Ruben Dopico, Pierino Lattuada, Miguel Beltran , Cesar Javier Vega.

First row: Eliseo Rivero ,Christian Guaita, CarlosBerrueta,Gustavo Dalto, Rúben Sosa .

Anything memorable or just curious? One Argentine player – Guaita – who came from Estudiantes (La Plata) and one Portuguese, unfortunately not on the photo – Custodio Mendes. Well, he was no longer Portuguese, but naturalized Argentinian. And Ruben Sosa – at this time still a teenager, a promising junior.

Sud America was 6th , not a bad season really.

The next 4 had more at stake – not just position, but also a chance to play in Copa Libertadores – Uruguay, as a current holder of the cup, had three spots in the tournament and 4 teams competed for 2 spots in a mini-tournament after the end of the season.

Wanderers finished 5th in the championship, but put a good fight in the following mini-league and got one of the Copa Libertadores spots. Well done.

Bella Vista was 4th – strong year for the club.

Defensor finished 3rd with with 34 points – 5 ahead of Bella Vista and losing silver medals only on goal-difference. Strong season and, as often was the case in Uruguay in general and Defensor in particular, a strong season meant having one great, if aging, star – on this occasion, Baudilio Jauregui. Enough to give the scare to Nacional…

Nacional had a much stronger – by names – squad than Defensor, yet only better goal-difference placed them above. Juan Masnik was at the helm – an young coach, just recently still a major playing star – but very likely the brass and the fans of Nacional did not fancy him much at the moment: silver does not count. Yes, Nacional won the final tournament and thus kept its place in Copa Libertadores, but this was a last ditch effort.

Counting the titles of Penarol is really pointless, but this one was quite impressive: 15 wins, 9 ties, and only 2 games lost. 47-22 goal-difference and 39 points – leaving the arch-enemy Nacional 5 points behind. The best defensive record in the championship and only Defensor scored more goals. And the Uruguayan title was just the domestic part of this excellent for Penarol year – there is still plenty to talk about this squad, so no need to give their names yet.