Category: 1985

Colombia. Another structural mystery – the format was was not new, but how it worked? It was three-staged championship and individually, the stages were clear: Apertura at first. |Or Copa de la Paz. The league divided into 2 groups of 7 teams and the top 2 teams of each going to something like finals. So far, so good… the round-robin final groups was played and finished… without real final table. Was there a winner at all? If not what was the point? The second stage – Clausura or Campeonato Nacional – was typical league championship. And after its end there was the last stage – 8 teams playing for the title in the Torneo Octogonal. There was little connection between the stages: no points were carried over, every stage was on its own. But between the second and the final stage a bonus table was made – the top teams of both earlier stages got bonus points, depending on place – from 1 point for first place to 0.25 point for 4th place. These bonus points were carried over to the final stage, but… not all teams performing well earlier qualified to the final stage – really, there was no understandable reason why some teams were in and other – out. Anyhow, whoever won the final stage, played in a standard league format, was the champion of Colombia.

Before jumping to this last stage, let see which teams were eliminated.

Cucuta Deportivo. It was clear with them: last in Group B of Apertura and last in the Clausura. The weakest team this year, especially in the Clausura.

Independiente Santa Fe. Also understandable why – 5th in Group B of Apertura and 13th in the Clausura – if the best 8 teams of either stage qualified for the final stage, Santa Fe was out.

Once Caldas – 4th in Group B of Apertura and 12th in the Clausura. They were weak, but would be out of the finals only if the measure for qualification was the Clausura final table.

Deportes Tolima. They were last in Group A of Apertura, but 7th in the Clausura – would be out of the finals if Apertura was the measure for qualification, but if it was Clausura… they should have been in.

Deportivo Pereira. Standing from left: Cardona, Olave, Grau, Estrada, Quintabani. First row: Alape, Perea, Didi, Del Rio, Diaz, Paez. With them, it looked clear – 6th in Group A of Apertura and 9th in Clausura – out by any final table.

Deportes Quindio. If Apertura was the measure, they were rightly out of the finals – they finished 6th in Group B. But if it was Clausura… in it, Quindio ended 4th and got bonus point. Evidently, they were very strong at this stage, but they were out of the finals. Their absence was stranger than the absence of Tolima. Since there was no anything like combined table – only bonus table – why some of these teams were out of the finals, but others, hardly better, qualified? An open question.

The other open question is what happened at the end of Apertura – instead of final table, there is this:

1. Atlético Junior 2 1 1 0 2- 0 3

2. Indep. Medellín 2 0 1 1 0- 2 1

3. América de Cali 2 1 1 0 4- 3 3

4. Deportivo Cali 2 0 1 1 3- 4 1

Seemingly, there was no official winner, but the distribution of bonus points tells different: Atletico Junior got most. Was the whole purpose just to decide bonus points? Even this was not right… Atletico Junior got 1 point. Independiente Medellin got 0.75 – which is the bonus for 2nd place! America – 0.50, the bonus for 3rd place, although 3 points in the round-robin is more than 1 point, and Deportivo Cali – 0.25. Looked like the round-robin stage served different purpose: to re-establish positions in the original groups and bonus points given in accord with that: Independiente Medellin won Group A and although they underperfomed in the round-robin ‘final’, they competed only the winners of Group B – Atletico Junior and not with America, which was 2nd in Group B.

Clausura had no such complications – it was standard league championship with standard final table. In effect, it was a battle only between America and Deportivo Cali, which America won with 38 points. Atletico Nacional was 3rd and Deportes Quindio – 4th. They were 4th only because of head-to-head record against Union Magdalena – there could not be any other reason, for both teams ended with 29 points and Union had better goal-difference by far (+11 vs -3). But Millonarios also had 29 points and better goal-difference than Quindio… so, it may have been different decisive factor: the team with most wins placed of others – Quindio won 11 games, Union and Millonarios – 10 each. Anyhow, the good standing did not help Quindio a bit – they got 0.25 bonus points for it, but were out of the final stage. America got 1 bonus point, Deportivo Cali – 0.75, and Atletico Nacional – 0.5. Thus some teams entered the final stage with their bonuses and as small as they were, at the end that was important: America carried 1.5 points, Deportivo Cali and Atletico Junior – 1 point each, Independiente Medellin – 0.75 and Atletico Nacional – 0.50 point. Atletico Junior was suspect finalist – they were quite weak in Clausura: 11th with 22 points. But practically the best of Apertura… the final 8 were somehow distilled by taking in account performance in Apertura and Clausura singularly. It was much simpler just to include the top 4 teams of each stage, but… it had to be complicated and mind-boggling, as if transplanting the ‘magical realism’ of Gabriel Garcia Marquez into football. At least it was simple in the final stage – the Octogonal Final.

Atletico Bucaramanga was last with 7 points.

Union Magdalena – 7th with 7 points. Better head-to-head record placed them ahead of Bucaramanga.

Atletico Nacional – 6th with 13.50 points.

Independiente Medellin – concurrently written as Deportivo Medellin, but most often as DIM (Deportivo Independinete Medellin) – 5th with 13.75 points.

Atletico Junior – also known as Junior – 4th with 17 points.

Millonarios – 3rd with 18 points. They scored most goals in the final tournament, but that was their only achievement this year. Third row from left: Eduardo Luján Manera (D.T), Miguel Prince, Juan Gilberto Funes, Germán Gutiérrez de Piñeres, Norberto Peluffo, Alfredo Ferrer, René Higuita, Pedro Vivalda, José Hernández, Eduardo Pimentel, Marcelo Trobbiani, Germán Morales, Rubén Timko(P.F).

Middle row: Jair Abonía, Carlos Meza, Jamir Carabali, Arnoldo Iguarán, Adolfo Téllez, Cerveleón Cuesta, Manuel Acisclo Córdoba, Federico Valencia, Wilfredo Rincón.

Sitting in front: Rubén Cuevas, Hugo Galeano, Edgar Castañeda, Juan Carlos Díaz, Carlos Gómez, Rubén Darío Hernández, Alonso López, Hernando García.

Deportivo Cali – 2nd with 22 points. They had the best defensive record at the final stage, allowing only 8 goals, but lost the title anyway. Fought to the end, though.

America (Cali) clinched the title with 20.50 points. Half a point ahead of Deportivo. Really, bonus points decided the championship – America came to the final stage with 1.50 points, Deportivo with 1 point. The derby of Cali was won on that. Not the most dominant season of America, but this was not their fault – the rivals were strong and ambitious. Due to competition, America’s performance could be easily underestimated – in fact, this season was one of their most successful in history to date: they won 4th consecutive title, equalizing the record of Millonarios set in 1964 (and going to beat it the next year) and reached the Copa Libertadores final, which they did not exactly lose – penalty shoot-out is a lottery. It was already recognized that this was the strongest ever period of America. The squad was talented and experienced and had few big stars – the Paraguayan Cabanas, the Argentine Gareca, and the local Ortiz. To outsiders and from the distance of time it may look like other clubs had the ‘true’ stars – Valderama, Escobar, Rincon, Higuita – but they were not famous yet. In real time, Cabanas, Gareca, Ortiz were the leading players – the others became famous later, they were still young talent. Already making waves, but not fully in bloom. America had the best squad at the time, pure and simple. If there was anything simple in Colombian football, that was it.

Campeonato Nacional. Although much easier to understand and follow then the Brazilian monster, the Argenine national championship had the expected South American peculiarities hardly making sense elsewhere. Unlike Brazil, the Argentine structure seemingly embraced the whole country – first provincial qualifications, then the big clubs joined. A long championship organized like that is difficult to show in its entirety, so generally – even in Argentina – it is observed only from this late stage when the big clubs were included. 32 teams divided into 8 groups. Then… the mystery: no team was out of the game after this stage – the top 2 teams in the group proceeded to Group Winners, the lower placed – to Group Losers. It was straight direct elimination from this point to the group finals. It was simple in the group of the winners, but the other group was more complicated: after every round the losers in the Group Winners moved to Group Losers, having new chance to qualify. And after that the winners of Group Winners and Group Losers went to play the final for the title between themselves, with little bonus to the winner of Group Winners: the final was single match, but in case it ended in a tie, there was a replay. That was the bonus for the winner of Group Winner – having a second chance to prevail on the field instead of going to chancy penalty shoot-out. And if there was a tie again? Well, one second chance is enough… shoot-out.

Strange formula, to say the least: the strongest teams were going to ruin each other and at the same time one of the weaker, having lucky run, could win the national title. There was room for unhealthy scheming – a good team could simply underperformed in the original groups just to appear in the next stage against weaker opponents and reach the final relatively easy. Perhaps the big clubs pulled some weight for such rule to appear: some were going to be eliminated too early otherwise. Perhaps there was also concern about traveling expenses: the ‘winners’ most likely were to be the big clubs and since they were clustered in Buenos Aires and nearby towns, they did not have to travel to some backwaters. Geographically, the ‘backwaters’ were likely to be nearer to each other than to Buenos Aires, so they would not have to travel very far either. No matter what the actual arguments were, the formula was suspect and only real justification for it is that was last Campeonato Nacional, tucked in transitional season, so let get over with as quickly as possible – it had to finish in September and the new scheduled championship start right after the Nacional final. The ‘big’ clubs were the members of not playing first division and how they performed in the Nacional did not matter a bit as for who will be in the ‘new’ top league.

Since tables in the original 8 groups did not matter, let proceed directly to the important next stage – original groups will be given in brackets, just for information.

 

Group Winners

Boca Juniors (Group B) 3-2 0-2 Vélez Sarsfield (Group G)

Deportivo Español (Group H) 2-1 0-5 River Plate (Group D)

Ferro Carril Oeste (Group H) 1-0 2-1 Unión (Group D)

Independiente (Group C) 3-1 3-2 Ramón Santamarina (Group A)

Newell’s Old Boys (Group E) 0-0 2-1 Chacarita Juniors (Group F)

San Lorenzo de Almagro (Group E) 2-2 0-1 Argentinos Juniors (Group F)

San Martín (Group G) 4-2 0-0 Estudiantes (Rio Cuarto, Group B)

Talleres (Group C) 1-1 1-3 Estudiantes (La Plata, Group A)

 

Round 3:

Ferro Carril Oeste (BA) 3-0 Independiente (A)

Newell’s Old Boys 1-2 Vélez Sarsfield

(aet)

River Plate 2-0 Estudiantes LP

San Martín (T) 0-2 Argentinos Juniors

 

Round 4:

Ferro Carril Oeste (BA) 0-3 Argentinos Juniors

Vélez Sarsfield 3-0 River Plate

 

Round 5:

Argentinos Juniors 2-0 Vélez Sarsfield

Vélez Sarsfield 2-0 Argentinos Juniors

(aet 2-4 on PK)

Argentinos Juniors won the group Winners. Standing from left: Olguín, Domenech, Pavoni, Vidallé, Villalba, Batista.

First row: Castro, Videla, Pasculli, Comisso, Ereros.

 

Group Losers

Round 2:

Altos Hornos Zapla 2-0 1-2 Argentino (F)

Atlético Cipolletti 0-0 1-3 Instituto

Atletico Cipolletti eliminated.

Belgrano (C) 2-1 1-3 Huracán Las Heras

Belgrano (Cordoba) eliminated.

Central Norte 0-0 3-2 Círculo Deportivo

Curculo Deportivo eliminated.

Gimnasia y Esgrima LP 3-0 0-1 Juventud Antoniana

Guaraní Antonio Franco 0-0 0-1 Platense (VL)

Guarani Antonio Franco eliminated.

Huracán (BA) 2-1 1-1 (aet) Racing (C)

Juventud Alianza 4-3 1-4 (aet) Temperley

 

Round 3:

 

Boca Juniors 3-1 Altos Hornos Zapla

Chacarita Juniors 0-0 Huracán (BA)

(aet 4-3 on PK)

Huracan (Buenos Aires) eliminated. Standing from left: Juan A. Sánchez, ?, Rodolfo Rafaelli, ?, Hugo I. Ramírez, Carlos A. Gay.

Croching: Daniel Messina, Claudio Morresi, Claudio Cabrera, Claudio García, ?.

Deportivo Español 2-0 Gimnasia y Esgrima LP

Gimnasia y Esgrima (La Plata) eliminated.

Estudiantes (RC) 0-1 Temperley

Estudiantes (Rio Cuarto) eliminated.

Ramón Santamarina 1-1 Central Norte

(aet 2-4 on PK)

Ramon Santamarina eliminated.

San Lorenzo de Almagro 3-3 Huracán Las Heras

(aet 3-2 on PK)

Talleres (C) 0-4 Instituto

Talleres (Cordoba) eliminated.

Unión (SF) 3-0 Platense (VL)

 

Round 4:

Central Norte 0-0 Unión (SF)

(aet 1-3 on PK)

Chacarita Juniors 2-0 San Lorenzo de Almagro

(aet)

San Lorenzo eliminated.

Estudiantes LP 1-1 Deportivo Español

(aet 6-5 on PK)

Deportivo Espanol eliminated

Independiente (A) 1-0 Boca Juniors (Abandoned at 85′)

Boca Juniors eliminated.

Newell’s Old Boys 2-1 Temperley

Temperley eliminated.

San Martín (T) 0-0 Instituto

(aet 4-1 on PK)

Instituto (Cordoba) eliminated. Standing from left: Abel Moralejo, Roberto Brunetto, Ramón B. Alvarez, Miguel A. Rodríguez, Pedro Sánchez, Enrique Nieto.

First row: Osvaldo Mattei, Rodolfo C. Rodríguez, Osvaldo Márquez, Alberto Beltrán, Sergio N. González.

 

Round 5:

Chacarita Juniors 0-1 Newell’s Old Boys

Chacarita Juniors eliminated.

Estudiantes LP 1-0 San Martín (T)

San Martin (Tucuman) eliminated.

River Plate 1-0 Unión (SF)

Ferro Carril Oeste (BA) 0-0 Independiente (A)

(aet 2-4 on PK

Ferro Carril Oeste eliminated. Standing from left: Agonil, Fantaguzzi, Garré, Cúper, Marchesini, Basigalup.

Crouching: Roberto Gómez, Gustavo Acosta, Noremberg, Daniel Fernández, Crocco.

 

Round 6:

Independiente (A) 0-2 Newell’s Old Boys

Independiente eliminated. Standing from left: Goyén, Clausen, Trossero, Villaverde, Marangoni, Enrique.

Crouching: Gambier, Percudani, Burruchaga, Bochini, Reinoso.

River Plate 4-1 Estudiantes LP

Estudiantes (La Plata) eliminated.

 

Round 7:

River Plate 2-0 Newell’s Old Boys

Newell’s Old Boys eliminated.

 

Round 8:

Vélez Sarsfield 2-1 River Plate

River Plate lost the chance to win the championship. Standing from left: Gordillo, Gallego, Borelli, Pumpido, Ruggeri, Montenegro.

First row: Amuchástegui, Francescoli, Morresi, Héctor Enrique, Alfaro.

 

Vélez Sarsfield won the group Losers.

 

Round 9: final

 

Argentinos Juniors 1-1 Vélez Sarsfield

(aet 3-4 on PK)

 

As Argentinos Juniors came from group Winners and had a new chance. Strange rule, but rule…

 

Grand Final

Round 10:

Vélez Sarsfield 1-2 Argentinos Juniors

Champion: Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors.

One may say that rules were against Velez Sarsfield, but they lost twice: first they lost the Group Winners final to Argentinos Juniors, so after 3 matches played between these team Velez Sarsfield lost twice and won one match after penalty shoot-out. Fare. Even as a squad they were less impressive than their nemesis. One may note the goalkeeper Navarro Montoya – he will appear in another championship this very year, the Colombian, and will also play his only games for a national team for that country – his dual citizenship eventually will cut his international career short – Colombia did not used him for her national team after 1985 and his desire to play for Argentina was never fulfilled, although FIFA eventually bent her own rules and permitted him to play for Argentina. That was many years after 1985, Navarro Montoya was already 32 by then and Argentinian coaches thought he was too old for the national team. Ciciuffo, however, will be World champion soon.

Standing from left: Lucca, Fren, Vanemerak, Navarro Montoya, Gissi, Gabrich.

First row: Hernández, Meza, Ciciuffo, Comas, Héctor W. López.

The best ever year of Argentinos Juniors – back to back Argentine title and this time they were the singular champions, not having to share triumphs with another champion. Intercontinental champion. Interamerican champion – for that later. One may forget Diego Maradona – his original club succeeded without him, with other heroes. Wonderful underdogs.

Argentina. This was transitional year – instead of two championships, the country was going to have one and that in new time-table: no longer fall-spring season, but spring-fall, which meant that the championship will be spread in two years – 1985-86 and so on. What were the possible benefits of the new time-table is unclear, but the new formula, if starting from scratch left almost the whole 1985 empty of football, which was intolerable. So, the old Campeonato Nacional was played for the last time. Campeonato Metropilatano was not, but wait… Metropilitano had the classic divisional structure, with lower leagues, promotions and relegations. Apparently, Primera Division was to be the new national top league – no wonder why: the best clubs played in it anyway – and it looked like the whole divisional system was taking over the national championship at the expense of some relatively strong provincial clubs, but the current second and lower divisions were left without football for 2/3 of 1985 and to prevent such crime, only the top division did not have 1985 championship. The wisdom for that was simple one: the best participated in Campeonato Nacional, so they were going to stay idle until the new 1985-86 championship kicks in. Few pay attention to lower levels, but the transitional year opened a bit of a problem: the Second Division season ends with 2 teams promoted up. Were those clubs going up for 1985-86 season or for the 1986-87? If it was for the 86-87, then the system was going to be quite clumsy: winners had to stay in Second Division, then no matter how they play go up. Looks like the 1985 winners of Segunda did not play in the 1985-86 season of Primera… Also, the lower levels season was not stretched to include, even briefly, some of the new time-table: the season started in February and ended in December of 1985, as ever before. Strange as it was, let take a look at the 1985 Segunda Division: 22 teams played in it, divided into 2 groups of 11 teams each, but playing against all teams in the league to the tune of 42 games. The groups remained separated to the end and after the finish combined table emerged. The winner was directly promoted to Primera Division. The next 8 teams in the combined final table continued to play – a knock-off format, the winner of which was tbe the second promoted team. As for relegation, 2 teams were going down, but following the peculiar Argentine rule of keeping a separate relegation table, based on 5-years record of points: the teams with lowest average were relegated. As it happened, the peculiar rule was hard to notice in 1985, for the relegated were also the last in both group final tables and in the combined final table. As for the teams playing in Segunda, most were fairly known names and some more than that. Geographically, it was familiar picture: Buenos Aires, the province of Buenos Aires, and the province of Santa Fe. No other province of the country was represented, for it was the traditional set-up, and that perhaps was going to bring some problems in the future, unless some other provinces were included by fiat, but that was not current concern.

Since only the combined final table really matter, let jump straight to it:

1. Rosario Central (Rosario, province Santa Fe) 42 25 10 7 15 5 1 10 5 6 73 35 60 [Promoted to First Division]

————————————————————————————–

2. San Miguel (Los Polvorines, province Buenos Aires) 42 17 15 10 8 11 2 9 4 8 56 43 49 [to Second Promotion playoff]

3. Racing Club (Avellaneda, province Buenos Aires)) 42 17 14 11 10 6 5 7 8 6 58 44 48 [to Second Promotion playoff]

4. Lanús (Lanus, province Buenos Aires) 42 16 15 11 11 6 4 5 9 7 59 43 47 [to Second Promotion playoff]

5. Quilmes (Quilmes, province Buenos Aires) 42 16 15 11 12 8 1 4 7 10 54 45 47 [to Second Promotion playoff]

6. Los Andes (Lomas de Zamora, province Buenos Aires) 42 15 17 10 11 8 2 4 9 8 50 43 47 [to Second Promotion playoff]

7. Atlanta (Buenos Aires) 42 16 15 11 9 8 4 7 7 7 47 43 47 [to Second Promotion playoff]

8. Banfield (Banfield, province Buenos Aires) 42 18 10 14 12 4 5 6 6 9 62 51 46 [to Second Promotion playoff]

9. Defensores de Belgrano (Buenos Aires) 42 14 18 10 8 8 5 6 10 5 55 47 46 [to Second Promotion playoff]

————————————————————————————–

10. Estudiantes (Buenos Aires) 42 15 15 12 11 6 4 4 9 8 58 42 45

11. Colón (Santa Fe, province Santa Fe) 42 12 19 11 10 7 4 2 12 7 48 48 43

12. Villa Dálmine (Campana, province Buenos Aires) 42 13 16 13 10 5 6 3 11 7 53 54 42

13. Deportivo Italiano (Ciudad Evita, province Buenos Aires) 42 13 16 13 9 7 5 4 9 8 48 40 42

14. Nueva Chicago (Buenos Aires) 42 9 23 10 6 11 4 3 12 6 49 50 41

15. All Boys (Buenos Aires) 42 12 16 14 9 8 4 3 8 10 51 56 40

16. Deportivo Morón (Moron, province Buenos Aires) 42 10 17 15 6 11 4 4 6 11 30 45 37

Standing from left: Héctor Ártico, Claudio Mellado, Osvaldo M. Caligiuri, Rubén Acevedo, Bernardez, Reinhart Mántaras.

First row: Adrián Di Fonzo, Walter Pajón, Walter Fiori, Norberto Ortega Sánchez, Edgardo Paruzzo.

17. Tigre (Victoria, province Buenos Aires) 42 11 14 17 8 6 7 3 8 10 40 56 36

18. El Porvenir (Gerli, province Buenos Aires) 42 9 17 16 5 11 5 4 6 11 40 50 35

19. Argentino (Rosario, province Santa Fe) 42 9 16 17 7 9 5 2 7 12 36 51 34

20. Almirante Brown (Isidro Casanova, province Buenos Aires) 42 7 17 18 6 9 6 1 8 12 34 60 31

21. Talleres (Remedio de Escalada, province Buenos Aires) 42 7 17 18 4 11 6 3 6 12 33 63 31 [Relegated; worst average]

22. Sarmiento (Junín, province Buenos Aires) 42 7 16 19 5 9 7 2 7 12 37 62 30 [Relegated; worst average]

Playoff for the Second Promotion Place

Quarterfinals:

Defensores de Belgrano 2-1 0-1 San Miguel

Banfield 1-3 3-1 Racing Club

Atlanta 2-0 1-2 Lanús

Quilmes 2-2 1-1 Los Andes

Semifinals:

San Miguel 0-0 0-3 Atlanta

Quilmes 0-2 1-3 Racing Club

 

Final:

Atlanta 0-4 1-1 Racing Club [at River Plate]

Racing Club (Avellaneda) won the second promotion.

Rosario Central (Rosario) was promoted to first division as second division champion. Of course, they were team ‘campeon’ and perhaps in more than one sense: to win second level league was somewhat good, but since there was no first division championship… Central could boast for more than the actual. Unofficially, of course, but why not?

Second phase. 4 groups of 4 teams each, the group winners qualify to the sem-finals.

Group E

1-Atlético-MG 6 3 3 0 7- 3 9 Qualified

—————————————–

2-Guarani (Campinas – SP) 6 1 4 1 9- 5 6 Note the goalkeeper – Waldir Peres: he played for two clubs this championship. South American lax transfer rules… making it difficult to establish actual squads.

3-Ponte Preta (Campinas – SP) 6 1 4 1 4- 3 6

4-CSA (Maceio – AL) 6 0 3 3 1-10 3

Group F

1-Brasil (Pel.) 6 4 1 1 11- 4 9 Qualified

—————————————–

2-Flamengo (Rio de Janeiro – RJ) 6 2 3 1 7- 5 7 Standing from left: Cantareli, Leandro, Mozer, Jorginho, Andrade, Adalberto. First row: Bebeto, Adilio, Chiquinho, Gilmar Popoka (?), Marquino Carioca (?). There was to the list of names: the Argentinian great goalkeeper Fillol, Tita, Nunes, Elder. Such players and look at the final table…

3-Ceará (Fortaleza – CE) 6 1 3 2 5-12 5

4-Bahia (Salvador -BA) 6 1 1 4 8-10 3

Group G

1-Coritiba 6 3 2 1 5- 3 8 Qualified

—————————————–

2-Sport (Recife – PE) 6 2 3 1 7- 6 7

3-Joinville (Joinville – SC) 6 2 1 3 8- 7 5

4-Corinthians (Sao Paolo – SP) 6 1 2 3 3- 7 4 Another team to wonder why gone – half team current national team players, one Uruguayan international, Biro-Biro was a big star for years, Juninho already among the regulars.

Group H

1-Bangu 6 4 2 0 13- 5 10 Qualified

—————————————–

2-Internacional (Porto Alegre – RS) 6 2 3 1 9- 7 7 May be not very solid squad, but strong enough. On paper. Standing from left: Luis Carlos, Gilmar, Ademir, Mauro, Galvao, Luis. Crouching: Silvio, Fernando, Kita, Pas, Silvinho.

3-Vasco da Gama (Rio de Janeiro – RJ) 6 1 3 2 9- 9 5

4-Mixto (Cuiaba – MT) 6 0 2 4 4-14 2

Semi-finals: very unusual names. If history serves enough – since it did when deciding who will participate in the championship – Atletico Mineiro should have been instant winner. The city of Pelotas had no big enough stadium for the occasion and Brasil had to play its home leg in Porto Alegre, for God’s sake! But history has little to do with football – it does not win games.

Brasil (Pelotas – RS) lost both legs to Bangu: 0-1 and 1-3.

The semi-finals were the end of the road for Atletico Mineiro (Belo Horizonte – MG) as well: they lost to Coritiba 0-1 and 0-0.

The big final was to be decided between two very unlikely contenders: Bangu, a second-rate club in Rio de Janeiro pecking order, and Coritiba, which was well known and respected name, but also did not rank first-rate club on national scale. Since Bangu had better seasonal record, the final was to be played in Rio de Janeiro. This decision put Coritiba immediately to big disadvantage, for Rio was not just home turf to Bangu, but now the city pride was at stake as well and supporters of all big Rio clubs flocked to the stadium to cheer for Bangu. Hostile crowd met Coritiba, but they did not flinch.

The final was not particularly great match, but it tough and highly competitive.

Relentless battle, in which eventually goals were scores.

Brief footage of the game suggests 3 or 4 goals – there is cheering and no immediate sequence showing different decision made before or after scoring. However, it was 1-1 at the final whistle.

One thing was sure – both teams did their best keeping their own net from the ball. The result was 1-1 after the extra-time, the goals scored by Lulinha (Bangu) and Indio (Curitiba).

Penalty shoot-out. It went for a while until Bangu missed and it was 5-6.

Trembling with fear and hope and payers have been answered at last. Marinho missed, Gomes scored.

The great rush to celebrate with their own goalkeeper

Pure joy

Receiving the trophy and

making the triumphal lap of honour. Coritiba won the championship of Brazil.

Bangu AC (Rio de Janeiro) was unfortunate and the whole city grieved to some degree, but it was equal game from start to finish. Neither finalist deserved to lose, neither deserved to win and Lady Luck decided against Bangu. They had wonderful spell this year – it was not just the Brazilian championship: they reached the final of the Rio championship as well, but with their predicament reaching finals was the most they can do, even overachieving doing so. A secondary Rio club, Bangu had no chance hiring big names, even on temporary basis. Goalkeeper Gilmar was just about the only big addition to rather anonymous squad – and Gilmar was not first-rate star. It was too bad Bangu lost, for it was highly unlikely they could reach another final, but what can you do: it was a final of underdogs. Even home turf advantage and vast support did not help – the opposition played well under pressure.

And just because Bangu will not appear again at this stage, one more look at the losing finalists.

Coritiba FC (Curitiba – Parana) won its very first national title! A great achievement, although it was a matter of luck, rather then anything. Like Bangu, they were underdogs – fairly well known club, but provincial and on national-scale ranking, a second-tier at best. Kings at home, but only that. A club founded by German immigrants and not permitting black players originally, but that was in the very distant past. The misspelled name of the city, after which the club was named remained – a curious mistake, considering how meticulously proper Germans are in such matters. Almost as a joke, it is Coritiba from Curitiba, but there was nothing funny about them this year. A glance back to the early months of the season hardly suggest success: Coritiba qualified in the first stage of the long championship, but entirely missed the second stage: the only successful club to fail like that this season. Looked like quick decline… but whatever it was, there was no more weakness to the very end. As a squad, they were not much – not a single big name. Familiar names were also absent – may be Indio, may be Edson, but that was all. However, the boys played fine as a team – at least at the final, where they met equally pedestrian squad. If one of the big teams played against them at the final who knows – probably Coritiba was going to be outclassed and lose, but Bangu was fair game.

It was great moment, surely – Grande Coritiba: champions could not be anything, but ‘grande’. Back in Parana, in Curitiba, among their own supporters, in the club’s annals – ‘grande’. In Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte – hardly ‘grande’, more likely an usurper… but it was great lesson as well: a team without any recognizable player won the title when those having world-famous stars did not reach even the semi-finals. Unfortunately, Coritiba was not a team capable of long-lasting domination – it was going to be one-time-wonder. And it was… so far, Coritiba did not add another title.

Lastly, the meaningless ‘final’ table of the season:

1-Coritiba 29 12 7 10 25-27 31

2-Bangu 31 20 8 3 55-23 48

3-Brasil (Pel.) 30 14 8 8 48-33 36

4-Atlético-MG 28 13 9 6 37-23 35

5-Sport 28 20 5 3 49-16 45

6-Ponte Preta 28 13 12 3 41-21 38

7-Ceará 28 14 8 6 39-29 36

8-Joinville 28 13 6 9 36-23 32

9-Flamengo-RJ 26 11 8 7 40-23 30

10-Internacional 26 11 8 7 36-23 30

11-Vasco da Gama 26 11 8 7 37-31 30

12-Bahia 26 11 7 8 35-29 29

13-CSA 28 10 9 9 33-29 29

14-Mixto 28 10 9 9 27-36 29

15-Guarani 26 8 13 5 36-26 29

16-Corinthians 26 9 9 8 27-22 27

17-Paysandu 22 8 9 5 26-21 25

18-Nacional 22 10 4 8 39-29 24

19-Botafogo-PB 22 7 10 5 21-23 24

20-Brasília 22 8 7 7 22-22 23

21-Pinheiros 22 7 9 6 21-17 23

22-Fluminense 20 7 7 6 24-21 21

23-Grêmio 20 6 9 5 25-21 21

24-Botafogo-RJ 20 9 2 9 26-36 20

25-Náutico 20 8 4 8 25-28 20

26-Santos 20 7 6 7 23-25 20

27-São Paulo 20 7 6 7 36-39 20

28-Vila Nova-GO 22 7 6 9 25-34 20

29-Cruzeiro 20 5 8 7 23-22 18

30-Palmeiras 20 5 8 7 28-28 18

31-Leônico 22 7 3 12 21-33 17

32-Desportiva 22 7 3 12 18-30 17

33-Uberlândia 22 6 5 11 26-26 17

34-ABC 22 6 5 11 27-33 17

35-Goiás 20 5 6 9 21-27 16

36-Flamengo-PI 22 5 5 12 14-24 15

37-Villa Nova-MG 22 5 5 12 18-31 15

38-Portuguesa 20 4 7 9 19-26 15

39-Remo 22 5 4 13 19-38 14

40-América-RJ 20 4 5 11 19-31 13

41-Corumbaense 22 4 5 13 16-37 13

42-Sampaio Corrêa 22 2 8 12 24-43 12

43-Santa Cruz 20 4 3 13 21-47 11

44-Sergipe 22 3 5 14 15-37 11

Meaningless record, but one can mediate on it: Coritiba lost 10 games – Bangu and Sport only 3 games each. Further, Coritiba won the title with negative scoring balance: 25-27. Something possible in complicated championship structures, but not plausible for a winning team. Less than one-goal-per-game average – also not something to brag about: champions should score more. As a whole, low scoring this year – a dismal record, really, and that in a country famous for her strikers!

Taca de Ouro -the national championship of Brazil, the top level. 44 teams. 20 chosen by historical record – that made sure no ‘big’ club was left out, no matter in what shape they currently were. Two teams promoted from 1984 second level – that was fair. 22 teams chosen by their 1984 state championships standing. One assumes, those teams were the reigning champions of their respective states. Assumptions are safe way to deal with byzantine Brazilian ways – investigations are more difficult. The championship had simplified structure this year: at first, the participants were divided into 4 groups – the 20 ‘historic’ clubs were in Group A and Group B, 10 teams each. The rest were in Group C and Group D, 12 teams each. The groups played only against each other – twice, with separate fianl table after each phase. No team played against any of the teams belonging to its own group. Confusing? Just wait… After the first round ended, there was a final table and the winners of each group qualified to the next stage. Then the second round started anew, ending with another final table – the winner qualified to the next stage. If one team won both the first and second round, then the second best in the second round qualified to the next stage. And after that a combined table of both rounds was made and two more teams of each group qualified: those coming best in the combined table, discounting the already qualified round winners. Complicated, but not as complicated as it used to be in the past. At least the new formula provided all teams with minimum of 20 championship games – in the earlier championships some teams, eliminated at the opening stage played just a few games, almost a mockery of a national championship and financially unsound too.

In the next stage the 16 remaining teams were divided into 4 groups, the winners of which proceeded to the semi-finals. At this points it was classic cup format – direct elimination after two legs and single final between the winners. The winner of the final was champion of Brazil. Compared to the previous championship, it was much clearer and simplified formula, providing all with decent number of games. Yet, it was not a formula of compromises and not entirely fair – politics were the factor behind and it was uneasy solution for ‘big’ clubs vs the country tensions. All big clubs had guaranteed place in the championship, as they thought right. But they put together and only 8 of them could go ahead after the first stage. The ‘country’ remained in the other two early groups and also had 8 teams going ahead. The question stayed open: was it, say, Uberlandia really stronger than Flamengo – provided Uberlandia did qualifyed, thanks to playing against weaker teams and Flamengo did not, after playing against stronger teams? The ‘big’ clubs were hardly happy about such risks, but the ‘country’ was equally unhappy, if more opportunities were created for the ‘big’ clubs at their expense. So, ‘big clubs’ and ‘country’ got equal numbers – 8 teams of each group going ahead and then everything will become clear in the next stage. Uneasy compromise, but what could be a ‘big’ club argument for another arrangement? All great stars were leaving the country to play in Europe – Socrates, Zico, Falcao. Compared to some earlier vintages, the ‘big’ clubs were remarkably weak – hardly any had a truly strong and well-rounded team. And one may rightfully suspect that many second- and third- string players were opting to play for some decent provincial club, where they will be stars instead of joining a ‘big’ club and play secondary role, if playing at all. Like or not, the national championship opened new opportunities for many clubs and players from distant parts of Brazil – at the expense of the big clubs. And from this perspective the complaints of some ‘big’ club failing to qualify from the first stage of the championship were becoming laughable – the ‘provincials’ were pretty equal by now. They may not have been great and never had any real stars, but were equal to the ‘big’ clubs on the field. One look at the current squad of Gremio and all complaints were just stupid rants: they had practically no big names now. And so was Bangu… But if only ‘big’ clubs played at national level… then certainly they would have better teams, talent flying to them from the country’s dumps. Well, talent inevitably moved to the big clubs anyway, but talent also was quick to go to Europe, so this was hardly solid solution – the solid solution was only the result of a match at the final whistle and the new formula still benefited the ‘big’ clubs: they were concentrated in few cities with easy transport and sure to attract large crowds when playing traditional rivalries. The provincials faced great distances, difficult to cover and more expensive to travel. And they practically never had supporters on away games, for their fans were could not afford the travel. No wonder the ‘big’ clubs bitterly regretted having to play somewhere deep in the country, but they were saved from that in the first stage of the championship. And yet they continued to oppose a national league – such construction put the ‘big’ clubs in the danger of relegation and thus belittled. To a point, the ‘provincials’ were always more eager to play on national stage than the ‘big’ clubs and if so, then all states had to be represented… so from angle a national league was also problematic. Weird Brazil.

And because the championship was still complicated, this missive will be divided in two parts and only final tables.

First phase.

First stage

Group A

1-Atlético-MG 10 6 3 1 17- 8 15 Qualified

2-Corinthians 10 5 3 2 14- 6 13

3-Guarani 10 5 2 3 17-12 12

4-Grêmio 10 3 6 1 13- 9 12

5-Botafogo-RJ 10 4 2 4 14-16 10

6-Fluminense 10 3 4 3 12-11 10

7-Palmeiras 10 3 2 5 13-14 8

8-Coritiba 10 3 1 6 8-14 7

9-América-RJ 10 2 2 6 8-15 6

10-Santa Cruz 10 2 2 6 8-20 6

 

Group B

1-Flamengo-RJ 10 6 2 2 12- 5 14 Qualified

2-Internacional 10 6 1 3 18- 9 13

3-Vasco da Gama 10 4 3 3 18-16 11

4-Náutico 10 4 3 3 11- 9 11

5-São Paulo 10 4 2 4 17-19 10

6-Santos 10 4 2 4 11-13 10

7-Cruzeiro 10 3 4 3 11-10 10

8-Bahia 10 3 4 3 8-10 10

9-Portuguesa 10 2 2 6 9-16 6

10-Goiás 10 1 4 5 10-17 6

 

Second stage

Group A

1-Coritiba 10 5 2 3 10- 9 12 Qualified

2-Fluminense 10 4 3 3 12-10 11

3-Guarani 10 2 7 1 10- 9 11

4-Botafogo-RJ 10 5 0 5 12-20 10

5-Atlético-MG 10 4 2 4 13-11 10

6-Corinthians 10 3 4 3 10- 9 10

7-Palmeiras 10 2 6 2 15-14 10

8-Grêmio 10 3 3 4 12-12 9

9-América-RJ 10 2 3 5 11-16 7

10-Santa Cruz 10 2 1 7 13-27 5

 

Group B

1-Bahia 10 7 2 1 19- 9 16 Qualified

2-Vasco da Gama 10 6 2 2 10- 6 14

3-Goiás 10 4 2 4 11-10 10

4-Internacional 10 3 4 3 9- 7 10

5-Santos 10 3 4 3 12-12 10

6-São Paulo 10 3 4 3 19-20 10

7-Náutico 10 4 1 5 14-19 9

8-Flamengo-RJ 10 3 3 4 21-13 9

9-Portuguesa 10 2 5 3 10-10 9

10-Cruzeiro 10 2 4 4 12-12 8

 

Table – Combined first and second stages

 

Group A

1-Atlético-MG 20 10 5 5 30-19 25 Qualified (1st stage winners)

2-Corinthians 20 8 7 5 24-15 23 Qualified (overall record)

3-Guarani 20 7 9 4 27-21 23 Qualified (overall record)

4-Fluminense 20 7 7 6 24-21 21

5-Grêmio 20 6 9 5 25-21 21

6-Botafogo-RJ 20 9 2 9 26-36 20

7-Coritiba 20 8 3 9 18-23 19 Qualified (2nd stage winners)

8-Palmeiras 20 5 8 7 28-28 18

9-América-RJ 20 4 5 11 19-31 13

10-Santa Cruz 20 4 3 13 21-47 11

 

Group B

1-Bahia 20 10 6 4 27-19 26 Qualified (2nd stage winners)

2-Vasco da Gama 20 10 5 5 28-22 25 Qualified (overall record)

3-Flamengo-RJ 20 9 5 6 33-18 23 Qualified (1st stage winners)

4-Internacional 20 9 5 6 27-16 23 Qualified (overall record)

5-Náutico 20 8 4 8 25-28 20

6-Santos 20 7 6 7 23-25 20

7-São Paulo 20 7 6 7 36-39 20

8-Cruzeiro 20 5 8 7 23-22 18

9-Goiás 20 5 6 9 21-27 16

10-Portuguesa 20 4 7 9 19-26 15

 

Eliminated were from Group A:

Fluinense (Rio de Janeiro)

Gremio (Porto Alegre)

Botafogo (Rio de Janeiro)

Palmeiras (Sao Paulo)

America (Rio de Janeiro). Standing from left: Waldir Peres, Beto, Teco, Pagani,Serginho, Denys. First row: Renato,Cléo, Moreno, Gaúcho, Ademir.

Santa Cruz (Recife)

 

Eliminated from Group B:

Nautico (Belem)

Santos (Santos)

Sao Paulo (Sao Paulo)

Cruzeiro (Belo Horizonte)

Goias (Goiania)

Portuguesa (Sao Paulo)

It is interesting to take a second look at the eliminated squads after the end of the season and compare them with the winners. And perhaps think why the early eliminated did not go ahead and stuck here.

First phase

Group C

Table – First stage

1-Sport 11 9 1 1 19- 3 19 Qualified

2-Mixto 11 5 4 2 12-10 14

3-Botafogo-PB 11 4 6 1 9- 7 14

4-CSA 11 5 3 3 16-11 13

5-Ceará 11 4 5 2 14- 8 13

6-Paysandu 11 3 6 2 11- 8 12

7-Nacional 11 4 1 6 15-18 9

8-Flamengo-PI 11 3 3 5 7-10 9

9-ABC 11 3 3 5 10-15 9

10-Sampaio Corrêa 11 1 6 4 12-16 8

11-Sergipe 11 2 2 7 6-17 6

12-Remo 11 1 4 6 10-18 6

 

Table – Second stage

1-Sport 11 9 1 1 23- 7 19 *

2-Ceará 11 9 0 2 20- 9 18 Qualified

3-Nacional 11 6 3 2 24-11 15

4-CSA 11 5 3 3 16- 8 13

5-Paysandu 11 5 3 3 15-13 13

6-Mixto 11 5 3 3 11-12 13

7-Botafogo-PB 11 3 4 4 12-16 10

8-Remo 11 4 0 7 9-20 8

9-ABC 11 3 2 6 17-18 8

10-Flamengo-PI 11 2 2 7 7-14 6

11-Sergipe 11 1 3 7 9-20 5

12-Sampaio Corrêa 11 1 2 8 12-27 4

* – Since Sport had already won the first stage, Ceará qualified as second stage runners-up

 

Table – Combined first and second stages

1-Sport 22 18 2 2 42-10 38 Qualified (1st and 2nd stage winners)

2-Ceará 22 13 5 4 34-17 31 Qualified (2nd stage runner-up)

3-Mixto 22 10 7 5 23-22 27 Qualified (overall record)

4-CSA 22 10 6 6 32-19 26 Qualified (overall record)

5-Paysandu 22 8 9 5 26-21 25

6-Nacional 22 10 4 8 39-29 24

7-Botafogo-PB 22 7 10 5 21-23 24

8-ABC 22 6 5 11 27-33 17

9-Flamengo-PI 22 5 5 12 14-24 15

10-Remo 22 5 4 13 19-38 14

11-Sampaio Corrêa 22 2 8 12 24-43 12

12-Sergipe 22 3 5 14 15-37 11

 

First phase

Group D

Table – First stage

1-Bangu 11 7 3 1 15- 6 17 Qualified

2-Ponte Preta 11 7 3 1 15- 6 17

3-Joinville 11 7 1 3 16- 6 15

4-Leônico 11 5 2 4 14-15 12

5-Pinheiros 11 4 4 3 13-10 12

6-Brasil (Pel.) 11 4 3 4 16-16 11

7-Brasília 11 4 3 4 12-12 11

8-Desportiva 11 4 0 7 12-17 8

9-Villa Nova-MG 11 3 2 6 10-15 8

10-Uberlândia 11 2 4 5 11-14 8

11-Vila Nova-GO 11 2 4 5 11-17 8

12-Corumbaense 11 1 3 7 4-15 5

Note: Bangu won the tie-breaking draw to determine 1st place

Table – second stage

1-Bangu 11 7 2 2 22-10 16 *

2-Brasil (Pel.) 11 6 4 1 20- 9 16 Qualified

3-Ponte Preta 11 5 5 1 22-12 15

4-Vila Nova-GO 11 5 2 4 14-17 12

5-Joinville 11 4 4 3 12-10 12

6-Brasília 11 4 4 3 10-10 12

7-Pinheiros 11 3 5 3 8- 7 11

8-Uberlândia 11 4 1 6 15-12 9

9-Desportiva 11 3 3 5 6-13 9

10-Corumbaense 11 3 2 6 12-22 8

11-Villa Nova-MG 11 2 3 6 8-16 7

12-Leônico 11 2 1 8 7-18 5

* – Since Bangu had already won the first stage, Brasil qualified as second stage runners-up

 

Table – Combined first and second stages

1-Bangu 22 14 5 3 37-16 33 Qualified (1st and 2nd stage winners)

2-Ponte Preta 22 12 8 2 37-18 32 Qualified (overall record)

3-Joinville 22 11 5 6 28-16 27 Qualified (overall record)

4-Brasil 22 10 7 5 36-25 27 Qualified (2nd stage runner-up)

5-Brasília 22 8 7 7 22-22 23

6-Pinheiros 22 7 9 6 21-17 23

7-Vila Nova-GO 22 7 6 9 25-34 20

8-Leônico 22 7 3 12 21-33 17

9-Desportiva 22 7 3 12 18-30 17

10-Uberlândia 22 6 5 11 26-26 17

11-Villa Nova-MG 22 5 5 12 18-31 15

12-Corumbaense 22 4 5 13 16-37 13

Eliminated from Group C:

Paysandu (Belem – PA)

Nacional (Manaus – AM)

Botafogo (Joao Pessoa – PB)

ABC (Natal – RN)

Flamengo (Teresina – PI)

Remo (Belem – PA)

Sampaio Correa (San Luis – MA)

Sergipe (Aracaju – SE)

Eliminated from Group D:

Brasilia (Brasilia – DF)

Pinheiros (Curitiba – PR)

Vila Nova (Goiania – GO)

Leonico (Salvador – BA)

Desportiva (Cariacica – ES)

Uberlandia (Uberlandia – MG)

Villa Nova (Nova Lima – MG)

Corumbaense (Corumba – MS)

Taca de Prata – second level. 24 teams engaged in a simple knock-out format until the final. Two legs and if there was still a tie – penalty shoot-out. Names of home city and state in brackets. The first phase: Moto Clube (Sao Luis – MA) lost to Tuna Luso 0-0 and 0-3, River (Teresina – PA) to Fortaleza 1-3 and 0-2, Vitoria (Vitoria – ES) – to America MG 0-2 and 2-0, 4-5 shoot-out,

America (Natal – RN) lost to Treze 0-2 and 1-1,

America (Sao Jose do Rio Preto – SP) – to Goytacaz 1-0, 0-1 and 2-3 shoot-out, CRB (Maceio – AL) to Central 1-1, 0-0, and 2-4 shoot-out, Colorado (Curtitba – PR) to Marilia 1-1 and 0-3, Uniao (Rondonopolis – MT) to Rio Negro 1-1 and 0-2, Confianca (Aracaju – SE) to Caruense 0-2 and 0-1,

Sobradinho (Sobradinho – DF) to Americano 0-0 and 1-3, Novo Hamburgo (Novo Hamburgo – RS) to Fugueirense 0-0 and 1-2, and

Goiania (Goiania – GO) to Operario 0-2 and 1-2.

Second stage. Six teams were eliminated here.

Rio Negro (Manaus – AM) lost to Tuna Luso 0-1 and 1-2,

America (Belo Horizonte – MG) to Goytacaz 1-3 and 0-1,

Treze (Campina Grande – PB) to Fortaleza 3-1 and 0-3, Americano (Campos – RJ) to Operario 0-3 and 0-0,

Marilia (Marilia – SP) to Figueirense 2-3 and 1-3, and

Central (Caruaru – PE) to Catuense 1-1, 0-0, and 3-4 penalty shoot-out.

Third phase – three teams eliminated.

Catuense (Alagoinhas – BA) lost to Goytacaz 0-0 and 1-3, Operario (Campo Grande – MS) to Figueirense 2-1 and 1-3, and

Fortaleza (Fortaleza – CE) to Tuna Luso 0-0 and 1-5. Fortaleza was perhaps the best known club in this issue of second level, but they were practically destroyed.

The final – the last three team played two-leg round-robin tournament and the winner was decided before the last game was played.

Figueirense (Florianopolis – SC) finished 3rd with 3 points: 1 win, 1 tie, 2 losses, 5-7.

Goytacaz (Campos – RJ) ended 2nd with 3 points – 1 win, 1 tie, 2 losses, 4-4.

Tuna Luso won the final tournament with 6 points – 3 wins and 1 loss, 5-3. They lost the away leg to Figueirense 2-3, but they won the next home match and were champions before the last game of the final was played.

Tuna Luso Brasileira (Belem – PA) were champions of Taca de Prata for 1985 and qualified for the 1986 Taca de Ouro. Well deserved victory – they lost only one match in this campaign, to Figueirense at the final, and were clearly the best team this year. And it was important they won, for Tuna Luso was always trailing behind Paysandu at the local stage and had almost no chances to be ‘selected’ to play at Taca do Ouro. By the rules, they were the only team promoted from Taca do Prata, but was it really so? Rules changed so frequently in Brazil – but rule change concerned other clubs, not the winners.

Brazil. May be not the best championship in South America, but still the biggest and most complicated. Sitting on top of various other championships – individual state championships, inter-city tournaments and who knows what else. There was a conscious effort made to reduce the national championship to some coherent and smaller size, so 44 teams played in the first level – Taca de Ouro – and 24 in the second level – Taca de Prata. There was no more movement from one championship to the other during the ongoing season, the formula was shaped somewhat better and much simpler than before, especially the formula of the second level. Top level was still going through many stages in fuzzy and difficult to follow way, but second level was now straight cup-type championship – direct elimination until the final phase. As for participants… big clubs still pull their weight and no one was out, no matter what: 20 teams in top level were ‘chosen by record on CBF’s historical ranking’. Two teams qualified as finalists in the previous year second level championship. The rest – 22 in total – were ‘selected by record on previous state championship’. As ever, final ‘table’ meant nothing and there was no relegation, but at least the criteria was clear. Relatively clear. The criteria for selecting second level participants was not clear – may be all states were represented, but even this needs some painful search. Second level attracted little interest – the making of statistical record of the season in later time was seemingly a collective efforts of few statisticians, suggesting little, may be conflicting and likely partial actual records scattered in many local newspapers. There was cup to be won at the end, but the sole purpose of this championship most likely was only to promote two teams to the top level – two teams in 1984: at the end of the 1985 championship seemingly only the winner got promotion. Promotion… that too is a bit suspect: only smallish club from one of the strong state championships (Sao Paulo, Rio, may be Pernambuco) could put real effort here, for they had practically no chance for qualifying otherwise. But teams from less competitive states could simply won the local championship and qualify for the top national level. It was easier way too, for second or third string teams from the strong states would be bigger obstacle than just winning weaker local championship. If the picture was quite clear about the famous strong local championship, it was not so,when one looks at the far-away states: there were clubs, not famous, but at least familiar, which did not play in the two national levels. Names could be confusing too – not many people know Brazilian political geography that well and similar names or abbreviations are easily confusing. Wist some grain of salt, let take a brief look at some clubs which did not appear in the 1985 national championships. Or may be they did, at least few of those below? Only careful and extensive search could tell…

Atletico Paranaense – perhaps the most famous absentee.

Similar name, similar kit, different state. To confuse clubs is that easy…

Londrina – played quite well in Taca de Ouro recently.

Vitoria – but which one? Vitoria Salvador or Vitoria Vitoria?

Cascavel – not poisonous enough or too poisonous?

Alecrim

Operario – the known one or one the others clubs with the same name?

Comercial – same problem as with Operario.

And the same with Ferroviario – or is it Ferroviario Atletico? Or Atletico?

No such problem here – there is only one Piaui, but they were out of the national championships too.

Rio Branco

Taubate

Maranhao

Itumbiara

Parnaiba

Bandeirante

America (Recife)

Platinense

Sertaozinho

Motorista

Endless list of vaguely known, just heard of and never heard of clubs did not play in the national championships. But some unknown clubs played.

Copa Libertadores. The winners of the five qualification groups and the reigning holder, Independiente (Avallaneda), go to the semi-finals – two groups of 3 teams each. The usual draw of countries – no clubs – made a cruel joke this year: Brazil and Argentina were paired together, arguably, the strongest clubs, and so the weakest: Bolivia and Venezuela.

Group 1. Argentina and Brazil. On the surface, there was no contest – Fluminense and Vasco da Gama against Ferro Carril Oeste and Argentinos Juniors. Two of the most famous Brazilian clubs vs two second – if not even third – rate Argentinian clubs. And nothing suggested what will really happen after the opening games: Fluminense and Vasco da Gama ended 3-3 and Argentinos Juniors lost the home leg against Ferro Carril Oeste 0-1. Original predictions ended right then and there – first, Fluminense was awarded a win, because Vasco da Gama fielded illegible substitute player, Gersinho. And, as if to confirm how stupid Vasco da Gama was, this Gersinho never played for Vasco again. Second, the Brazilian clubs immediately lost ground, it was an Argentine race for the coveted first place, in which there was no winner: Argentinos Juniors won all their remaining matches, save for a home tie against Vasco da Gama. Ferro Carril Oeste lost at home the Argentinos, but won all other matches, except the away match against Fluminense – 0-0. At the end, the Argentine clubs were on top, but equal in points and goal difference:

1.Argentinos Juniors (Bs. Aires) 6 4 1 1 9- 5 9

Ferro Carril Oeste (Bs. Aires) 6 4 1 1 7- 3 9

3.Fluminense (Rio de Janeiro) 6 1 2 3 3- 6 4

4.Vasco da Gama (Rio de Janeiro) 6 0 2 4 6-11 2

A play-off for the first place was staged and this time Argentinos Juniors won 3-2 against Ferro Carril Oeste.

Group 2. Bolivia and Venezuela. No drama here – the Bolivians were much stronger and Blooming – the better of them.

1.Blooming (Santa Cruz) 6 5 1 0 20- 4 11

2.Oriente Petrolero (Santa Cruz) 6 3 2 1 11- 6 8

3.Táchira (San Cristóbal) 6 1 2 3 9-12 4

4.Dep. Italia (Caracas) 6 0 1 5 2-20 1

Group 3. Colombia and Paraguay. This group did not deviate from expectations – a battle between two clubs, but not from the same country. Not surprisingly, America (Cali) topped all.

1.América (Cali) 6 2 4 0 5- 2 8

2.Cerro Porteño (Asunción) 6 2 3 1 5- 3 7

3.Millonarios (Bogotá) 6 1 3 2 5- 5 5

4.Guaraní (Asunción) 6 1 2 3 6-11 4

Group 4. Chile and Uruguay. Perhaps more dramatic battle was expected, but Penarol (Montevideo) dominated.

1.Peñarol (Montevideo) 6 5 1 0 10- 3 11

2.Colo Colo (Santiago) 6 3 0 3 10- 8 6

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

4.Bella Vista (Montevideo) 6 1 0 5 3- 9 2

Group 5. Ecuador and Peru. Theoretically, the Peruvians should have been the leaders, but – no. Not only El Nacional (Quito) was supreme, but 2 games in this groups were not played at all: Nueve de Octubre (Milagro) failed to appear for 2 games in Peru – actually, the actual reasons remain unknown, but nobody was bothered ever: the final table was fine just without the those games. Strange, but apparently not in South America. So, in the final table only one team played its all games and Nueve de Octubre finished with 4.

1.El Nacional (Quito) 6 5 1 0 13- 4 11

2.Universitario (Lima) 5 2 1 2 8- 6 5

3.Nueve de Octubre (Milagro) 4 2 0 2 6- 4 4

4.Sport Boys (Callao) 5 0 0 5 1-14 0

Semi-finals. Winners of each groups go the final.

Group 1. America (Cali), Penarol (Montevideo), and El Nacional (Quito). Looked like America and Penarol would clash for the top place, but it proved dramatic and unpredictable group and the winner was decided in the very last match. America started rather weakly, earning just 1 point from its two opening games, but before the last two matches every team had a chance for going to the final: El Nacional had 2 points, Penarol – 3, and America – also 3 points. El Nacional hosted Penarol and won 2-0. Thus, Penarol was out. America and El Nacional was to decide the first finalist and the match was in Cali – America rolled over El Nacional: 5-0.

1.América (Cali) 4 2 1 1 10- 3 5

2.El Nacional (Quito) 4 2 0 2 4- 7 4

3.Peñarol (Montevideo) 4 1 1 2 3- 7 3

Group 2. Depending on point of view… Argentinos Juniors again found itself in the toughest group – playing against Brazilian giants in the preliminary group; now – against the current Cup holder and the most successful club of South America – Independiente (Avellaneda). Blooming (Santa Cruz) was the outsider. And just like in the first phase, Argentinos Juniors looked without a chance after their two opening games: 2 ties. But in the next match Independiente was unable to beat the Bolivians in Santa Cruz and all teams were with 2 points. The next two games only eliminated Blooming – they had to play away games in Argentina, losing both. The last match between Independiente and Argentinos Juniors was decisive and Independiente had home advantage. Whatever that means, for Avellaneda is part of Buenos Aires anyway. Now Juniors won 2-1 – quite a surprise, especially outside Argentina.

The final. America (Cali) vs Argentinos Juniors (Buenos Aires). A favourite? Most likely, none… Juniors was at its best and so was America. America was much more experienced team on international stage, but Juniors played more exciting football. Ambition drove both teams, of course.

The first leg of the final was played in Buenos Aires, on Monumental stadium, instead on the small Argentinos Juniors home base.

The quality of football was not the prime concern – victory was, and Juniors eventually prevailed by a single goal. Commiso scored it in the 40th minute and Juniors ended with tiny lead before the second leg in Cali. 1-0.

The second leg was decided even earlier – Willington Ortiz scored in the 3rd minute and the result was preserved to the final whistle: 1-0 America and as many times before, a third match had to be staged on neutral ground, in Asuncion, Paraguay. As far as fans were concerned, it may have been advantageous for Juniors, for Paraguay was closer and easier to travel to for them. But Juniors did not have all that many fans to begin with.

As for the game, it did not decide anything. Commisso opened the result for Juniors in the 27th minute and in the 41th fellow Argentine Ricardo Gareca equalized.

The crucial moment happened in the very last minute: America got a penalty, but Vidalle saved Marangoni’s shot. 1-1 at the final whistle and penalty shoot-out followed. And there was no winner… Olguin, Batista, Pavoni, and Borghi scored for Juniors. Gareca, Cabanas, Herrera, and Gonzalo Soto – for America. The last were Videla for Juniors and de Avila, who replaced in the last minutes of the regular time Willington Ortiz. Videla scored. De Avila missed – or rather goalkeeper Vidalle saved. 5-4 Argentinos Juniors!

The second of joy and grief, depending on shirt colour.

Happy Juniors,

happier with Copa Libertadores in their hands.

Going home with the Cup,

showing the Cup to their fans in Buenos Aires, the winners cherished duties.

America (Cali) lost and may be deserved to lose – after all, who missed a penalty in the last minute? Standing from left: Henry Viafara, Julio Cesar Falcioni, Hugo Valencia, Gabriel Chaparro, Gonzalo Soto, Pedro Sarmiento. First row: Roberto Cabanas, Gerardo Gonzalez Aquino, Willington Ortiz, Ricardo Gareca, Juan Manuel Battaglia. This was the first time America reached Copa Libertadores final, so the loss really hurt. Their emblematic goalkeeper Falcioni felt the loss undeserved, America should have been the winner. It was the greatest vintage, the strongest team of America – and to him, in the whole continent. He was right – to a point. The squad – and Colombian squads never lacked foreign stars – was quite something: the Paraguayan star Cabanas joined them from New York Cosmos. Gareca was till an Argentine national team player. Falcioni himself was Argentine. Two more Paraguayans, both national team players – Battaglia and Aquino. Willington Ortiz was not just a Colombian star – according to Falcioni, he was the driving force of America and its anchor as well. Falcioni spent 10 years with America, he was already a veteran of the team and witnessed all the changes and improvements – he felt America was stronger than Argentinos Juniors. If it was some of the big South American names perhaps losing was acceptable, but losing to some small club… Falcioni can tell his version of the events, of course, but result speaks against him. America did not outplay Juniors, the opponents were perhaps equal. Missing a penalty in the last minute, though… this was more than unlucky moment. With so much at stake, the penalty should have been scored – a really winning team does not miss any chances.

Brand new champions of South America – standing from left: Jorge Olguin, Adrian Domenech, Jose Luis Pavoni, Enrique Vidalle, Carmelo Villalba, Batista. Crouching: Jose Antonio Castro, Mario Videla, Claudio Borghi, Emilio Nicolas Commisso, Carlos Ereros. The winners allright, but not the exact winners – this is the squad of the first final leg in Buenos Aires. Castro and Ereros did not play in the decisive third match – Renato Corsi and Jorge Pellegrini were starters instead. Carlos Mayor replaced Villalba in the 98th minute and M. A. Lemmet substituted Pellegrini in the 116th minute. One may think Argentinos Juniors surprised even itself, for a picture of the actual victors does not exist even on the club’s website. Tough and may be chancy victory, but significant one – Argentinos Juniors was a debutant, they participated in Copa Libertadores for the first time and won in their first appearance. Thus, they became the 5th club to do so, but what names did it earlier! Penarol (1960), Santos (1962), Estudiantes (1968), and Flamengo (1981) – humble Argentinos Juniors was not in the same league, so their success was greater. Were they really worthy winners? Depends on who is talking. Francioni did not think so, but he played for losing America. Juniors’ goalkeeper and the hero of the decisive play-off Vidalle was also cautious: he thought the final clash largely a psychological duel. Especially the penalty shoot-out – he decided to trick the opposition by plunging to the same side every time and it worked once: De Avila apparently thought the goalkeeper will change his direction at last. Yet, Vidalle considered the saved penalty and the final win just good luck – the team was small, it was tough to go the whole way with it, every mistake would be fatal. But it was also good playing team and the goalkeeper did not have much to do most of the time. The captain Adrian Domenech thinks differently: it was great team, coached by a perfect coach. Jose Yudica, who arrived in the beginning of 1985. Yudica decided not to change anything, except putting Borghi in the place of Pasculli. The change was forced by objective reason: Pasculli went to play in Italy. Juniors already played exciting football, but were considered incapable to shine on international level, where great attacking football was not a big asset. Yet, Yudica did not change the style and kept the boys humble – the team was wonderfully balanced and the players complimented each other – Domenech was proud to play with such teammates. It was not only skillful team, but ambitious as well. And strong too. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in between – Argentinos Juniors was strangely made team: it was a combination of veterans well over 30 years of age (Vidalle, Olguin, Pavoni, Commisso, Lopez) and youngsters under 23, with no players at what is considered ‘prime age’ for footballers – 25-28 years. Domenech himself was the sole representative of prime-agers. Such teams are traditionally risky, for they depend on tied, constant starters – one injury could be fatal and utterly destructive. Juniors was lucky not to have anybody injured or out of form this year. The core was stable and performed well at key moments. Keeping the players humble and not burdening them with great expectations also helped – it was the perfect underdog and thus Maradona was not right when asked to asses his former club. He almost dismissed Juniors as a rather uncaring club – uncaring for football. ‘They have 25 tennis courts and not one decent football field’, he lashed. He said that for the club making him a star and continuing to bring great talent through its youth system. It was well-managed club – at least by Argentine standards: keeping in mind money, never spending much on stars, preferring to field young talent to buying big names only because they had to play international tournaments. Pasculli out – Borghi in, it was that simple. Well deserved success at the end of the day. Wonderful underdogs. Copa Libertadores was going to have a first-time winner this year anyway – it was just better that the debutantes won over rich underachievers like America (Cali).

It was great to come back to Buenos Aires with Copa Libertadores to show proudly to everyone.

The Intercontinental Cup. Or the Toyota Cup. Or Toyota European/South American Cup. Or the World Cup. What was the name? The British used the new names and counting the record only since it became sponsored by Toyota, almost alone – everybody else preferred the old name. And because of that, the records differ and opinions differ: no European team won the Toyota Cup, the British lamented . Was it possible to happen at all? So far, the European teams were not just the constant losers, but scored only one goal. Whoever counted the old record, saw even worse picture: the last European team to win the Intercontinental Cup was Bayern in 1976. So… the expectations of the 1985 issue were murky. Juventus vs Argentinos Juniors. Meaning what? The Argentines were still an enigma, known largely for having been the club introducing Diego Maradona. The rise of the smallish club – in the Argentine pecking order – started with Maradona, but they really got successful after he left. But remained unknown and European journalists went to ask Maradona to tell them about this almost anonymous team. He was not much help… he said he did not know the players, because the roster changed so much after he left and there were hardly any players he was teammate with. True… only the captain Adrian Domenech remained from the team featuring Maradona. And even he left Argentinos Juniors, however briefly. Unknown team without stars. ‘Without stars’ was the general conclusion, very unusual for South Amrican champions – and not exactly true: Argentinos Juniors had one former and one future world champion in his squad: Olguin and Batista. If the Europeans bothered to ask Argentina journalists instead of European-based Maradona, they would have learned that the team had a star – the center-forward Claudio Borghi, also a choice for the national team. Borghi was an interesting case – his play reminded of Cruijff’s: not a fixed center-forward, lurking in the penalty area and waiting for balls, but operating on the whole field, coming from the deep back, going to the wings, excellent organizer of attacks, very mobile, inventive, and creative player. But Argentinos Juniors was considered a starless team – thus, beatable? Perhaps… by now caution was the wise way in Europe. Juventus on the other hand was mighty and since it was already the 1985-86 season in Europe, even mightier – Boniek was gone from the team which won the ill-fated European final in the spring, but Micheal Laurdrup and Aldo Serena were in. Juventus, led by Platini in great form, looked much stronger than the ‘anonymous’ Argentines. There was something else, an impossible to predict and measure quality of the final in Tokyo – since it was played in December, there was no way to calculate conditions: in 1985 Liverpool and Independiente played in dry, sunny day, relatively warm for the season. As a result, the pitch was especially hard and bumpy, contributing to the boring match, which main feature were constant offside calls and professional fouls, almost every minute. This year the weather was cloudy, moist, and soon the pitch became just a field of mud. Curiously, Juventus and Argentinos Juniors were seemingly not bothered by the rough conditions and made entertaining, fast, and highly watchable, if messy, match, which even the terrible refereeing was unable to kill. It was also more vicious and rough game than the previous final – both teams hunted down key players of the oppositions, but there was little complaining, nobody was scared and rough play did not destroy the match. The mistakes of the referee did not unfocused the teams either – it was a feast of attacking football to the last minute, so unusual for teams capable to close the game and there was no trace of tactical defensive play, so beloved by Italian clubs – nothing like the stiff, cautious, and often clueless final of the previous year.

Juventus managed to deflect the initial assault of the Argentines and by the 20th minute moved into dangerous attacks itself.

There was no mercy, let’s face it, but the Argentines were far from just trying to scare and destroy the opponents. They were well organized, eager, and skilful enough to start their own attacks as soon as getting possession of the ball. The first half ended scoreless and pretty much equal. There were already important qualities – Batista was fantastic, the key player of Juniors, covering the whole field and starting attacks from the back. Borghi was very difficult to handle and his passes was increasingly more and more dangerous. Domenech was excellent. Olguin was subtle, but always at the right place in the right time, seemingly having Platini as his charge. The Italians were not to be dismissed either – excellent Platini, tremendously dangerous Laudrup, despite the fact that Juniors singled him out for destruction and tackled viciously. The Italian defense was perfect, naturally. It was clear that both teams were determined to score, not to play tactical game, looking for some odd opportunity.

It was also clear that nobody was going to give up and there will be no mercy – hard battle by whatever means to kill danger.

In the second half Argentinos Juniors put more pressure, their attacks increasingly more dangerous, and now the referee, already suspect, made his first major mistake: Manfredonia cleared the ball with his hands in the penalty area and… a corner kick was ruled. He already dismissed Juventus’ goal in the first half – it was protested, of course, but it was rather obvious offside. Now, however, it looked like a compensation for this goal, but it was penalty. Interestingly, the Argentines did not protest and argue, but kept concentrated in the game and two minutes later Borghi saw a great opening, passed perfectly and the left winger Ereros scored. 1-0 in the 55th minute.

And immediately after that Serena almost scored after free kick taken by Platini. Wonderful moment of football. And after that, both teams flying from attack to another, the referee made a ‘small’ mistake: Platini was tackled hard, but the call went for Juniors. Soon Platini had more reasons to lose his cool and start talking to the referee, not a good sign – Volker Roth was going out of his way to inflame the players.

What followed was Maradona-style drible by Borghi and perfect pass to Ereros, who… hesitated and instead of shooting to the open net stopped for a bit and passed. In this split second the right winger Castro was already in offside. He scored, but the goal was disallowed. This led to Juve attack and Olguin brought down Serena in the penalty area. Age was playing his nasty tricks – Olguin was slow by now, just a tiny bit slower in critical moments. He was almost the first to the ball, but almost does not do it, so he had to use his hands to stop Serena. He pushed him just enough to unbalance Serena. Juniors protested, but this was a penalty. Platini,who made the great pass to Serena a moment earlier, stepped in and promptly equalized. However… an Italian player rushed into the penalty area before Platini kicked the ball – the penalty had to be repeated, but Roth did not bother. 1-1 in the 63th minute. Attacks continued right away and two minutes later perhaps the greatest mistake was done by Roth: after a corner kick Platini was first to the ball and scored. Roth disallowed a third goal already – presumably, for dangerously high leg – but this time it was fine goal.

This absurdity led to rather famous picture of Platini – demonstratively musing on the referee’s idiotism. And rightly so – Roth was late in his decision. At first, the goal was allowed – Juve players celebrated, the scoreboard showed 2-1, and then out of the blue Roth disallowed it. That is, Platini was already near the central line of the field. The Argentine TV commentator could not believe it himself, which is rare reaction for one who benefits. You want to see why Platini’s goals was disallowed? Look at the second picture above – it is a split second after Platini got the ball with his chest and then kicked it above the defenders and with third kick – in the net. Yes, legs were high, but the legs of everybody. High legs, but nobody was close enough for actually kicking an opponent. It was a goal and whatever Roth was thinking, it looked like one more compensation for earlier bad decision – in this case, the omission to repeat the penalty kick from which Platini scored the equalizer.

That is the moment Platini kicks the ball in the net – it was so fast and difficult to follow here, but there was no contact between players in the whole episode. And after that… another compensation: Bonini played with his hand in the penalty area of Juniors and it was not called – out was called instead. Nothing major, not important, but it was becoming a string of bad calls.

It was not to the credit of Roth the match did not deteriorated out of control – he did his best to achieve exactly that: not giving yellow cards for real and nasty fouls, but marking situations like this one, when Domenech played for the ball, came to it first to clear, but eventually bumped into Platini by inertia. Yet, not penalizing two very deliberate occasions the Argentines played with hands. No wonder both teams used Roth’s whimsicality for dirty tricks with time – and no one was punished. But neither team went berserk and forgot football – it was the players, however dirty and tough, to ignore Roth and continue to play fast attacking football.

Borghi was increasingly more and more dangerous, ignoring tackles aimed at his feet, and yet another fantastic pass by him allowed Castro to score the second goal for Juniors. 2-1 in the 75th minute. Juventus immediately pushed forward. And then the 82nd minute came and perhaps the best goal of the game was scored.

Juventus got a free kick which Platini took. Laudrup was inside the penalty area, at the right, between two Argentine defenders.

Platini passed to him, Laudrup run away of the defenders and beat Vidalle for the lose ball.

But beating the keeper brought Laudrup away from the net and too near the line – from there, at impossible angle and with two defenders already covering the net, Laudrup, almost with his back to the net at the moment and going in the opposite direction managed not only to kick the ball on target, but to find the minimal opening and the ball was in.

2-2. In the remaining minutes Batista cannoned the ball from a distance, unfortunately the ball rotated too much and went away.

In the extra time the drama continued in the same way – attack for attack, both teams making great efforts to score a third goal. In the first 15 minute Roth made his next mistake – suspect play in the Juniors penalty area,which was uncalled. It may not have been a penalty, but surely indirect kick (there was such rule back then, remember?) Nothing was called. And just before the end whistle Borghi found Ereros in great position and the winger unforgivingly missed. Second half of extra time. Brio nastily punched Domenech after the play was stopped – no reaction from Roth, but Platini was yellow-carded for talking. Of course, Platini already made a long line of misbehavior, but it was Roth who provoked such attitude. The other yellow card for something ‘bad’ – Roth missed legitimate occasions for showing cards, but distributed some for almost nothing. And until the end there were two occasions, which Juventus found more than suspect – first great attack by Cabrini was stopped in the penalty area and he was brought down. Today it is sure penalty, but back then? The ball was cleared first, the defender played for it and reached it first – he was not tackling Cabrini. Not a penalty. But the second occasion was more suspect: Vidalle clearly brought down Platini, it was deliberate, the last resource for stopping Platini from scoring. It was on the border of the penalty area and Roth opted for a free kick – the foul was committed outside. But it was inside. By centimeters, but in the penalty area. There was no time for more after that.

Penalty kicks, to top the high drama and to decide a winner between two equally deserving teams. It is a lottery, as we know. Whatever is ever said about penalty kicks, a momentary picture shows some things differently. This time there were clear mistakes by the shooters and some strange way too: Cabrini kicked somewhat predictably and Vidalle catched the ball, but was unable to redirect it enough and it ended in the net. After him Batista missed – his kick was also clearly predictable, but also too weak and Tacconi got it. Then Laudrup repeated Batista’s kick with the same result. And after him Pavoni kicked the ball directly into Tacconi, who did not have even to move. It was like players influence each other to do the same… but Juventus was leading by a goal and Platini was next, the last of the initial 5 players for the job.

He did not miss – coolly and technically, he directed the ball in the opposite side of the direction of Vidalle’s plunge. Juventus won.

Tokyo, National Stadium, December 8, 1985. 62 000 attendants

Juventus – Argentinos Juniors 2-2 (a.e.t.), 4-2 (penalty shoot-out).

1-0 Ereros, 55th

1-1 Platini (penalty), 63rd

2-1 Castro, 75th

2-2 Laudrup, 82th

Penalties: Brio, Cabrini, Serena, Laudrup (missed), Platini (Juventus)

Olguin, Batista (missed), Lopez, Pavoni (missed).

Juventus: Stefano Tacconi, Luciano Favero, Antonio Cabrini – captain, Massimo Bonini, Sergio Brio, Gaetano Scirea (Stefano Pioli), Massimo Mauro (Massimo Briaschi), Lionello Manfredonia, Aldo Serena, Michel Platini, Michael Laudrup.

Coach: Giovanni Trapattoni.

Argentinos Juniors: Enrique Vidalle, Jose Luis Pavoni, Adrian Domenech – captain, Carmelo Villalba, Sergio Batista, Jorge Olguin, Jose Antonio Castro, Mario Videla, Claudio Borghi, Emilio Comisso (Renato Corsi), Carlos Ereros (Juan Jose Lopez).

Coach: Jose Yudica.

The usual happened right after – Antonio Cabrini received the Intercontinental Cup.

Oh, well – two cups were awarded at the time, so Juventus received them both: the old Intercontinental Cup and the new Toyota Cup.

Happy Juventus – shirts were exchanged before the awarding, so the red shirts. Minus Platini, who exchanged shirts with Juniors goalkeeper Vidalle. Lucky winners of a match without a winner. Highly entertaining, very competitive, full of dramatic moments, of great moments, a show to remember. Perhaps not one of the greatest-ever matches, but a match worth watching, unlike so many finals. Both teams deserved victory. Despite the appalling refereeing, it was wonderful match – a match one wishes never to end.

Argentinos Juniors lost and unfortunately so – they were not outplayed even for a second. From left: Domenech, Villalba, Vidalle, Videla, Olguin, Batista, Borghi, Castro, Comisso, Ereros, Pavoni.

Arguably, the best year of the relatively modest club – arguably, for playing, but certainly their best ever in terms of success. They won Copa Libertadores and were at least unbeaten at the Intercontinental final. One can be a bit sorry they did not won in Tokyo, because it was highly unlikely they will have another chance. It was fine team, contrary to the most opinions – unheralded, yes, but hardly just a bunch of mediocrities. Certainly strongly motivated, not afraid, and playing entertaining football, not for a second going into some tactical scheming to keep the result or kill time, or just playing brutally in an effort to compensate for lacking skills and feeling of inferiority. Team without stars is also relative opinion: Borghi was fantastic. So was Batista. Domenech, Olguin, Pavoni, Villalba – more than useful players. May be not first choices for the national team, but they had been included in it now and then. More than competent team, playing modern football and very well too. Yet, there were deficiencies – without remedies – aging Olguin a bit too slow, Ereros and Castro – both wingers, although full of enthusiasm and determination, had rather limited skills, which proved often fatal, for the great creative efforts of Borghi were wasted. Comisso eventually was running out of steam in the second half. Juniors fielded only Argentine players, but they had imports – the reserve goalkeeper, Cesar Roberto Mendoza, was Paraguayan, and the substitute Renato Corsi hailed from USA. That is relative… he was born in New York, but from Argentine parents and came to Argentina early, so he was a product of the Argentine youth system. No language problems either, but he – still not even 20 – was a bit limited player and also quite nervous one: he hardly helped Juniors and made too many mistakes, ending with free kicks for Juventus. Could be excused as too young and inexperienced, but no great talent – he is largely remembered as the first US player in Argentina. As for the other substitute – Juan Jose Lopez was familiar and well respected defender, who made his name playing for River Plate, but now was getting too long in the tooth and was fielded in the last minutes largely for his experience and very likely having the penalty shoot-out already in mind. May be the small deficiencies prevented Juniors from winning in regular time, but who can tell – if Roth gave the penalty in the early second half when Manfredonia handled the ball and the result was 0-0. Who knows… but what was sure: Juniors did not deserve to lose and they did not lose. They only did not win. Of this squad the most puzzling story has been Claudio Borghi, who deserves a final note: at the time, he was considered at the level of Maradona – in part, because he was also a product of the Argentinos Juniors youth system. Yet, he never became a household name. He played 18 years professional football and his resume is very impressive – 15 clubs in 6 different countries and not second-raters either. Milan, River Plate, Flamengo, Independiente, Colo-Colo top the list, but… 218 games and 28 goals for all that time tells different story. He never played regularly, in any club – in 6 years with Argentinos Juniors, he appeared in only 39 games, scoring 8 goals. For Milan he did not appear even in a single match – Berlusconi was so impressed after watching this very final with Juventus, he bought him in 1987. However, only 2 foreigners were allowed to play in Italy and Milan had van Basten and Gullit, so Borghi was loaned to Como (7 games, 0 goals). Berlusconi wanted him in the team the next year, when 3 foreigners were permitted, but Arrigo Sacchi insisted on another Dutch player and Rijkaard was brought in. No place for Borghi and he was let go. For Argentina, he played only 9 games, scoring 1 goal. Hard to tell why so big talent never made it anywhere… in part, no luck: not playing for Milan was at least partly due to strong competition. In the national team – coincidence with Maradona, no place for 2 similar players and if one has Maradona, why looking for anybody else? But the numbers suggest something else – 39 matches in 6 years for his home club, where he should have been the prime star… the Argentinian season had 40-45 championship games and Borghi for 6 years could not amass enough games even for one full season? Was he erratic or prone to injuries, or difficult character, or just overrated, more promise than delivery? The fact he did not make it in any club suggest there is some major flaw.

Given the match, Juventus did not deserve to lose, but was also lucky to win. World champions, standing from left: Laudrup, Brio, Scirea, Platini, Tacconi, Serena. Crouching: Manfredonia, Mauro, Bonini, Favero, Cabrini. Pioli and Briaschi in the small pictures.

To introduce Juventus would be ridiculous – perhaps there were stronger vintages, with more stars, but this happened to be the most successful vintage to date: they won the European Champions Cup for the first time and after that – the Intercontinental Cup. Platini was fantastic, Laudrup was certainly a great addition, Serena was almost surprisingly good. Cabrini and Scirea don’t even have to be mentioned – superb. Scirea unfortunately got injured and had to be replaced, but no blame for his time on the field – as ever. Excellent Bonini, unfortunate too but for different reason: he was from San Marino, thus, having no chance to play for Italy and became really famous. Brio – very solid. Manfredonia as well. The weak player was Mauro – the right winger was somewhat not good enough, but there is hardly ever a perfect squad and there was nothing to be done – Juventus had to have a right winger, especially with this unusual attacking football they were playing at the moment. And this was perhaps the biggest surprise – Juventus did not dig in, did not kill the time, did not wait for rare opportunity to strike from single counterattack – facing highly attacking minded opponent, they responded in kind, thus contributing to wonderful final. The rest is history, badly told on top of that: still and contrary to easily available records, Juventus was and is called the first European club to win ‘everything’ in a single year. Untrue – Juventus did not even come close to Ajax of 1972: did not win the Italian championship and did not win the European Supercup (not their fault, but so what? There was no final, hence, no Cup). What is true, though, Juventus became the first club to win all European trophies: the UEFA Cup in 1977, the Cup Winners Cup in 1984, the European Champions Cup in 1985. And now – the Intercontinental Cup was added, plus that it was an European victory at last – the first Toyota Cup and the first European victory after 1976.

European Player of the Year. Michel Platini (Juventus and France) was voted number 1 with 127 points, followed by Preben Elkjaer-Larsen (Verona and Denmark) and Bernd Schuster (Barcelona and West Germany). No new name at the top – Elkjar-Larsen was among the best three for a second time, climbing from third to second, and Schuster appeared for a third time (once second and twice third).

Speaking of Platini is futile – plain numbers should do: he was already 5 times among the top 3 in Europe, matched the record of Cruijff – three times voted player of the year, but bested the Dutchman by having been voted best in three consecutive years. He was the first in that in the whole history of the award. It was fair vote too – Platini failed with Juventus in the Italian championship, but won the European Champions Cup, scored the only goal of the ill-fated final of the tournament, and led France to the World Cup finals in 1986. Elkjaer-Larsen and Schuster did not achieve similar success.