1986 – Page 11 – Football Journey

September 16, 2020

Primera B Division – Apertura. 20 teams played in it, the old Primera B Division. They were divided in 2 groups, the top 4 in each qualified to the new Primera B Nacional for the 1986-87 season. The best 7 of them, tabled by points, proceeded to the Octogonal Tournament to compete for one promotion to the top league for 1986-87 season. All those bellow 4^th place in each group went to the new Primera B Metropolitana, the new third level.

Group A:

1. Los Andes 18 10 3 5 7 1 1 3 2 4 32 24 23 [Qualified to Nacional B]

2. Deportivo Italiano 18 6 10 2 5 3 1 1 7 1 32 18 22 [Qualified to Nacional B]

3. Defensa y Justicia 18 6 9 3 4 4 1 2 5 2 21 13 21 [Qualified to Nacional B]

4. Lanús 18 7 7 4 4 3 2 3 4 2 28 21 21 [Qualified to Nacional B] —————————————————————————

5. Deportivo Morón 18 7 5 6 6 3 0 1 2 6 28 25 19 [Qualified to B Metropolitana]

6. Atlanta 18 7 5 6 6 3 0 1 2 6 22 21 19 [Qualified to B Metropolitana]

7. Almirante Brown 18 6 5 7 3 3 3 3 2 4 23 33 17 [Qualified to B Metropolitana]

8. Nueva Chicago 18 5 6 7 3 4 2 2 2 5 31 28 16 [Qualified to B Metropolitana] Standing from left: Schneider, Pereyra, Callipo, Pumpido, Quinto Pagés, Díaz.
Crouching: Scotta, Rifourcat, Landaburo, Acuña, Dundo.

9. Defensores de Belgrano 18 5 4 9 3 3 3 2 1 6 22 29 14 [Qualified to B Metropolitana]

10. Argentino (Rosario) 18 2 4 12 2 2 5 0 2 7 8 35 8 [Qualified to B Metropolitana]

Group B

1. Banfield 18 9 5 4 5 0 4 4 5 0 24 15 23 [Qualified to Nacional B]

2. Tigre 18 8 7 3 4 4 1 4 3 2 19 13 23 [Qualified to Nacional B]

3. Deportivo Armenio 18 9 4 5 4 3 2 5 1 3 29 16 22 [Qualified to Nacional B]

4. Colón (Sta. Fe) 18 8 5 5 5 3 1 3 2 4 26 19 21 [Qualified to Nacional B] —————————————————————-

5. Estudiantes (Bs.As.) 18 6 6 6 5 3 1 1 3 5 21 25 18 [Qualified to B Metropolitana]

6. El Porvenir 18 5 7 6 3 4 2 2 3 4 17 18 17 [Qualified to B Metropolitana]

7. San Miguel 18 5 6 7 2 4 3 3 2 4 18 21 16 [Qualified to B Metropolitana]

8. All Boys 18 4 7 7 2 4 3 2 3 4 17 21 15 [Qualified to B Metropolitana]

9. Villa Dálmine 18 4 6 8 1 3 5 3 3 3 13 24 14 [Qualified to B Metropolitana]

10. Quilmes 18 3 5 10 3 1 5 0 4 5 16 28 11 [Qualified to B Metropolitana]

Octogonal tournament. 7 top teams from Apertura “B” tournament (Second division) and Huracán from Primera División championship (First division).

Colon (Santa Fe) had the worst record among the top 8 in the Apertura and did not qualify to the Octogonal.

Quarterfinals:

Huracán – Lanus 2-0 and 2-3

Lanus out.

Los Andes – Deportivo Armenio 1-0 and 2-2

Deportivo Armenio out. Standing from left: Gardarian, Jose Villareal, Gallardo, Oviedo, Argueso, Sarmiento. First row: Luis Villareal, Sigifredo, Alderete, Cincunegui, Ubeda.

Banfield – Defensa y Justicia 2-0 and 2-2

Defensa y Justicia out. Standing from left: Donaires, Montemurro, Ramirez Lopez, Milozzi, Britez, Nazar. Front: Ramorez, Viscovich, Gomez, Perez, Carozo Bartelemi.

Deportivo Italiano – Tigre 2-0 and 2-1

Tigre out.

Semi-finals:

Huracán – Los Andes 1-0 and 3-1

Los Andes out. Standing from left: Meza, Martinez, Pandiani, Hernan Diaz, Cuffaro Russo, Escobedo, Pancirolli. Front: Galloni, Paolorossi, Marcos Castro, Alarcon, Pizzo.

Deportivo Italiano – Banfield 1-1, 0-0 and 3-4 shoot-out.

Banfield out. Standing from left: Birriel, Segovia, Raffaelli, Alves, Pogany, Hugo Ramirez. Crouching: Orte, Robinson Hernandez, Jara, Marcelo Benitez, Horacio Garcia.

Final: Deportivo Italiano – Huracan 1-0, 1-2, and 2-2. Deportivo Italiano won the following shoot-out 4-2. Huracán lost was relegated to play in the the new Primera B Nacional the 1986-87 season.

Deportivo Italiano promoted to First Division. The club was founded in 1955 in the Italian Cultural Center in Buenos Aires, but technically belongs to Ciudad Evita, La Matanza Partido, just outside Buenos Aires proper. This promotion was their greatest success so far, for Deportivo Italia eventually climbed up to second level, but top league football was out of their reach yet. It was wonderful – going to play in the first division for the first time.

September 12, 2020

Argentina

Argentina. Transitional and, therefore, confusing season. The season calendar was changed from the “calendar year” to the “European calendar”. There were no more 2 separate championships, but singular league championship. To do that was to overcome problems – the original Metropolitan First Division remained as national one, but the second level had to incorporate provincial clubs and because of that practically played 2 championships in the inaugural 1985-86 – one was to determine which teams of the former Primera B Division will be part of the new Primera B Nacional. Thus, two confusing issues were and are at hand: The first one if the wisdom of the change of the season: looks like the prime motivation was to make possible to compete with European teams on equal footing, for so far there was the inconvenience one of the opponents to be on vacation between seasons and official games were difficult to schedule. Attached to that was the transfer market – South American rules were always laxer than the European ones, but it was becoming increasingly dangerous matter: players were transferred to Europe practically in the middle of the Argentine season. That often meant staring to build a new team right in the heat of unfinished season. Either that or no deal, for European clubs wanted new players before the start of their new season. And the Argentine clubs desperately needed transfer money. Aside from these 2 reasons, the change hardly makes sense: to play on European calendar means a season from August to May next year, which possible winter break. But seasons in South America are reversed and such a calendar means playing spring-fall season, like in Scandinavia. Since the Argentine summer is nothing like Scandinavian summer, the new schedule meant playing the central chunk of the championship in the scorching summer. Not a good idea, but it was done. Perhaps the biggest positive aspect was the incorporation of the whole country into one championship structure.

But transition was not easy – top level was accommodated easily and the old Metropolitan top division simply switched to new 1985-86 season. Second level was entirely different matter, as well as promotion to the top level. The old Metropolitan second division played a tournament called ‘Apertura’ in 1986. The top 8 teams in it were to play in the new Primera B Nacional, starting in 1986-87 season. The rest were going to third level, named Primera B Metropolitana, which included only affiliated clubs. The new Primera B Nacional was to be of 22 teams, so about 14 provincial clubs (depending on relegation from the top league) – presumably, those who qualified in the 1986 season. The structure of this tournament was largely as the one used for now defunct Nacional championship and the winner of it in 1986 was promoted to the top league for the 1986-87 season. Promotion from Apertura was more complicated: the second worst in the top division plus the top 7 teams in the Apertura went to play the Octogonal tournament – the winner of it was promoted to the top league for the 1986-87 season.

There was something lost in the transition from one structure to another: some famous clubs were nowhere to be seen: Belgrano (Cordoba) was one of them, apparently failing to reach promotion and having to settle in lower lever for the near future at least. But Belgrano was not all that heavy weight as the other absence: Racing (Avellaneda). What happened to one of the big 5 in Argentina? Not in the first division, not in the second… If Racing played in the Nacional, then why? It was Metropolitan club. If Racing somehow dropped out from the structure, then how they came back later? In 1986 Racing simply disappeared. But another great name came back:

Rosario Central (Rosario) earned promotion from the Nacional. It was fast recovery from failure, but so far they were only going back to the top division. It was going to be much better very soon, but for the moment it was satisfactory season – the shameful plunge down was over.

September 10, 2020September 10, 2020

Brazil

Brazil. The CBF decided to reorganize the national championship to 28-team tournament in 1987 and for that changes were made in the structure of 1986 campaign. There was no second level this year, just Copa Brazil. 80 teams participated and the structure was somewhat simplified. The so-called final table served at least a purpose: the top 28 teams in it were going to be the new top level in 1987 – however, it was not exactly in numerical order, but according to the stage reached during the championship, so at the end ‘the final table’ was not accurate. Teams at lower positions in the earlier stages of the championship were ‘relegated’. Eventually, all that became purely symbolic – the new concept cracked during the championship and shattered at the end. Still, the championship was gigantic and difficult to follow, so it will suffice to show only the last stages and ‘the final table’ here.
At the first stage the teams were divided into 8 groups – not equal at all. Group A had 11 teams and the last 4 were eliminated. Group B – 11 teams, 3 eliminated. Group C – 11 teams, 3 eliminated, Group D – 11 teams, 2 eliminated. Groups E, F, G, and H had 10 teams each and only the winners qualified to the second stage, 9 teams eliminated in each group. The concept cracked at this level, in Group D: originally, 28 teams were to qualify from groups A-D, meaning 3 teams were going to be eliminated in every group. Vasco da Gama was the last to qualify, but Sergipe failed doping probe after their match with Joinville (1-1). Joinville was awarded 2 points consequently and moved ahead of Vasco da Gama. Vasco da Gama filed a protest. Joinville also filed a protest and the Federation found itself in deadlock – both parties were right… The way out was to eliminate Portuguesa – 2nd in Group D. They were eliminated for going to justice court over a matter of ticket sales. Guilty of bypassing the Federation and going straight to the court of law… This decision angered all clubs from Sao Paulo and they threatened to abandon the competition in solidarity with Portuguesa. The Federation reversed its whimsical decision, Vasco da Gama, Joinville, and Portuguesa qualified to the second stage and thus the number of teams was now 29 – the odd number had to be remedied and Santa Cruz, Sobradinho, and Nautico were qualified as well in order of all groups in the second stage having the same number of teams. However, the incident proved once again that the Federation was incapable of making and enforcing meaningful decisions and was easily bending under pressure. New factors emerged as well – protests were becoming common and went to courts of law, challenging the Federation from another angle: right or wrong, the Federation had to apply a court ruling – or abandon the championship, for it was not going to continue until court cases were settled. One case was leading to another, football was at risk to be played not on stadiums, but in various courtrooms. But even such crack in the system opened the doors for constant challenges by unhappy clubs, especially the big ones, and the final result was the crash of otherwise meaningful reform of the championship.
Second stage. 4 groups of 9 teams each, the last two ‘relegated’. The top 4 qualified to the third stage. The rest – 5th to 7th placed? Apparently, qualified to the new 1987 championship. There was just one of the famous clubs in this group: Santos (5th in Group I). Better goal-difference qualified Gremio in Group J.
Third stage or 1/8 finals, direct elimination after two legs. In case of equal result, the better finisher in the second stage qualified to the ¼ finals. Fluminense, Cruzeiro, and Corinthians benefited by this rule.
¼ finals. Same rule applied in case of equal result and Atletico Mineiro benefited, having better record in the third stage than Cruzeiro. Fluminense and Corinthians were eliminated properly.
In the semi-finals Guarani eliminated Atletico Mineiro 0-0 and 2-1, and San Paulo prevailed over America (Rio de Janeiro) 1-0 and 1-1.
Thus, Sao Paulo and Guarani met at the final. After two games there was no winner – it was 1-1 in each match, 2-2 after overtime and penalty shoot-out decided the championship. Sao Paulo was luckier and won 4-3.
Somehow Sao Paulo won the championship – in February 1987! – and the incomplete photo, with Nelsinho absent for some reason, as an ample commentary of the messy and chaotic Brazilian championship. It was the second title for Sao Paulo. The squad was not bad, but hardly a great one. In the so-called ‘final table’ Sao Paulo’s campaign shows strength: 17 wins, 13 ties, 4 losses, 62-22 goal-difference in this season. However, it was not the best record: Guarani had a stronger one – 21 wins, 11 ties, only 2 lost games, 59-18 goal-difference. May be not significant difference, for the decisive stages were face-to-face eliminations and it was familiar trait in Brazilian football the strongest team in the whole season to finish second. Even so, Sao Paulo did not appear as convincing champion – rather, a lucky one.
And let’s look at ‘the final table’, for it was deciding who will play top level football in 1987 – at least according to the reforming idea of the Brazilian Federation and at the end of the 1986 season. The deserving teams are marked with a star: *.
Sao Paulo as national champions and 1st in the table. *
Guarani (Campinas) – 2nd. Standing from left: Sergio Neri, Gilson Jader, Almir, Ricardo Rocha, Marco Antonio, Tosin. First row: Chiquinho Carioca, Tite, Evair, Marco Antonio Boiadeiro, Joao Paulo. *

*3 – Atletico Mineiro (Belo Horizonte). 32 17 11 4 39-20 45
*4 – America (Rio de Janeiro). 32 11 12 9 29-29 34. Quite a weak seasonal record, but reached the semi-finals!
*5 – Bahia (Salvador). 30 17 6 7 40-21 40

*6 – Fluminense (Rio de Janeiro). 30 16 6 8 33-19 38
*7 – Corinthians (Sao Paulo). 30 13 12 5 42-20 38
*8 – Cruzeiro (Belo Horizonte). 30 12 12 6 38-21 36
*9 – Criciuma (Criciuma). 26 14 7 5 28-19 35
*10 – Palmeiras (Sao Paulo). 28 12 10 6 42-23 34
*11 – Portuguesa (Sao Paulo). Standing from left: Serginho, César, Jones, Albéris, Toquinho. Crouching: Eduardo, Célio, Edu Marangon, Toninho, Luís Pereira, Esquerdinha. 28 11 12 5 31-23 34
*12 – Internacional (Limeira). 26 13 7 6 37-25 33
*13 – Flamengo (Rio de Janeiro). Standing from left: Leandro, Cantarelli, Mozer, Andrade, Jorginho, Adalnerto. Front: Bebeto, Socrates, Chiquinho, Zico, Adilio. 28 12 8 8 34-19 32
*14 – Joinville (Joinville). 28 8 13 7 30-31 29
*15 – Vasco da Gama (Rio de Janeiro). 28 10 8 10 35-24 28
*16 – Gremio (Porto Alegre). 28 9 10 9 32-27 28
*17 – Internacional (Porto Alegre). 26 12 8 6 40-23 32
*18 – Atletico Paranaense (Curitiba). 26 9 11 6 27-17 29
*19 – Santos (Santos). 26 9 11 6 25-16 29
*20 – Rio Branco (Cariacica). 26 10 7 9 29-29 27
*21 – Bangu (Rio de Janeiro). 26 8 10 8 21-23 26
22 – Ponte Preta (Campinas). 26 9 7 10 29-30 25. Did not qualify for the new 1987 season.
*23 – Goias (Goiania). 26 7 11 8 25-30 25
*24 – Treze (Campina Grande). 24 9 6 9 16-22 24
*25 – Ceara (Fortaleza). 26 8 8 10 25-31 24
*26 – CSA (Maceio). 26 7 10 9 20-23 24
*27 – Santa Cruz (Recife). 26 6 12 8 24-30 24
28 – Sport (Recife). 26 8 7 11 25-27 23. Did not qualify for the 1987 season.
*29 – Atletico Goianianense (Goiania). 26 7 9 10 23-28 23
30 – Vitoria (Salvador). 26 6 11 9 23-30 23. Did not qualify for the 1987 season.
*31 – Nautico (Recife). 26 10 2 14 21-31 22. This was the last club qualified for the next season.
32 – Botafogo (Rio de Janeiro). 26 6 10 10 21-28 22. One can safely bet that trouble starts right here – Botafogo did not qualify for the 1987 season. So… pressure would be applied for sure. Until the Federation give up.
33 – Central (Caruaru). 24 7 7 10 22-37 21
34 – Nacional (Manaus). 26 7 6 13 25-33 20
35 – Comercial (Campo Grande). 26 5 9 12 22-37 19
36 – Sobradinho (Brasilia). 26 5 6 15 21-46 16
37 – Juventus (Sao Paulo). 8 4 4 0 8- 2 12
38 – Americano (Campos). 8 5 1 2 11- 6 11
39 – Maranhao (Sao Luis). 8 4 2 2 10- 7 10
40 – Marcilio Dias (Itajai). 8 4 2 2 8- 6 10
41 – Rio Negro (Manaus). 8 3 4 1 5- 2 10
42 – Goytacaz (Campos). 8 4 1 3 12-11 9
43 – Moto Clube (Sao Luis). 8 4 1 3 9-10 9
44 – America (Natal). 8 3 3 2 9- 3 9
45 – Pinheiros (Curitiba). 8 3 3 2 11- 9 9
46 – Londrina (Londrina). 8 3 3 2 9- 8 9
47 – Santo Andre (Santo Andre). 8 3 3 2 8- 8 9
48 – Desportiva (Cariacica). 8 3 2 3 9- 7 8
49 – Guarany (Sobral). 8 3 2 3 8- 9 8
50 – Anapolis (Anapolis). 8 3 2 3 8- 9 8
51 – CRB (Maceio). 8 3 2 3 6- 7 8
52 – Sergipe (Aracaju). 10 3 2 5 5-16 8
53 – Juventude (Caxias do Sul). 8 2 4 2 7- 5 8
54 – Catuense (Catu). 8 2 4 2 9- 9 8
55 – Itumbiara (Itumbiara). 8 1 6 1 6- 7 8
56 – Taguatinga (Brasilia). 8 3 1 4 14-12 7
57 – Avai (Florianopolis). 8 3 1 4 5- 6 7
58 – Novo Hamburgo (Novo Hamburgo). 8 3 1 4 8-11 7
59 – Operario (Campo Grande). 10 3 1 6 9-15 7
60 – Botafogo (Joao Pessoa). 10 3 1 6 9-16 7
61 – America (Belo Horizonte). 8 2 3 3 10- 9 7
62 – Fortaleza (Fortaleza). 10 2 2 6 7-19 6
63 – Ferroviario (Fortaleza). 8 1 4 3 7- 8 6
64 – Ubiratan (Dourados). 7 1 4 2 5- 6 6
65 – Fluminense (Feira de Santana). 8 1 4 3 7-12 6
66 – Sampaio Correa (Sao Luis). 10 1 4 5 5-15 6
67 – Remo (Belem). 10 0 6 4 9-15 6
68 – Tuna Luso (Belem). 10 2 1 7 8-20 5
69 – Coritiba (Curitiba). 10 1 3 6 3- 9 5
70 – Alecrim (Natal). 10 1 3 6 7-15 5
71 – Sport Belem (Belem). 8 1 2 5 5-11 4
72 – Brasil (Pelotas). 8 1 2 5 8-13 4
73 – Confianca (Aracaju). 8 1 2 5 5-14 4
74 – Mixto (Cuiaba). 8 1 2 5 9-21 4
75 – Cascavel (Cascavel). 8 0 4 4 6-12 4
76 – River (Teresina). 8 0 4 4 6-15 4
77 – Paysandu (Belem). 10 1 1 8 5-18 3
78 – Piaui (Teresina). 10 1 1 8 6-26 3
79 – Operario (Varzea Grande). 10 1 1 8 4-24 3
80 – Uberlandia (Uberlandia). 7 0 3 4 2- 7 3
That’s it… The teams marked with stars would make the new reformed top level in 1987 – in theory. In practice – shall see. Sao Paulo triumphed. Botafogo was ‘relegated’ in a way. For the moment.

September 6, 2020September 6, 2020

Uruguay

Uruguay. Almost ‘normal’ season – Nacional and Penarol dominated. Yet, there was change, hardly noticeable, but a change. It happened in the Second Division. Second Division was still 10-team league, smaller than First Division. Six teams battled for promotion and 4 were outsiders, too weak for more than trying to avoid relegation. Nine of the ten teams were from Montevideo. Cerrito finished last with 9 points.

Racing was slightly better – 9^th with 11 points. They also scored one goal more than Cerrito did: 8. Just above them finished the team representing change:

Huracan (Paso de la Arenas) ended 8^th with 13 points. The only provincial club in the top two divisions. It was not the first provincial playing in the Second Division, but it looked like they were going to stay there, at least for a while, unlikely the few such clubs before. They also shared the record of goals scored with Rentistas – 25. High scorers, but equally disastrous in defense, allowing 25 goals as well, the worst record in the league. Yet, it was perhaps the first sign of change – the total monopoly of Montevideo cracked, if only a little bit.

Italiano ended 7^th with 13 points and ahead of Huracan because of more wins. With them, the group of outsiders ended. Liverpool was 6^th with 20 points, Oriental – 5^th with 21,

Villa Teresa – 4^th with 21,

Sud America – 3^rd with 23. Standing from left: Nelson Peña, Alejandro Larrea, Alejandro Cano, Pablo Fuentes, Walter Alvarez, Miguel González.
Agachados: Aníbal Miqueiro, Carlos Cordero, Luis Heimen, William Noble, Carlos Larrañaga.

Rentistas – 2^nd with 24, and

Miramar Misiones won the championship with 25 points from 9 wins, 7 ties, 2 losses, 23-11 goal-difference. Happily promoted to top flight for the next season.

First Division provided the usual drama of the eternal battle between Nacional and Penarol, no other team coming close to the leaders.

River Plate finished last with 16 points.

Fenix ended 12^th with 18 points, but were relegated, having the worst accumulated record in the last 3 years. They had weird season anyway: won only twice, but tied 14 of total 24 matches.

Rampla Juniors – 11^th with 19 points. Standing from left: Ruben Baecque, Roberto Silva, Andres Ortuno, Javier Baldriz, Carlos Barcos, Manuel Anzorena. Front row: Jorge Perazza, Hector Codevilla, Fernando Barboza, Carlos Alvarez, Jorge Torres.

Cerro – 10^th with 20 points. Standing from left: Jorge Ramas, Ramón Castro, Washington Aires, Carlos Martínez, Juan J. Rodríguez, Carlos De León. Crouching: Mario Vázquez, Carlos Berrueta, Héctor Morán, Danilo Baltierra, Enrique Escobal. Danubio – 9^th with 22 points.

Defensor Sporting – 8^th with 22 points.

Huracan Buceo – 7^th with 24 points.

Progreso – 6^th with 24 points. However, Progreso, most likely thanks to accumulated 3-year record, was to play Copa Libertadores play-off against the loser of the Championship play-off.

Bella Vista – 5^th with 24 points.

Wanderers – 4^th with 26 points.

Central Espanol – 3^rd with 28 points. Standing from left: Daniel Sánchez, Alain Sulbrig, Martin Lasarte, César Pereira, Victor de los Santos, Gustavo Aloy.
Crouching: Jorge Yañez, Jose I. Villarreal, Miguel Caillava, Daniel Vicente Viera, Alfredo Nocetti.

Penarol lost to Nacional by a point, finishing with 34 points. But there was still Championship play-off to be played, so there was hope.

Nacional was first at the end of the regular season with 35 points. 13 wins, 9 ties, 2 losses, 33-15 goal-difference. Their record was almost identical to Penarol’s, the only differences were that Penarol had 8 ties, 3 losses, and received 17 goals. It was fair to have championship play-off under the circumstances, but at the end justice prevailed: Nacional had marginally better season than Penarol, so it was just they won the play-off and the title. Standing from left: Santiago Ostolaza, Julio Cesar ‘Gladiador’ Ribas, Gualberto Velichco, Faral, Juan Jacinto Rodriguez. Front: Mauricio Silvera, Rafael Villazan, Fernando Barboza, Juan Ramon, Pintos Saldana, Sergio Olivera.

Not a very impressive squad, especially when compared to some of the great sides Nacional had in the past, but champions, as most of their predecessors. 25^th title for the club, but in the 1980s the club had little success, so the victory was mostly a relief. Prevailing over Penarol was always sweet, but the squad was clearly not very strong and promising. And there was nothing to be done to remedy the situation: money was short and Uruguayan players went abroad as soon as they could, so even Nacional had depleted pool of players to chose from: not even second-rate players stayed in the country . Foreigners of good quality were also hard to find. Money…

September 5, 2020

Paraguay

Paraguay. Small – as ever – league, so complicated championship going through 4 stages. One relegated, one promoted.

General Caballero (Zeballos Cué) won Second Division and went up.

The structure of the top league championship was as follows: three similar stages at first – one-leg round-robin tournaments. The top 2 teams at each stage got bonus points to carry over to the final stage. In case two teams finished with equal points, a play-off was played to decide the stage winner. After that an aggregate table was made, combining the records of the initial stages and the top 6 teams in it went to the final stage. As for relegation, it seemed to be some aggregate record of few previous championship, for there was no other visible indication – Sport Colombia (Fernando de la Mora) was relegated, but it was last only in the first stage and 8^th in the aggregate table. Down they went, though.

On top, the season progressed this way: Sol de America and Guarani finished with 12 points each in the first stage and Guarani won the play-off on penalty shoot-out.

Libertad won the second stage, followed by Olimpia.

Sol de America won the third stage, followed by Atletico Colegiales.

The top 6 in the aggregate table qualified to the final: Sol de America, Atletico Colegiales, Guarani, Cerro Porteno, Libertad, Olimpia. Last in this table was Sportivo San Lorenzo (San Lorenzo), Nacional (Asuncion) – 9^th, Sport Colombia – 8^th, and Sportivo Luqueno (Luque) – 7^th. The season for those 4 was over.

Bonus points, according to performance in every stage: Sol de America – 3, Guarani and Libertad – 2, Atletico Colegiales and Olimpia -1. Cerro Porteno entered the final tournament without any bomus points and at the end that was the decisive factor. The teams played ones again the rest, as in every previous stage and the final table was the end of the championship. Olimpia and Cerro Porteno were the best at the final, but the strategy did not work…

Atletico Colegiales (4 Mojores) ended last with 4 points (3+1), Guarani (Asuncion) – 5^th with 5 (3+2),

Libertad (Asuncion) – 4^th with 6 points (4+2)

Cerro Porteno (Asuncion) – 3^rd with 7 points (7+0). Standing from left: Figueredo, Nunes, Jacquet, Zabala, Zinnavoda, Fernandez. First row: Perez, Mercado, Morel, Olmedo, Gamarra. Olimpia (Asuncion) – 2^nd with 8 points (7+1). To the surprise of their foes and to the delight of their supporters, Sol de America finished on top with 9 points. Their final campaign was not all that strong – 2 wins, 2 ties, and 1 loss – but they scored most goals. Of course, the winners benefited from their bonus points – indeed, the bonus points placed them on top of the final table, but it was well deserved, for Sol de America had splendid season – their lowest place in the earlier stages was 7^th in the second stage, but they ended 2^nd in the first stage and won the third stage. They were 1^st in the aggregate table with 13 wins, 8 ties, and 6 losses and no matter what happened at the final stage, the usual leaders – Olimpia and Cerro Porteno – had weak season, coming to life only at the very end: in the aggregate table Cerro Porteno was 4^th and Olimpia – 6^th. It was wonderful victory of the underdog, of course – Sol de America, founded 1909 in Barrio Obrero, Asuncion, never won anything in its already long history. They had to satisfied with success in other sports, but who would care for that when there was no football triumph. The club was always in the shadow of not only Olimpia and Cerro Porteno, but also Libertad, Guarani, and even Nacional. The win for the first time was just fantastic. Such a victory deserves one more photo of the winning team – no stars here, only striker Faustino Alonso and goalkeeper Jorge Battaglia went to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and they were not starters in the national team. Perhaps the big clubs used the World Cup as a kind of excuse for their failure, but there was nothing to diminish the success of Sol de America – they had so solid record this season.

September 2, 2020September 2, 2020

Chile I Division

First Division. Three relegated teams this year, but there were 2 obvious outsiders. Still, the battle for survival involved 7 teams. It was dramatic on top as well – two teams raced together to the very end goal-difference decided the winner.

Magallanes – terrible this year: 18^th with 18 points.

Audax Italiano, just as bad, ended 17^th with 19 points.

The third relegated team lost long lasting battle for survival on worse goal-difference: Union San Felipe took the dreaded 16^th place with 29 points.

Rangers survived: 15^th with 29 points. Everton was lucky as well – 14^th with 29 points.

Union Espanola – 13^th with 30 points.

Fernandez Vial – 12^th with 30 points.

Deportes Iquique – 11^th with 31 points.

San Luis – 10^th with 31 points. With them, the group concerned only with avoiding relegation ended.

Deportes Concepcion was 9^th, but 35 points – a much stronger team than those behind.

Universidad de Chile – 8^th with 35 points. Not very good season, may be better next year.

Naval – 7^th with 38 points. Standing from left: Jorge Rodríguez, Marcos Pacheco, Luis Valenzuela, Jaime Gaete, Nelson Figueroa, Edógimo Venegas. Crouching: Oscar Herrera, Juan Soto, Rubén Sánchez, Sergio Marchant, Cristian Yagman. Universidad Catolica – 6^th with 38 points.

Huachipato – 5^th with 40 points.

Cobresal – 4^th with 40 points. Rapidly establishing itself among the best.

Cobreloa – 3^rd with 44 points.

The battle for the title was decided either on goal-difference or on more wins – either way, Colo-Colo had the edge.

Palestino was strong and ambitious to the end, but lost the championship by a tiny fraction – they finished with 48 points, scored the most goal in the league – 63 – and lost only 4 games. But they won 1 match less than Colo-Colo and had dreadful defense – 42 goals. At the end, that put them second.

Minimal and lucky victory, but victory – Colo-Colo clinched the title: they had 19 wins and Palestino – 18, their goal-difference was +26 to Palestino’s +21. Barely enough, but enough. Second row from left: Jaime Pizarro, Luis Hormazábal, Emilio Fuentes, Fernando Astengo, Oscar Rojas, Roberto Rojas. Crouching: Hugo Rubio, Juan Gutiérrez, Osvaldo Gómez, Arturo Jáuregui, Raúl Ormeño. May be not the greatest squad the club had, but winners anyway and for Colo-Colo that is enough. If anything, Colo-Colo was very stable – never having longish unsuccessful run, always aiming at the title – and collected one more. Too bad Palestino did not win, but not so for Colo-Colo’s fans.

August 30, 2020August 30, 2020

Chile II Division

Chile. The First Division was going to be reduced to 16 teams and the Second Division enlarged to 28 teams in the next year, so 3 teams were relegated from the top league, none relegated from Second Division and one team promoted from it to the upper level. The championship was divided into two stages – at first Second Division was split into 2 zones – Norte and Sur, 12 teams each. The top 4 from Zona Norte and the top 2 from Zona Sur moved to the final round-robin stage, the winner of which was promoted.

Zona Norte, apparently considered the stronger group.

Union La Calera – last with 13 points. Standing from left: Chahuán, Ortega, Irrázaval, Miranda, Fernández,Giadallach. Front: Vásquez, Muñoz, Lasnivat, Leiva,Rojas.

Soinca Bata – 11^th with 13 points, Deportes Ovalle – 10^th with 15 points, Deportes La Serena – 9^th with 16 points, Quintero Unido – 8^th with 18 points,

Deportes Antofagasta – 7^th with 23 points,

Santiago Wanderers – 6^th with 24 points,

Regional Atacama – 5^th with 28 points. Unlucky, for they lost a chance to run for promotion on worse goal-difference.

Coquimbo Unido – 4^th with 28, Deportes Arica – 3^rd with 28, Cobreandino – 2^nd with 31 points, and O’Higgins – 1^st with 31 points qualified to the final stage.

Zona Sur.

Nublense – last with 16 points, Deportes Puerto Montt – 11^th with 17,

Provincial Osorno – 10^th with 18 points,

Union Santa Cruz – 9^th with 18, Iberia Biobio – 8^th with 19, Deportes Linares – 7^th with 19,

Deportes Laja – 6^th with 22 points. Standing from left: Ricardo Zepeda, Miguel Gutiérrez, Oscar Núñez, Iván Peña, Misael Toledo, Miguel Frías. First row: Daniel Paz, Jaime Ramírez, Rubens Nicola, Richard Zambrano, Héctor Pineda.

Deportes Temuco – 5^th with 24 points.

Deportes Valdivia – 4^th with 24 points. This may be or not a photo from the season.

Curico Unido – 3^rd with 27 points,

Malleco Unido – 2^nd with 29 points and Lota Schwager – 1^st with 32 points.

The final tournament: every team played twice against the rest and after 10 rounds, the final standing was:

Malleco Unido – 6^th with 5 points.

Deportes Arica – 5^th with 9 points.

Cobreandino – 4^th with 10 points,

O’Higgins – 3^rd with 11 points,

Coquimbo Unido – 2^nd with 11 points, and

Lota Schwager – 1^st with 14 points. Really strong at the final stage: 5 wins, 4 ties, only one lost match, 14-11 goal-difference. Not great scorers for sure – Cobreandino scored 24 at this stage – but solid and determined. Rightfully going up.

August 29, 2020

Colombia

Colombia. The criteria for promotion and relegation – unclear, but one team went down and one team up.

Little known, but old Sporting (Barranquilla) somehow earned promotion for the 1987 season. For some reasons the success does not register today, just as almost anything the club achieved before 1988. Even their foundation is murky: given alternatively 1923 and 1927. Well, they managed promotion and good luck.

Similarly mysterious was the relegation of Independiente (Santa Fe) – their results in 1986 did not suggest anything dangerous: mid-table position in every stage of the championship. Yet, they did not play top league football the next year. So much for ups and downs.

The championship followed its usual formula – Apertura and Clausura, top teams getting bonus points from each stage and the best 8 playing a final tournament to decide the champion. Apart from strange and quite meaningless ‘extra series’, played after the Apertura between 4 teams, nothing complicated. The first stage – Torneo ‘Jose Eduardo Gnecco’, or Apertura – had the 14-team league divided in two groups, where teams played twice against each other. The top 4 teams went to the strange ‘extra series’, but played only 2 games and not at all against all qualified, but twice against the team ending the same position in the opposite group. The so-called final table reflected that as well and still makes no sense, because everybody finished with 2 points and third place was the only team with positive goal-difference. This small tournament seemingly had one importance: distribution of bonus points. May be. Apart from the mysterious ending, DIM – Independiente Medellin – won Group A with 18 points and Atletico Junior Group B with 19 points. Deportes Tolima was awfully weak at this stage, ending with 2 points from 2 ties in Group B. They scored only 7 goals in 14 games.

The Clausura – Torneo ‘Edmer Tamayo Marin’ – was played in classic league format, all teams played twice against everybody else. The top 4 teams got bonus points. Millonarios won the Clausura with 34 points, followed by America with 33 points. DIM ended 3^rd with 32 points and Deportivo Cali – 4^th with 31 points.

After the initial two tournaments the bonus table was made:

Team “José Gnecco” “Edmer Tamayo” Total

1. Millonarios 0.50 1.00 1.50

2. Indep. Medellín 0.75 0.50 1.25

3. América de Cali 0.25 0.75 1.00

3. Atlético Junior 1.00 0 1.00

5. Deportivo Cali 0 0.25 0.25

And after that the best 8 teams played the Octagonal Final – twice against each other. The best included the top two of each group in the Apertura and the rest according to the final table of the Clausura. That included the top 7 in the Clausura, for Atletico Junior qualified from the Apertura and no matter how they played in the Clausura they already qualified to the final stage (they ended lowly 10^th in the Clausura, confirming once again that in championships with complicated structures one does not have to play strong season, but can take it easy in at least one early stage).Those unable to go ahead were:

Deportivo Pereira – last in the Clausura (winning only one match of 26). Standing from left: Paez, Munuti, Penagos, Suarez, Chaparro. Crouching: Carabali, Cadavid, La Rosa, Cueto, Bernal, Rodriguez. The two Peruvians – Cueto and La Rosa – did not help at all.

Cucuta Deportivo – 13^th with 13 points.

Deportes Tolima – 12^th with 19 points.

Atletico Bucaramanga – 11^th with 25 points.

Union Magdalena – 9^th with 26 points, and Independiente (Santa Fe) – 8^th with 27 points. It was particularly this finish which makes their eventual relegation weird – unless it was financial troubles. The Octagonal Final only confirmed the pattern set in the previous years: one club was too strong, bonus points or not.

Once Caldas finished last with 9 points. Standing from left: Jose James Mina Camacho, Jose Ricardo ‘Chicho’ Perez Morales, Janio Cabezas Valois, Wilman Francisco Conde Gordillo, Victor Manuel ‘Curramba’ Palacios Alvarez, Manuel Rincon Valencia, Orlando Charry – kinesiologist. Front row: Carlos Arturo Pelaez, Ruben Dario ‘Rubencio’ Hernandez Ariza, Alonso ‘Pocillo’ Lopez, Alexis Enrique ‘Maestro’ Garcia Vega, Jaime de Jesus ‘Jimmy’ Arango Estrada. Francisco Maturana coached them but he was in the early stage of his great career and could not elevate the team higher.

Deportes Quindio – ended 7^th with 10 points. Standing from left: Eugenio Muriel, Augusto Vargas Cortés, Federico Valencia, Adolfo Téllez, Jorge Taverna, Darío Campagna, Carlos Torres (U). Front row: Abel Augusto Lobatón, José “Chepe” Torres, Javier Quintero, Víctor Lugo, Heberth Ríos.

Atletico Nacional – 6^th with 10 points.

DIM – Deportivo Independiente Medellin – was 5^th with 12.25 points. Lost power at the most important stage. Standing from left: Gildardo Gomez, Jorge Olaechea (Peru), Eduardo Malasquez (Peru), Luis Carlos Perea, Leonel Alvarez, Octavio Gomez. Crouching: Carlos Alvarez, William Knight, Hector Ramon Sosa, Gustavo Perez, Alfredo Mendoza.

Atletico Junior – 4^th with 16 points.

Millonarios – 3^rd with 17.5 points. Back row from left: Oscar Juarez, Carlos Jose Karabin, Antonio Palacios, Jose Hernandez, Silvano Spindola, Luis Francisco Perez, German Gutierrez, Cerveleon Cuesta. Middle row: Milton Bernal, Manuel Cordoba, Gabriel J. Gomez, Ruben Cuevas, Eduardo Esteban Basigalup, Fabio Calle, Luis N. Gil, Iguaran, Peluffo. Front: Juan Pablo Lopera, German Portela, Gabriel Quimbaya, Fernando Caicedo, Jhonny Rivera, Nestor Bautista, Pedro Paredes, Yesid Mosquera. Deportivo Cali – 2^nd with 20.25 points. They scored most goals at the final – 25 – and won most games – 10 – but it was all or nothing with them, so they lost 4 matches and the approach more or less lost the title.

America (Cali) won with strong final run the title. Top row from left: Ruben Dario Bedoya, Enrique Simon Esterilla, Ricardo Gareca, Henry Viafara, Jairo Ampudia, Juan ‘El Martillo’ Pehagos, Roberto Cabanas. Third row: Jorge Porras, Gozalo Soto, Reynel Ruiz, J. C. Falcioni, Pedro Zape, Hugo ‘Pitillo’ Valencia, Pedro Sarmiento. Second row: J. M. Battaglia, Victor Espinosa, H. D. Herrera, Jose ‘Pepe’ Romeiro Hurtado, Alex Escobar. Front row: Willington Ortiz, Gerardo Gonzalez Aquino, Anthony De Avila, John Edison Castano. Familiar winner, but this was special victory in special period in the history of the club: 5^th title in a row! They bested the record of Millonarios – 4 consecutive titles, having fantastic run – the best in their own history and in the Colombian history as well. Arguably, America’s best period of all time. It was not a squad easily dismissed: they had two major stars – the Paraguayan great Roberto Cabanas and the Argentinian Ricardo Gareca. Local stars like Willington Ortiz were similarly good and ambitious. Experienced and confident squad, which also timed its season precisely: they finished 2^nd in both early stages of the championship, scoring most goals in each stage, and played their best at the final – won 9 games, tied 3, and lost only 2. Their defense was best, allowing only 12 goals in 14 games; their attack – second-best, scoring only a goal less than Deportivo Cali – 24. With such a run, they even did not need bonus points: if those were not counted, America was still on top with 21 points. ‘Diablos Rojos’ rulled!

August 26, 2020

Peru

The Peruvian top level was hardly a league – 30 teams played in it, divided into 4 regional groups, the Metropolitan group twice bigger than the provincial groups. In the first phase the bottom 9 teams finished – the last 3 in the Metropolitan group and the last 2 in every regional groups. What happened next to these teams? Hard to tell… if not all, at least most of them played again top level football in the next season. But they were out early in 1986. After the first phase the championship split in two streams – the Regional Tournament and the Descentralised Tournament. The teams involved were pretty much the same in both tournaments, though – only the formulas were slightly different and the the champions of each played a final between themselves for the Peruvian title.

Let start with the early eliminated clubs:

The last in the Metropolitan group were:

Juventud La Joya (Chancay) – 10^th with 15 points,

Guardia Republicana (Lima) – 11^th with 15 points, and

CNI – Colegio Nacional (Iquitos) – 12^th with 12 points.

From the Northern group eliminated were:

Carlos Manucci (Trujillo) – 5^th with 12 points and Atletico Torino (Talara) – 6^th with 9 points.

Out from the Central group were: Leon (Huanuco) – 5^th with 10 points and

Deportivo Junin (Huancayo) – 6^th with 9 points.

The last in the Southern group were:

Mariscal Nieto (Ilo) – 5^th with 10 points and Atletico Huracan (Moquegua) – 6^th with 8 points.

The rest had different fate, depending on the group final tables: the top 4 from Metropolitan group and the top 2 in the other three groups qualified to the next stage of both the Regional and the Descentralised tournaments. The next 2 in the Metroplitan group and the 3rd-placed in the other groups qualified to the next stage of the Descentralised tournament. The 7^th and the 8^th in the Metropolitan group and the 4th-placed in the other groups went to qualification play-offs and the winners qualified to the next stage of the Descentralised tournament. Meantime there was preliminary round for the Regional tournament and three teams were eliminated in it. The winners plus 5 lucky ones went to quarterfinals and so on until the final.

In the preliminary round Hungaruitos Agustinos eliminated Asociacion Deportiva (Tarma) 2-0 and Deportivo Municipal – Cienciano (Cusco) 4-0. The third match was dramatic and eventually decisive for the whole season. At first Coronel Bolognesi (Tacna) won over San Agustin 1-0, but the losers complained to the Federation, the result was tripped, the match replayed and now San Agustin prevailed 1-0.

Rightly or wrongly, Coronel Bolognesi was out.

In the quarterfinals only one match ended with goals and decisive results:

Deportivo Pucallpa lost 0-3 to the same problematic San Agustin.

All other games ended 0-0 and were decided by penalty shoot-outs. Alianza prevailed over Hungaritos Agustinos 4-2, Deportivo Municipal over Melgar FBC 4-3, and Univeridad Tecnica over Sporting Cristal 3-2.

It was a bit strange to see Sporting Cristal out so early, but nobody is strong forever. Standing from left: Roberto Arrelucea, Ruben Diaz, Cesar Rios, Pedro Chinchay, Roberto Rojas, Humberto Valdettaro. First row: David Zuloaga, Juan Jose Ore, Angel Barrios, Julio Cesar Anton, Genaro Neyra.

No goals were scored in the semifinals at all and both matches ended with penalty shoot-outs.

Universidad Tecnica (Cajamarca) lost to Alianza 3-4 and Deportivo Municipal (Lima) to San Agustin 3-4.

Thus, the final was played between Alianza (Lima) and San Agustin (Lima). The match ended 1-1 and San Agustin won the penalty shoot-out 3-1.

The winners of Regional tournament – standing from left: Jaime Duarte, Martin Yupanqui, Carlos Castro, Segundo Barreda, ?, Victor Alcazar. First row: Raul Mejia, Roberto Martinez, Jose Pajuelo, Coronado, Rigoberto Montoya. San Agustin qualified to the championship final.

Descentralised tournament. The teams failing to qualify to it continued the season in so-called Intermediary Division with Second Division teams for next season promotion. That meant 12 teams, technically for 11 spots, for the winner of Copa Peru was promoted as well. The 18 which qualified were divided into 3 groups of 6 teams each and the top 2 of every group went to the final stage of the tournament.

Group A.

Coronel Bolognesi (Tacna) – 6^th. Standing from left: Freddy Berlanga, Mario Cisterna, ‘Cacique’ Bustamante, Carlos ‘Tito’ Reyna, Santos Bojorquez, Juan Ayala. First row: Martinez, Pedro Barrionuovo, Juan Jose Ore, Javier Ugaz, Marco Echegaray.

Asociacion Deportiva (Tarma) – 5^th,

Juventud La Palma (Huacho) – 4^th,

Universitario de Deportes (Lima) – 3^rd,

Universidad Tecnica – 2^nd, and Alianza – 1^st.

Group B:

Defensor ANDA (Ayacuchu) – 6^th, Hungaritos Agustinos (Iquitos) – 5^th,

Union Minas (Cerro de Pasco) – 4^th,

Melgar FBC (Arequipa) – 3^rd, San Agustin – 2^nd, and Deportivo Municipal – 1^st.

Group C:

Deportivo Pucallpa (Pucallpa) – 6^th, Cienciano (Cusco) – 5^th,

Octavio Espinosa (Ica) – 4^th. Standing from left: N.AGUIRRE,CESAR ORE,W.VASQUEZ,JUAN VIDALES,FELIX RUBIANES,A.CORNEJO. First row:JULIO JIMENEZ,EDILBERTO FUENTES,OCTAVIO VIDALES,ROBERTO ASSERETO,DOMINGO FARFAN.

Atletico Grau (Piura) – 3^rd, Sport Boys – 2^nd, and Sporting Cristal – 1^st.

The final group of 6: each team played once against the rest.

Universidad Tecnica (Cajamarca) finished last with 1 point.

Sporting Cristal (Lima) – 5^th with 4 points.

Sport Boys (Callao) – 4^th with 5 points.

Deportivo Municipal (Lima) – 3^rd with 5 points. Standing from left: Jorge Ramírez, José Aguayo, Oscar Bravo, Simic, Lizandro Navarro, Luis Advíncula. Crouching: Morán, Luis Flores, Alberto Eugenio, Alberto Castillo, Víctor Gutiérrez.

San Agustin – 2^nd with 6 points,

and Alianza on top with 9 points. Alianza won the Descentralised tournament and reached the final for the season.

Which was one more replay between Alianza (Lima) and San Agustin (Lima), but San Agustin prevailed 1-0 in the regular time.

Alianza (Lima) lost and naturally was not happy, but they had many trophies anyway. Standing from left: Cesar Espino, Gino Pena, Daniel Reyes, Tomas Farfan, Jose Gonzales Ganoza, Wilmar Valencia. Crouching: Eugenio La Rosa, Johnny Watson, Juan Illescas, Jose Casanova, Luis Escobar.

Fantastic season for San Agustin (Lima) – they won the Peruvian championship for the first time! Strong the whole year too, so it was well deserved success. Standing from left: Jaime Duarte, Martin Yupanqui, Segundo Barreda, Rigoberto Montoya, Carlos Castro, Victor Alcazar. First row: Raul Mejia, Jose Ziani, Jose Pajuelo, Roberto Martinez, Montesinos.

The triumph of San Agustin was surprising, for it was young club with unsettled past – it was formed in 1970 with the name Club San Francisco, later changed to Huracan San Isidro, and finally to San Agustin. The last change came because of sponsorship – Colegio San Agustin took over the club and renamed it after itself. Of course, they never won anything so far and the changes suggest struggling with both identity and financial security, but at last everything was fine. For the moment, anyway. The decline of Peruvian football at the time, affecting the big clubs, also helped, but such a triumph cannot be dismissed just as taking advantage of the weakness of traditional powers. It was ambitious and enthusiastic season, but San Agustin was not a big club and had no chance of becoming one in Lima. Repeated success was unlikely, so it was pretty much one-time affair, yet, a wonderful victory of the underdog.

Category: 1986

Argentina Pre-Libertadores

Liguilla Pre-Libertadores tournament – 1985/1986. Not exactly something new, but this time it was part of the transitional season – the only direct link with the previous Campeonato Nacional. Notes:

Argentina II Division