Magic Head

[Tikka Mezzala]

Hello All,

This is a writing project intended for FM21 when it is released. The idea is to incorporate the FM elements of the story in when the game is released and a comprehensive South American database is produced by one of the forum's talented editors. In the mean time, I want to build a back story that brings the world and the characters to life. 

I must mention two inspirations behind this story: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who is in my eyes the greatest writer to ever have graced our planet, and the Ecuadorian-Uruguayan striker Alberto Spencer, who despite being relatively unknown in Europe, is one of the greatest South American footballers of all time (and the current record goalscorer in the Copa Libertadores). Spencer played his best years with Club Atletico Penarol of Uruguay, helping the club become the best team of South America during the 60's. Despite this, he never got the chance to feature at a World Cup, nor did he play for a European side. But his record in South America speaks for itself: 646 games; 446 goals. 

Here's to Cabeza Magica, and to Magical Realism and its greatest exponent, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 

The story begins in Colombia during the 1940's...

 

 

Part One

 

1

As he took to the field for the final time, Aureliano Cordoba remembered his youth in the port town of Santa Cruz de Mompox. At that time, the world was so recent that most things lacked names, and in order to indicate them, it was necessary to point. The town of Mompox stuck to the banks of the Rio Magdalena like a mosquito on human skin. Whenever the dry season ascended upon the region, the river’s waters would retreat revealing dried mud, precious metals, and the remains of those who lost in duels of passion. Since Magangue had become the department’s main port city, the population of Mompox had dwindled, leaving behind only those whose secrets tied them to the soil or the Magdalena’s murky depths. Among those who tilled the land was Jose Arcadio Cordoba, a stern man with an air of solitary consternation. He could often be found on the plantations of the Hacienda Pizarro, heaving heavy loads of bananas onto the back of trucks, or drinking unknown spirits in the shade of afternoon. Having lost his wife to the cholera outbreak of 1939, Jose Arcadio Cordoba raised his son, Auerliano, alone in a small adobe house on the outskirts of town. In the evenings, after a long day on the plantation, the men of the town would gather in the main plaza to forget, while their sons and daughters conjured up worlds of their own in the glow of streetlights. In the early days, tales of chivalry and discovery would playout among the frenzied mosquitoes. The dominant boys would strut around quoting Columbus, Pizarro, and Alonso Quixano, while the girls huddled together laughing at the boys’ pathetic attempts to appear noble. As for the quieter boys, the cracks between the pavements and the insects that lived there appeared more interesting than the Spanish inquisition.  

Among the introverted youths was Aureliano. At first glance, he appeared sullen and badly kept, but his blue eyes indicated hidden depths. Scraping away at the muddy crannies with a thin piece of bark, Aureliano was captivated by the idea that Mompox was like those narrow worlds where worms wriggled, and ants marched. Beneath the stars, everything felt so small and insignificant. The men of the town were like worker ants who hurried around the fields at dawn, carrying off the fruits of the earth to the colony. The children were like larvae, waiting to emerge into the roles befitting more developed arms and legs. In the meantime, life was to be lived partly in the classroom, and partly in the imagination.  

The little school that held around one-hundred and thirty students was located across the river on a piece of land that had long been worked to death by hungry peasants. It was established during a time that memory had since forgotten, and so appeared to the townspeople in much the same way as Teotihuacan appeared to the Aztecs: as a gift from the gods. The teachers at the school were all religious fanatics, apart from one man who used to say that mosquitoes were all the proof an atheist needed. The game of football had been banned on school grounds since it arrived in Colombia some time earlier in the century, but after it was revealed to the local parishioners that the sport was spreading faster than Christianity, the school board thought it best to assimilate the game into the faith. It was around this time that a remarkable revelation was made: God was a loyal follower of Independiente Medellin. No one knows how this information was relayed to the parishioners, but it was believed with such conviction that no one doubted Medellin-born Father Dominguez when he slotted this divine truth into his morning sermons.  

Afternoons at school were the happiest times of Aureliano’s childhood. It was the only time of day when the children had access to a football. Despite requesting to borrow the ball from the school, Father Dominguez declined the children’s pleas, claiming that school property was God’s property, and that he had a duty to keep it in his safekeeping at all times. There were rumors that on certain weeknights, Father Dominguez could be seen on the other side of the river doing keepy-uppies in the warm glow of lamplight. Some even suggested that God Himself was known to kick the ball around the school grounds at night. But all of these stories were dismissed as the silly habits of a town without entertainment facilities. In the afternoons, the courtyard at the center of the schoolgrounds became a sacred space for ungodly reasons. It was here that Aureliano earned his nickname: cabeza magica. In the company of his schoolmates, the son of Jose Arcadio Cordoba rose to prominence as the primary goal scorer of the fifth grade. Such was Aureliano’s stature at that time, that the head priest of the school saw fit to give a lecture to the students on the first commandment. Sitting at the back of the classroom, head sat on top of folded arms, Aureliano carved his current annual goal tally into the wood of his desk. At the sound of the scratching, the head priest paused his lecture and sought out the culprit, finding Aureliano guilty of defacing God’s furniture. Upon hearing of his crime, Jose Arcadio punished his son by making him carry out a week’s labor at the Hacienda Pizarro. While Aureliano carried loads of bananas from the hillside down to the waiting trucks, the men sat in the shade swigging from bottles and singing songs passed down to them from their own fathers. But this punishment was to have an unforeseen effect: after a week carrying heavy loads up and down the hillside, Aureliano returned to the school stronger, and more determined than ever. His goal tally doubled over the rest of the semester, and the head priest was forced to resign himself to the fact that Colombia would one day have twin gods lording over it: the Almighty Father, and Aureliano Cordoba.  

[Tikka Mezzala]

2

Aureliano's mother, Ursula, was of fortunate birth. Born into a wealthy land-owning family in Colombia's Zona Cafetera, she enjoyed all the privileges that her family's caffeine induced fortune afforded her. The Iguaran Estate, where she grew up, included much of the surrounding countryside near Manizales in the department of Caldas. When she wasn't receiving private tutelage in French, music, and the liberal arts, she would accompany her entrepreneurial father, Juvenal, to the coffee farms on horseback to keep an eye on the workers. It was during these long days in the humid hills that Ursula learned of her father's wicked temper. 

Juvenal Iguaran had inherited a desirable fortune from his father, but not content to spend it all on collecting exotic possessions, he managed to increase the family's holdings by playing a leading role in expanding the influence of Colombia's coffee producers. By the time that Colombian coffee was making a name for itself around the world, the Iguaran brand was being spoken of in Parisian cafes, Vienna salons, and, rumour has it, imperial palaces in the far-east. A meticulous man, Juvenal did not let a single bean go to waste, and so finding one half-buried in the mud would lead to an outpouring of explosive anger. So legendary were his fits of rage, that Colombia wouldn't see the likes of it again until the producer of another famous Colombian export arrived much later in the century. The workers on the Iguaran estate feared the patriarch and his violent ways, with many scars adorning the backs of nervous farmhands as a warning to those who who would let beans slip between their fingers. Ursula resented her father's iron fisted approach, and even showed a great deal of sympathy for the plight of the workers. If her father had recognised this sympathy as a sign of things to come, perhaps he would have extended his rage to include the back of his only daughter. 

The Iguaran family lived in a large colonial villa nestled on one of the hillsides. The white walls were outlined in red, and the innards of the mansion were spacious and airy. Throughout the day, cooks and chambermaids could be seen darting about the house preparing things for the patriarch's return from his farms. Ursula's mother, Pilar, would spend her afternoon's knitting in a yellow rocking chair at the front of the house. Despite being the lady of the manor, Pilar never seemed quite at home in the luxury that surrounded her. Her marriage to Juvenal was arranged by both families as a way of combining their respective wealth. Juvenal had tried several times to get rid of Pilar. On one of the more notable attempts, he tried to have her committed to the local asylum after she reported hearing the cries of a peacock in the area. Doctors and nurses arrived at the villa with needles and straightjackets at the ready, but before the skin was pierced a shiny blue bird darted from the shrubbery and fled across the open garden. Juvenal Iguaran's embarrassment could have been spared if it had not been for the thirty or so extra eyes that gazed straight into his soul from the tail of the Indian fowl. After several more failed attempts to rid the manor of Pilar's presence, Juvenal resigned himself to his marital fate. When Ursula came along, peace returned to the house, and the local asylum no longer needed to have a staff member on standby in the event of a call from the Iguaran Estate. 

Ursula had always shown a real aptitude for learning, and her tutors raved about her to her father. The old man was convinced that she would be a fitting heir to him at the head of the family's business. But even though she enjoyed life at Hacienda Iguaran, the taste of luxury and wealth had only increased her appetite for the world. It was for this reason, that at the age of fifteen, she insisted on joining her father on business trips to the Caribbean city of Cartagena. 

[Tikka Mezzala]

3

Santa Cruz de Mompox was a town frozen in time. If it weren't for the signs of ageing on the bodies of its inhabitants, one would have no way of being sure that a single moment had passed. Growing up in Mompox, Jose Arcadio had become accustomed to living in a tropical purgatory. Attending the same school that his future son Aureliano would attend, he became literate, and soon, an insatiable appetite for the written word developed. He devoured the school library with ease, becoming familiar with the writings of Christian scholars, and the Greek and Roman philosophers. But such antiquated ideas didn't capture his imagination. Keen to test himself with more contemporary ideas, he hung about near the docks in the hope that one of the sailors might leave behind a modern novel. Unfortunately, the only cargo aboard the ships passing along the Magdalena were from the surrounding farmlands. 

One day, in a moment of intrepid naivety, Jose Arcadio boarded one of the vessels under the cover of an assured manner. The ship was due to reach the city of Cartagena after three days sailing. Despite being far too young to be a sailor, no one thought to question him. Whenever the thought did cross the mind of one of the crew that such a young child had no business being aboard the ship, Jose Arcadio's confident air soon dispelled their doubts. During the seventy-two hours on the water, the seventh-grade student learned to play a number of card games, how to store precious cargo, and how to tell which prostitutes had the sickness of love. 

The city of Cartagena was a colourful world that stood in stark contrast to the whitewashed walls of Mompox. Yellows, blues, oranges, pinks and greens marked each house apart from their neighbours. Flowers adorned the open windows and balconies of the old colonial buildings. Water fountains stood proudly in the centre of each plaza. In amidst all of the beauty, large sacks of coffee beans were heaved from horse-drawn carts into warehouses. Colourfully dressed Afro-Caribbean women swaggered around the streets carrying fruit baskets overhead. Commerce was in full swing everywhere one looked. In the shady cafes, and in the tailors. In the barbershops, and the money-lenders. This was a city where time outstripped the mind's ability to measure its passing. 

Jose Arcadio managed to convince one of the sailors he had met on the voyage to the city to set him up with some work. Despite his diminutive size, he was given employment loading bags of coffee onto ships destined for Europe. The work was back breaking, but he had earned enough to buy several books from the city of scribes, and for the journey back to Mompox. When aboard the vessel heading south, he made a start on his newly acquired literature. By the time the ship had reached the port of Mompox, Jose Arcadio had become captivated by Romanticism. He was disgusted by the industrialisation of the world; an industrialisation that he had no sense of whatsoever, having been confined to the northern part of Colombia his entire life. He insisted to all of the other sailors that he would dedicate his remaining years to simplicity, living an ascetic lifestyle close to nature. The ship's crew paid no mind to the young idealist. But they did enjoy the on-board presence of someone who hadn't yet resigned themselves to the fate that awaited all Colombians at that time. 

When Jose Arcadio stepped foot back onto Mompox soil, his father, who happened to be a dockworker, noticed the boy and took him home by the collar. Jose Arcadio's absence had caused great consternation to the family. His father and mother had led search parties through the marshlands surrounding the town, and when they turned up the bones of a seventeenth century slave in one of the nearby fields, they feared the worst. 'You will repay us by selling those books you have returned with' his father told him. But before doing so, Jose Arcadio copied the texts line for line using supplies he had stolen from the school. When his classmates offered to pay him to read the literature he had acquired, Jose seized upon a business opportunity. Having earned enough pesos to buy more books from Cartagena, Jose Arcadio asked some of the sailors who regularly passed through the town to bring books back with them, and he would allow them to keep the difference. Soon, the entrepreneurial child had established what was in effect the first book shop in Mompox. Even the adults of the town would pay him for a copyright infringed version of the latest novels. Word spread throughout the town, and when the head priest of the school managed to connect the dots of the stationary shortage and Jose Arcadio's turn in fortunes, he used methods known only to the high-clergy to extract a confession from the child. 

After the clerical authorities had closed down his bootleg bookshop operation, Jose Arcadio left school to join his father at the dockyards. He spent his days loading cargo onto passing ships, and learning new curse words from his fellow workers. One of these curse words was to enter his mind the second he laid eyes on the girl who emerged from the vessel carrying Iguaran coffee up river. For the rest of his days, Jose Arcadio would remember that afternoon in all of its trivial detail: it was the day he met his future wife, Ursula Iguaran. 

[EvilDave]

This is wonderful - evocative, poetic, intriguing. I don't know enough of Garcia Marquez to debate the 'greatest ever' title, but I've read enough to see his Macondo in your Mompox, smile at some of the names, and recognise the grand sweep of a tiny corner of history to know that this is going to be a fabulous read. I'm very much looking forward to seeing where you take us with this, and how you get us there. 

[Tikka Mezzala]

25 minutes ago, EvilDave said:

This is wonderful - evocative, poetic, intriguing. I don't know enough of Garcia Marquez to debate the 'greatest ever' title, but I've read enough to see his Macondo in your Mompox, smile at some of the names, and recognise the grand sweep of a tiny corner of history to know that this is going to be a fabulous read. I'm very much looking forward to seeing where you take us with this, and how you get us there. 

Thanks a lot, man. Means a lot coming from a great writer like yourself. 

I've visited many of the places in Marquez's novels (at least the places that his towns are based upon). It definitely helps to be able to look within my own memory and see the details first-hand. 

[Tikka Mezzala]

4

Ursula had become very adept at handling herself in the world of commerce. Despite her tender years, her father had given her great responsibilities. Among them, was the task of striking deals with European merchants on the Caribbean coastline. Ursula's expensive education finally began to pay off, when she was able to detail the many reasons why the Colombian coffee bean was superior to its Guatemalan and Jamaican rivals in fluent French. Thanks to a woman's touch, the Iguaran coffee empire was thriving. 

At this time, Ursula's life consisted of sailing up the Rio Magdalena on one of the company vessels until they reached the city of Cartagena. Once there, the taverns and tobacco houses were toured and deals struck for bags of Caldas's finest. It never occurred to the young woman that for many years selling Colombian coffee was a tremendously difficult task, such was the ease with which she managed to offload her precious cargo. After official business was concluded, she would spend hours in the company of sailors, who, despite being in the presence of a beautiful young woman, never attempted to make advances at her, knowing what consequences lay in wait from her father. She would hear stories of the seven seas, and of wars and revolutions the world over. Her hours in the taverns of Cartagena had developed in her somewhat of a red conscience, and having picked up a French translation of a pamphlet written by a notorious German philosopher, she even began to repudiate her own family business. 

When her father heard that European Socialism had infected his daughter's mind, he quickly revoked her role as a salesperson for the company. Although Ursula was still allowed to travel with him to Cartagena, she was merely a passenger with no business of her own to attend to. It was during this period of exile from the family business that Ursula started to venture into the small towns that were dotted along the Magdalena so that she could, in her words, 'connect with Colombia'. She spoke with lepers in Tamalameque, missionaries in El Darien, bandits in Puerto Wilches, and prostitutes in Puerto Berrio. Despite her affluent upbringing, there was no question that she had the common touch. What she learned from her time among Colombia's wretched of the earth was that her own privileges were directly linked to the suffering of campesinos. Ursula's conscience grew heavy over time, and she became withdrawn from family life. It was during this period of quiet consternation that her heart became vulnerable to the advances of one Jose Arcadio Cordoba. 

The first meeting between Ursula Iguaran and Jose Arcadio Cordoba, on the docks of Santa Cruz de Mompox, was rather insignificant to the former. The young boy of fourteen years introduced himself as a businessman: 'I am a seller of literature'. Ursula's sense for human trepidation had developed well in her time amongst the sailors and bandits of Cartagena, and so she knew immediately that Jose Arcadio was nothing of the sort. But rather than become displeased at his having lied to her about his profession, she took great pity on the boy. Every time the company vessel would dock at the port of Mompox, she would seek out Jose Arcadio and listen to him recount the romantic adventures that he had learned from books. 

From time to time, Jose would make advances on Ursula, but she always managed to reject him without sending him into disconsolate darkness. While she did have a liking for him, she was not wishing to tie herself to any particular place this early in her life. Waiting on the growth of her own courage, her plan was to embark on a journey to Europe so that she could encounter the streets of Paris, and the cathedrals of Barcelona for herself. Her intrepid spirit only made her more appealing to young Jose Arcadio, who was willing to wait for her to come around to the idea of them being together. 

 

[Tikka Mezzala]

5

After several years of gentle courtship with Jose Arcadio, Ursula resigned herself to fate when the courage she awaited to travel the world never arrived. By now, the two lovers had been engaged in a passionate affair for some months, but the truth of their love was too dangerous to be floated freely through the town. If word of their relationship reached Juvenal Iguaran, Jose Arcadio would surely have been another set of bones enjoying peace at the bottom of the Magdalena river. 

Under the cover of frenzied commercial activity, Ursula and Jose managed to enjoy each others' voluptuousness in the empty warehouses, and in the cowsheds of the surrounding farmlands. On one regrettable occasion, when passion proved the master of reason, they were chased from the schoolgrounds by the head priest, whose holiness could not mask his disdain for the Cordoba family. Months passed without anyone other than the head priest catching on to their forbidden delights, but one day, without warning, and with no evidence protruding from her natural composition, Ursula issued a death knell to their treasured secret: 'I am with child'.

When the size of her belly became too large to fool her father and mother with stories of excessive feasting, Ursula was forced to come clean. She had expected her father to destroy much of the furniture in the setting of their troubled conversation, but much to her surprise he appeared quite calm on the surface. Ursula's relief was broken, when Juvenal walked over to a desk in the corner of the study and produced a pistol from one of its drawers. 'Give me a name, and maybe I won't need two bullets'. 

Ursula pleaded with her father not to take drastic measures, but he was not a man to be reasoned with when he felt his honour had been tarnished. Having deduced that the culprit must reside in one of the small towns along the Magdalena due to the amount of time Ursula spent in them, he turned his company vessel from a cargo container into a battleship, and set out for war along Colombia's primary river. In each town he marked his arrival with a stern declaration: 'Anyone who passes along the desired information will be handsomely rewarded. Anyone who stands in my way will be supper for the squid.' Due to the thorny nature of life in Colombia's small river towns, many men came forward accusing one of their rivals of being the man behind the Iguaran family's scandal. After thirteen men were killed under false pretences, Juvenal gave up on the honesty of the river people, and decided to wait and see whether the child resembled any of the villagers. After another eight months of anguish and pain, Ursula gave birth to a child that was unmistakably the son of a Cordoba. 

[Tikka Mezzala]

6

Jose Arcadio had a habit of weaving his way through the crowded docks so that when Ursula arrived on the boat from the far south, he would be waiting for her at the river's edge like a faithful hound. This habit had somewhat died off when news reached his ears that Juvenal Iguaran was on the war path. When the coffee mogul reached the town of Mompox on his inquisition, Jose Arcadio hid out in the confessional booth in the Church of Santa Barbara. After forgiving several parishioners for their sins, he emerged to find the bemused and furious head priest who wouldn't have hesitated to hand him over to Juvenal himself, had he known the reason for Jose Arcadio's cowardice. 

When almost a year had passed without word from the zona cafetera, Jose began to lose hope of ever hearing from his exiled lover again. His lovesick symptoms were so severe that his father and mother feared that he had become stricken by cholera. They had him examined by the local doctor, and even requested that the head priest say a mass for him, though those who attended the service weren't sure whether the priest had asked God to spare the boy or the disease. When the doctor confirmed that Jose Arcadio was suffering an ailment of the soul, the relief in the household was palpable. 

Jose Arcadio returned to work shortly after his diagnosis. The load that he carried on his fragile mind was incomparable even to the heavy loads of bananas and papayas he bundled onto ships at the docks. When almost all remnants of hope had been extinguished from his heart, the Iguaran vessel pulled into town with Ursula standing at the ship's bow. She did not have the look of a woman that was about to be reunited with her long-lost lover. Jose, recognising the uncharacteristic look of fear on Ursula's face, hung back, out of sight, until the ship had been properly docked. When the plank had been securely placed, Juvenal Iguaran stormed off of the boat with an infant in his hands. He held the child aloft: 'does anyone recognise the features of this baby?' Everyone knew that the child was a Cordoba, but no one dare spoke out of turn. Jose's father gulped nervously and shuffled his feet, hoping that Juvenal would neither recognise him or his son. Juvenal walked around the docks area comparing the child's features to the faces of the workers. His meticulousness allowed Jose and his father to slip away undetected and out of sight. But just as the coffee baron's search attempts were about to end in vain, a voice rose up from the entrance to the dockyards. It was that of the head priest: 'that child is a Cordoba, make no mistake!'

Juvenal and his men, led by the head priest, marched straight to the Cordoba household, where they found Jose Arcadio's mother tending the small garden at the rear of the house. 'I am here for your son, hand him over.' Jose's mother, Sofia, said nothing, but the look on her face was enough to communicate her unwillingness to co-operate in the search for her missing son. Juvenal had his men trash the house before continuing their search in the surrounding fincas. 

Ursula, meanwhile, was forbidden from leaving the vessel. Her torment was heightened by every gunshot echoing in the distance. Above the red roofs of the one-story, whitewashed houses, smoke was rising from several different locations. When her father and his men returned to the ship empty handed, he assured her that they would be starting all over again the next day, and every day following until the Cordoba child revealed himself. The crying infant had been handed back to his anxious mother, who thought only of his father, somewhere out there in the marshlands surrounding Santa Cruz de Mompox. 

On the evening of the fifth day of searching, Juvenal Iguaran stood on the docks of Mompox, staring up at the stars. The universe seemed so vast to him in those moments, and he could not help but feel that Jose Arcadio had slipped somewhere into the great infinity of the unknown. As the white starlight twinkled above his head, the horizon became visible through the darkness of night when the embers of torchlight in the distance began to grow in stature. Soon it was clear that about thirty men were approaching. Juvenal tried to stare through the darkness to make out the faces of the men, but before he could recognise a single one they surrounded him and his men on the docks and demanded the release of Ursula. The men were bandits from the surrounding villages, and under the promise of a lucrative booty aboard the Iguaran vessel, they agreed to help Jose Arcadio capture Ursula from her overbearing father. With only himself armed, Juvenal ordered his men to hand over his daughter. The Iguaran men were rounded up and held in an empty warehouse while the bandits looted and then burned the ship. The head bandit had promised Jose Arcadio that he would let the men go unharmed, but knowing the temper and resolve of Juvenal from reputation alone, he could not abide by such a risky move. The sailors were released in small groups throughout the night, and warned about showing their faces in the province again, but Juvenal was held until morning. When the first ray of sunlight struck the tip of the Church of Santa Barbara, and began to illuminate its light yellow walls, the head bandit marched Juvenal Iguaran out to the river's edge, tied a weight around both his feet, and with Juvenal's own pistol, fired a shot into the head of the former coffee baron. Ursula's father sank like a stone, and joined conquistadors, slaves, indigenous Indians, down-on-their-luck lovers, and the remains of his scorched ship on the floor of the Rio Magdalena.

 

[tenthreeleader]

You are a writer after my own heart, to be certain. I hope you go a long way with this -- detail and character development go an awfully long way with me. Brilliant start.

[Tikka Mezzala]

53 minutes ago, tenthreeleader said:

You are a writer after my own heart, to be certain. I hope you go a long way with this -- detail and character development go an awfully long way with me. Brilliant start.

Thanks very much. It's always nice to hear from one of the forum's talented writers. 

I have a loose vision in mind of where things are going. There are a couple of generations of the Cordoba family whose stories have yet to be told. Plus, some cameo roles for some South American football royalty. Hopefully it continues to please. 

[Tikka Mezzala]

7

After her father's death, Ursula became the latest Mompox resident to be stricken by the disease of the soul. Despite the ill-feelings that she possessed for him during his life, Juvenal's death marked the moment that Ursula felt most alone in the world. 'There's nothing we can do' was all that Jose Arcadio could say to her. He himself had become wracked with guilt, and he swore never to trust bandits again. The couple's infant son was taken into the care of Jose's parents until a post hoc shotgun wedding could be arranged. It was during this time when the infant was being raised by his grandparents that the family started to refer to the child as 'Aureliano'.

A visiting Irish priest named Father Lynch agreed to marry the miserable couple over the protests of the head priest of Mompox. But despite Aureliano being handed back into the care of his birth-parents, he was never to form a proper bond with his mother, who was by that time far too consumed in her own tormented solitude. Jose Arcadio had tried to play the role of dutiful father in those early days, but he was merely a boy himself, and so Aureliano ended up being raised by the praying mantises and Hercules beetles that visited the garden of his grandparents. 

A couple of years into their marriage, disaster was to strike the Cordoba family twice more. The first unfortunate event to hit them was the news that Ursula's mother, Pilar, had sold the family business and disappeared to Europe. Ursula would, therefore, not receive a penny of her inheritance. But it was the second tragedy that was to have the most profound impact upon, not only the Cordoba family, but the town of Santa Cruz de Mompox itself. An outbreak of cholera had ravaged the regions along the Rio Magdalena, leaving a huge trail of campesinos, fishermen, and dockworkers in its wake. By the time the disease had passed through Mompox, half the adult population had been wiped out, including Jose Arcadio's parents and his wife Ursula. The survivors of the period were forever left wondering why they had been spared, but nature is not bestowed with reason. Ursula's death had come as a major shock, given that her symptoms were indistinguishable from the ailment she had been suffering from since the death of her father. When she eventually fell to the ground, never to rise again, on a warm July morning, she accepted her fate with an august solemnity. But her husband, who loved her despite the lack of affection shown to him, was never to come to terms with the cholera outbreak of 1939. The tragic events of that year turned Jose Arcadio to the magic elixir of forgetfulness. 

Jose Arcadio was now alone with his son Aureliano. He had been left the small adobe house of his parents, and a small amount of savings that had been accumulated over years of selling garden vegetables at the local market. In the moments when Jose was not under the spell of distilled hallucinations, he tried to bond with his son, and teach him right from wrong. He managed to put food on the table through his work on the docks, but years later when Colombia's rail network expanded, and new roads connected the wetlands with the major ports up north, the docks were emptied of activity, and Jose was forced to find work at the source of the produce he used to load onto ships headed for Cartagena. 

Aureliano's childhood was spent in his imagination. The world of Santa Cruz de Mompox, with its red dirt roads, and its colonial churches was the centre of the cosmos. Over the next fifteen years, the young boy's character was to emerge from the cracks between the pavements, and the reeds down by the river's edge, where the body of his late grandfather still cursed fate amidst the ruins of the Mompox of old. 

On his sixteenth birthday, Aureliano would leave behind the sleepy town of his childhood, and embark on a life quite unlike those who bore the Cordoba name before him. Much heartbreak, bitterness and family rivalry lay ahead of him. There would be World Cups, and footballing superstars on his horizon. But no matter where the roads he traversed took him, the sense of solitude engraved on the souls of all those born and bred in the town of Mompox would never leave him. He was doomed to remember that he could never forget. 

[Tikka Mezzala]

Part 2: The Road to El Dorado

1

The establishment of a regional football league based in the river towns of the department of Bolivar was to prove key in the rise of Aureliano Cordoba. It was during his stint representing Mompox in the competition that he caught the eye of Jesuit priest-cum-football manager, Father Alvarez. The Magangue-based priest was a friend of Father Lynch, who used his contacts throughout the parishes of Colombia to find and recommend players to Millionarios FC in Bogota. Father Lynch, who had married Aureliano's parents, was based at the Monserrate Church that overlooked the Colombian capital. One of his parishioners was the owner of Millionarios Football Club. Every year, the church would receive generous donations from the football club that allowed it to maintain the building in good health. In return, Father Lynch, who secretly preferred Millionarios' cross-town rivals Santa Fe, would recommend young players to the club with the help of his contacts across the country. 

After three years of playing in the regional competitions, a period in which it is said more than five-hundred goals were scored by him, Aureliano was offered the chance to join Father Lynch in Bogota, so that he could represent Millionarios in the Colombian Championships. The Irish priest attained the consent of Aureliano's father, Jose Arcadio, but it wasn't clear that the assenting grunt he received from the man was an answer to the question that he had asked. Despite the uncertainty, Father Lynch took it as proof that he had the blessing of the boy's father, and the pair made off for the Colombian capital while the country's footballing golden era, known as El Dorado was in full swing. Millionarios had won two out of the previous three championships (1949, 1951) thanks to the influx of foreign talent from Argentina due to a player-strike in the country. Leading the team known to the press as the Ballet Azul was Alfredo Di Stefano, who had arrived from River Plate at the tail-end of the 1940s. On their journey to the capital together, Father Lynch enlivened the young man's mind with stories of how Di Stefano had mesmerised the crowds across Colombia with his mazy runs and his keen eye for goal. But the Argentinian wasn't alone in Colombia: joining him at Millionarios was fellow countrymen Adolfo Pedernera, Nestor Rossi, Julio Cozzi, Antonio 'Maestrico' Baez, Hugo Reyes, and Reinaldo Mourin. Other clubs had also turned to foreign lands for player acquisitions: Atletico Junior brought in several Hungarian players; Cucuta Deportivo turned to Uruguay for most of their signings, including several 1950 World Cup winners; Deportivo Pereira filled their squad with Paraguayan players, and a trio of Englishmen arrived at Millionarios' cross-town rivals Santa Fe. As Father Lynch described the state of the game in Colombia at that time, Aureliano couldn't help but feel that it was hardly an ideal moment for a young Colombian hopeful to enter the scene. The rest of the trip south to Bogota would be an anxious one for young Aureliano.

The city of Bogota could not have been more different from the sleepy world of Santa Cruz de Mompox. The city's expanse seemed to stretch on endlessly over the horizon, until a thick mist drew in and hid everything beyond arm's length. It was also much colder than Aureliano was used to. He had always thought of his homeland as a warm country, with sweltering heat during the mid-afternoon, and unbearable humidity throughout the night. But Bogota was a city that demanded an extra layer of clothing. The city streets were bustling with people, and everywhere one looked, street vendors could be seen selling assortments of local delicacies. Aureliano's senses were assaulted from all directions as the city's odour filled his lungs and the movement of people crowded out his thoughts. It was only when he stepped off the bus in the La Candelaria district of the city that he managed to catch his breath. The buildings in the district were familiar to Aureliano: small colonial rows of houses, with whitewashed walls, and window frames painted different colours to mark out one household from the next. There were also buildings painted red, green, yellow, orange, and blue. Never before had it occured to Aureliano that one could paint their house any colour they liked. He had only ever seen the church in Mompox painted a different colour from the whitwashed houses. But in Bogota, everything stood out; everything had its own identity. 

Father Lynch took Aureliano up to Monserrat via the newly installed cable car. Just as the duo reached the summit, the mist below dissipated, and the sunshine revealed the vastness of Bogota. From this height, everyone below looked like the ants that Aureliano used to watch between the pavement cracks in the main plaza of Mompox. Father Lynch showed Aureliano his living quarters, and informed him that tomorrow would be the day that he would meet with the representatives from Millionarios. 'They are willing to give you a trial before the season begins. If you succeed, you'll likely be given a modest contract with no pay. You'll earn your keep by doing some odd jobs around here for me.'

Aureliano fell asleep that night thinking about all the things that he had seen on the streets of Bogota. But in the deepest moments of sleep, his anxiety grew at the prospect of being rejected by Millionarios and being sent back to Mompox a failure. Why would a club with Alfredo Di Stefano and co. take on a farmhand's son like him? And what's more, why would they want a Colombian peasant, when they had the cream of Argentina lining up for them?

[Tikka Mezzala]

2

Prior to the heightening of La Violencia, the period of political turmoil that blighted Colombia throughout the twentieth-century, a group of businessmen from the Caribbean city of Barranquilla got together to discuss the lack of quality and organisation within Colombian football. At this time, the FIFA recognised association of Colombia was Adefutbol. They overseen what was still predominantly an amateur sport, though the bigger clubs were known to make unofficial payments to their better players. There was no official league tournament to speak of, with clubs from different cities playing against one another in exhibition matches, and other larger teams from abroad touring the country to play against the bigger Colombian sides. Interest in the national game began to wane, and for a country of its size, Colombia lacked any major clout within South American football. This prompted the Barranquillan businessmen to set up a rival footballing body: Dimayor.

At the head of the consortium was Humberto Salcedo Fernandez (known as Salcefer). A great believer in the potential of Colombian soccer, he toured the major cities of the country in order to convince the top clubs to break away from the unambitious Adefutbol association, and join his vision for the future with Dimayor. His quest proved a great success with ten clubs agreeing to join for the 1948 season: Millionarios, Universidad, and Santa Fe from Bogota; America and Deportivo of Cali; Independiente and Atletico Municipal from Medellin; Once Deportivo and Deportes Caldas from Manizales, and Junior from Barranquilla. The national authorities threw their support behind the new sporting venture, as it provided a welcome distraction from the political turmoil that gripped the country. Prior to the inaugural season, the Colombian senate approved a sum of $10,000 Colombian Pesos for the tournament winners. 

When the league kicked off, there was not a great deal of attention afforded to it. The daily publications in Colombia and abroad paid little mind to the events of the Liga Dimayor's tentative first steps. The opening match of the 1948 season between Atletico Municipal and Universidad de Bogota, the first professional league match to be played on Colombian soil, had to be moved outside of Medellin because no stadium existed in the Antioquian city. The match took place in nearby town Itagui, at a horse racing track. Due to afternoon races being scheduled, the game kicked off at 11am, with Atletico Municipal of Medellin winning 2-0 to become the first Colombian football club to win a professional league match.  

Interest in the league steadily grew, in no small part due to the starring roles of foreign talent such as Alfredo Castillo of Millionarios (31 goals), Jesus Maria Lires and German Anton of Santa Fe (20 goals and 18 goals, respectively), and Ricardo Ruiz of Deportivo Cali (9 goals). But at the heart of the inaugural season was a strong representation of Colombian footballers. The record books show that during the 1948 season, there were 182 Colombians, 13 Argentinians, 8 Peruvians, 5 Uruguayans, 2 Chileans, 2 Ecuadorians, 1 Dominican, and 1 Spaniard playing in the league. Among the Colombian contingent, Jaime Cardona and Carlos Arango of Deportes Caldas, Rigoberto Garcia and Octavio Carrillo of Junior, and Ricardo Lopez of Universidad de Bogota finished among the top 10 leading scorers. Foreign referees were brought in to help improve the standard of officiating. After the teams had played each other twice (a total of 18 games), Santa Fe of Bogota etched their name into Colombian footballing folklore, becoming the first ever Colombian champions. They finished 4 points clear of Junior of Barranquilla in second. 

Final Table: 1948 Liga Dimayor Season:

(1) Santa Fe - 27pts

(2) Junior - 23pts

(3) Deportes Caldas - 20pts

(4) Millionarios - 19pts

(5) America de Cali - 18pts

(6) Atletico Municipal - 18pts

(7) Independiente Medellin - 17pts

(8) Deportivo Cali - 16pts

(9) Once Deportivo - 14pts.

(10) Universidad de Bogota - 8 pts.

The tournament had proven to be a major success. Overall, there were 90 matches played with 409 goals scored across them (4.54 per game). Salcefer and the consortium behind the establishment of the league were the toast of Colombia's footballing hordes. But 1948 was only the beginning of the story. What was to follow in 1949 was the beginning of the period known in Colombian soccer as El Dorado, 'the golden age'. 

 

[Tikka Mezzala]

Writer's note:

I hope people don't mind if I spend a few chapters outlining the happenings in the world of Colombian football prior to Aureliano's arrival in Bogota. While this will be more descriptive than anything else, and lacking the character-based approach of the previous chapters, I think it is quite an interesting tale in itself. It will also help to establish the footballing world that the story takes place in. As the story develops, and we encounter new places and new time periods, I may do something similar so that everyone knows what the footballing world was like, and where our characters fit into it. I already have the careers of several characters mapped out, and I think the lovers of the beautiful game in all of its national stripes will enjoy the stories that emerge from this. It will give us a chance to meet some of South America's most interesting footballing personalities, and get to know some of the history of football on the continent.

Cheers.

[tenthreeleader]

It's your world -- we just live in it. Write on, and go where your muse takes you.

[Tikka Mezzala]

3

If 1948 was the year of birth for Colombian league football, 1949 was the year it announced itself to the world. After the success of the first ever league campaign on Colombian soil, optimism was growing in the country. Salcefer and his entourage proudly boasted about their achievements in the press: 'We have done more in a few months than Adefutbol has managed in its years of impotence.' The gloating was met with disdain, though some within the ranks of Adefutbol were hopeful that the regular competitive football might benefit the Colombian national team ahead of the 1949 South American Championships in Brazil. One question hung over the country at the beginning of 1949, however: which association would represent Colombia? Arguments raged on in the press over who would be responsible for the team, and who would pay for the expenses. Dimayor, who held the rights for most of the country's players, refused to release national team stars from their domestic duties, with the league campaign due to start around the same time as the South American Championships. This led to Atletico Junior (from Barranquilla) withdrawing from the Dimayor tournament and supplying Adefutbol and Colombia with a crop of players for the flight to Brazil. 

If 1949 was to be the beginning of a 'golden era' for Colombian football, there were certainly no clues of this present at the South American Championships. Colombia began their campaign against Paraguay in Sao Paulo, in front of 30,000 spectators. The land-locked Paraguayans ran out comfortable 3-0 winners at the Estadio do Pacaembu. Four days later, neighbours Peru pummelled the Cafeteros 4-0 in Rio de Janeiro. Colombia's dreadful start was continued the following week when hosts Brazil handed them a 5-0 drubbing. The bleak picture was improved slightly when Chile, despite taking an eighth-minute lead in the match, only managed a 1-1 draw against the tournament's bottom side. The highlight of the competition for Colombia was to arrive on April 25th, when the team who had won the first ever World Cup (and who would go on to win it again a year later), Uruguay, were held to a 2-2 draw in Sao Paulo. The Colombian's came within four-minutes of victory over La Celeste, but were pegged back in the 86th minute by Juan Ayala. Two games without defeat certainly signalled improvement, but any hope of a respectable finish in Brazil was quelled when Ecuador thrashed Colombia 4-1 in Rio, followed by a humbling 4-0 defeat at the hands of Bolivia, who were previously on the end of a 10-1 mauling by eventual winners Brazil. In short: the competition was a disaster for Colombia's international standing. The Cafeteros finished in last place without a single victory, and had been on the end of some hidings. 

League Standings: South American Championships 1949:

(=1) Brazil - 12pts.

(=1) Paraguay - 12pts.

(3) Peru - 10pts.

(4) Bolivia - 8pts.

(5) Chile - 5pts.

(6) Uruguay - 5pts.

(7) Ecuador - 2pts.

(8) Colombia - 2pts.

* Brazil winners after 7-0 Play-Off win over Paraguay.

*Argentina withdrew from competition.

The disastrous showing in Brazil had ramifications for the Adefutbol Association. Much of the blame for Colombia's poor showing fell squarely on their doorstep. As a result, their standing amongst the Colombian public fell. Dimayor, meanwhile, were enjoying a lot of positive attention. Despite losing their FIFA recognition (due to complaints from Adefutbol over the release of players), the league would welcome some of South America's best players to its ranks for the 1949 season. By the time the frenzy of transfer activity was over that summer, the Dimayor Colombian Football League was considered by many to be one of the strongest in the world. This was mainly thanks to a dispute taking place across the other side of the continent in Argentina.

In November 1948, due to the gap between club incomes and player salaries, many of Argentina's footballers decided to go on strike. The players demanded a minimum salary be introduced, and that the official players' union be recognised by the league. Even though the dispute mainly served the interests of the more modest talent, many star names supported their less illustrious colleagues, and the likes of Alfredo Di Stefano and Adolfo Pedernera headed the confrontation with the AFA. After several months of dispute, the Ministry of Labour imposed a salary ceiling of $1500 pesos. This led to an exodus of talent from the country, with Colombia becoming a popular destination for Argentina's brightest and best. 

Millionarios Football Club of Bogota were the first team to recognise the potential in Argentina's turmoil. Club director, Alfonso Senior, took advantage of Dimayor's expulsion from FIFA too tap up players who were unhappy at their Argentinian clubs. As the manager of the team at that time was Argentinian himself, Senior sent him to the country to entice the best players he could. One of the first players that arrived in the Andean country was Adolfo Pedernera, who had enjoyed an illustrious career with River Plate and Huracan. Pedernera's wife was pregnant, and so the financial situation in the Argentinian game forced him to see security elsewhere. He requested a salary of $500, with a $5,000 signing on fee, which initially forced many Millionarios directors to panic. Alfonso Senior, however, was a savvy businessman who understood the allure of a player of Pedernera's stature: 'he will make us more money than this club has ever seen in its existence.' The decision to sign Pedernera was prophetic. Football magazines and sports papers across the continent covered the story, and the excitement within Colombia itself was palpable. Rising gate receipts easily covered the finances of the deal, as Millionarios became a box-office football club, the first of its kind in Colombia. Several more Argentine players followed Pedernera, including Nestor Rossi and Alfredo Di Stefano. It was to be the beginning of the Ballet Azul era at the club, and the dawn of a short-lived, though exhilarating period for Colombian football. 

The disaster at the South American Championships in Brazil was soon forgotten, as other clubs across Colombia started to follow Millionarios's example. Players from all over the world arrived, including Hungarians, Lithuanians, Yugoslavians. Scotsmen, Englishmen, and of course, the cream of the crop from across Argentina and South America. Salcefero, buoyed on by the growing stature of his project, took to the airwaves once more: 'Adefutbol will forever be associated with mediocrity; Dimayor with footballing royalty.'  

As well as the arrival of new players to the league, five new teams were welcomed into the fold: Atletico Bucaramanga, Boca Juniors de Cali, Deportivo Barranquilla (replacing Junior), Deportivo Pereira, and Huracan de Medellin. Across the season, 186 matches were played with 820 goals scored between them (4.41 per game). The new stars of the league were dazzling crowds, especially Pedro Cabillon of Millionarios who ended the year with 42 goals. The excitement on the pitch translated into the standings as Millionarios and Deportivo Cali finished the season tied on 44 points. The title was decided by a two-legged play-off: the first match finished 0-1 to Millionarios with Adolfo Pedernera scoring a 57th minute penalty; while the second leg finished 3-2 to the Bogota club, with Pedernera and Di Stefano on the scoresheet. Last season's champions Santa Fe finished five points of fthe pace, despite scoring 102 goals in only 26 games. 

1949 Liga Dimayor Final Standings:

(1) Millionarios - 44pts

(=1) Deportivo Cali - 44pts

(3) Santa Fe - 39pts

(4) Deportes Caldas - 32pts

(5) Independiente Medellin - 29pts

(6) Universidad de Bogota - 27pts

(7) Atletico Municipal - 24pts

(8) Boca Juniors - 23pts

(9) Once Deportivo - 20pts

(10) America de Cali - 18pts

(11) Atletico Bucaramanga - 18pts

(12) Huracan de Medellin - 17pts

(13) Deportivo Barranquilla - 15pts

(14) Deportivo Pereira - 14pts

* Millionarios Champions via Play-Offs (4-2 agg win v Deportivo)

The season had been a major commercial success for Dimayor. The eyes of the footballing world were now on Colombia, and as the country headed into a new decade, still plagued by political violence, there was renewed hope that from the ashes of its self-image, a new Colombia could emerge; a country renowned for its love of the beautiful game. 

 

 

[Tikka Mezzala]

4

With Colombian football's golden period under way, the country's political authorities took full advantage of the renewed interest in sport to deflect attention away from the turmoil that blighted the countryside. Marauding gangs of liberals and conservatives had caused much bloodshed throughout the country, undermining the credibility of the government led by Mariano Ospina Perez. With the arrival of players like Di Stefano and Pedernera, the talk in the cities was of football rather than politics. The bread and circuses approach allowed the government a bit of breathing space, and clubs like Millionarios were only to happy to provide the required entertainment. 

Despite the generally positive reception to the influx of foreign talent to Colombian football, the football daily Estadio fired the first of many warnings about the impact of El Dorado on Colombian players themselves: 'When the top teams in the country are chalk full of Argentines, Uruguayans, Peruvians, and Paraguayans, one must ask: what does this do for our own people? It has been said that young Colombians are learning from the best; that they are receiving an elite education from the foreign stars. But where is the evidence of this? Already we have seen teams sign players for the sake of it. Players from Argentina and Uruguay have recommended friends to the club, and the owners have been very accommodating. But where, I ask, is the benefit to Colombia? Apart from the inflated bank accounts of the football clubs, I see no reason to believe that the interests of our people are being furthered.'

The warnings went unheeded, as foreign stars continued to play leading roles at most of the clubs throughout the Liga Dimayor. The fans of clubs up and down the country did not seem to care much either. As long as the product on show was up to the standard they had quickly come to expect, it did not matter to them whether a single Colombian player entered the field of play all season. In the 1950 edition of the league, the 'circuses' aspect of the government's deflection campaign was ramped up. Football matches became huge social occasions, with mayors and beauty queens called in to take ceremonial kick-offs. Pre-match and half-time entertainment became the new norm, as everyone who was anyone in Colombia sought to get involved in the festivities so that they could soak up the adoration of Colombia's public. 

The league itself has once more been extended this time to 16 participants. Atletico Junior returned, replacing Deportivo Barranquilla. They were joined by another team from the Caribbean city: Sporting de Barranquilla. The other debutant of the 1950 season was Cucuta Deportivo. Along with the new teams, a couple of new rules were implemented. Firstly, all teams were required to wear numbers on the backs of the jerseys. Secondly, the size of the stadiums and pitches were required to be delimited. Many clubs introduced what became known as 'Sparrow Stands', where impoverished youths could attend the games for free. 

The campaign itself was another success. After a hotly contested title race, Deportes Caldas, from the country's coffee, region emerged victorious, finishing 2 points ahead of last season's champions Millionarios. The new champions were lead by the goal scoring exploits of Argentine forward Julio Avila, who scored 24 of the team's 91 goals, one more than Alfredo Di Stefano. Deportes Caldas's victory was met with delight in the ranks of Dimayor, with many of the top brass afraid that the competition would become dominated by Bogota teams. 

Final Standings: Liga Dimayor 1950:

(1) Deportes Caldas - 45pts.

(2) Millionarios - 43pts.

(3) Deportivo Cali - 41pts.

(4) Independiente Medellin - 34pts.

(5) Cucuta Deportivo - 33pts.

(6) Atletico Bucaramanga - 32pts.

(7) Boca Juniors - 32pts.

(8) Santa Fe - 32pts.

(9) Junior - 31pts.

(10) America de Cali - 30pts.

(11) Sporting de Barranquilla - 29pts.

(12) Universidad de Bogota - 23pts.

(13) Deportivo Pereira - 23pts.

(14) Huracan - 20pts.

(15) Atletico Municipal - 16pts.

(16) Once Deportivo - 16pts.

There were 240 matches played across the 1950 season, with 1,006 goals scored (4.19 per game). 

Former champions Millionarios had been unable to defend their title in 1950. The club's hierarchy were unable to explain the failings in the hallways and boardrooms of the El Campin stadium. They had managed to accrue some of the best talent on the continent, and they had certainly been paying them well enough. The failure to keep hold of their title led to manager Carlos Aldabe's dismissal. It had been a harsh fate for the Argentine manager, who would go down in history as the man who led the club to its first ever title. He was replaced by Adolfo Pedernera who would become player/manager for the following season. Pedernera's exploits on the field were unquestionable, but whether the role of manager would suit him remained an open question. 

[Tikka Mezzala]

5

The 1951 season saw the league expand by two to eighteen. The newcomers were Deportes Quindio from Armenia in the Zona Cafetera, and Deportivo Samarios, a club founded by Hungarians. 

Samarios were born out of the disbandment of Hungaria FC, a team that played in Italy prior to their tour of South America. The Hungarians played games in Ecuador and Colombia before their money ran out. Keen to keep the players from Hungaria FC in Colombia, the football authorities offered them a base in Santa Marta from which they could compete in the Liga Dimayor. The team changed their name to Deportivo Samarios, and boasted Hungarian legend Gyula Zsengellér, who had been second top scorer in the 1938 World Cup. Also among Samarios's ranks was Austrian maverick Rudi Strittich. The former Rapid-Vienna man had served three months in prison for narcotics smuggling on a tour of the Middle-East with his Austrian club, and subsequently was banned from playing for a year. With the Liga Dimayor outside the jurisdiction of FIFA, Strittich found a new home to strut his stuff. 

Medellin-based side Atletico Municipal underwent a change of name for the new season. In order to reflect its philosophy of promoting home-based players, Atletico Nacional was chosen as the new title of the club. Despite struggling to make an impact in the Liga Dimayor, Atletico Nacional stuck steadfast to its policy of Colombian players only; a policy that would last until 1954. 

Millionarios's move to appoint Adolfo Pedernera proved an inspired choice. While still playing a key role on the pitch, alongside fellow Argentines Alfredo Di Stefano and Nestor Rossi, El Maestro installed a winning mentality born of his success with River Plate and the Argentinian national team. Playing as an inside forward in a front five that included Di Stefano, the Ballet Azul were an irresistible force going forward. Nestor Rossi's role as a half back helped shore up a defence that only conceded 29 goals, by far the lowest in the league. Alfredo Di Stefano finished top-scorer in the league for the first time, while Antonio Baez finished 3 goals behind him in 3rd place. The end of the season was slightly deflated, however, after second placed Boca Juniors of Cali (who themselves wracked up 110 league goals) defeated the Azul 3-2 on aggregate in the Copa Colombia final. 

Final Standings: Liga Dimayor 1951:

(1) Millionarios - 60pts

(2) Boca Juniors - 49pts

(3) Cucuta Deportivo 48pts

(4) Deportivo Cali - 48pts

(5) Deportes Quindio - 39pts

(6) Santa Fe - 37pts

(7) Sporting de Barranquilla - 37pts

(8) Junior - 36pts

(9) Once Deportivo - 35pts

(10) Deportivo Caldas - 34pts

(11) Deportivo Pereira - 34pts

(12) Atletico Bucaramanga - 34pts

(13) America de Cali - 29pts

(14) Deportivo Samarios - 27pts

(15) Atletico Nacional - 23pts

(16) Independiente Medellin - 19pts

(17) Universidad de Bogota - 14pts

(18) Huracan - 7pts

Millionarios were the talk of Colombia after their impressive league campaign. The Ballet Azul were starting to show what they were truly capable of. Most of the teams in the league were forced to watch on in envy as the blue-shirted maestros ran rings around them. But at the end of the 1951 campaign, developments in South American football were about to change the emotional atmosphere within Colombia. 

In October of that year, the Pact of Lima was signed by football associations across the continent. The pact decreed that all players brought to Colombia through the loopholes that existed due to the country's expulsion from FIFA must be returned to their original clubs in the year 1954. After this, Colombia would be reinstated to FIFA and would be subject to the governing body's rules and regulations once more. The rest of South America had grown tired of Colombia's 'pirate league' and moved to shut down its advantages. This created an atmosphere of uncertainty in Colombia, with clubs built upon foreign imports sweating over their futures. Only the likes of Atletico Nacional, who had committed to building squads around home-grown talent could breathe easy. It was into these shifting sands that Aureliano Cordoba arrived ahead of the 1952 season. 

 

[Tikka Mezzala]

6

Aureliano Cordoba had set himself up in a small room in the living quarters of the Monserrat parish church. When the clouds kept their height and refrained from joining the people on the streets of the city, the views of Bogota in the mornings and early evenings were breath-taking. One could see over the old colonial buildings of the Candelaria district, to the business district in the heart of town. To the west was the administrative district with its Greek-inspired senate buildings, and open plazas. Beyond the reaches of the sprawling metropolis one could see the foothills of the Andes rolling into the distance. It was the perfect spot to contemplate life and its tribulations. 

Father Lynch was the head priest of the parish. He was still a young man, though he nevertheless commanded an air of spiritual authority. He wore a pair of wide-rimmed spectacles that emphasised his green eyes. His hair was wavy and dusty-brown, and he had grown a thick beard that helped to mask his youthfulness. He arrived in Colombia from Donegal shortly before marrying Aureliano's parents. His Irish-twinged Spanish made it sound to locals as though he was lathering his words with a dose of sarcasm, but over time his parishioners and fellow clergymen grew used to the unique accent. While based in Bogota, he would make regular visits to small parishes in the countryside with the prime purpose of making sure that the Catholic-Church was at the forefront of tackling human want. But his altruistic missions into the small river towns and backwater villages raised the suspicions of the country's authorities and the head of the Colombian Church. 

The conflict between conservative and liberal factions that had led to much bloodshed throughout the country was still in full-swing. For the most part, the Colombian Church had sided with the conservative faction. But there was a scattering of liberal-minded priests who felt a moral obligation to stand against the conservative church authorities, many of whom were eventually disappeared. Father Lynch was one of the liberal priests. Using the example of Jesus Christ, he walked among the poor and downtrodden in the rural parts of Colombia and supported their demands for better living conditions. Whenever worker disputes broke out at factories or large farms, he would say a prayer for the workers, and on a rare occasion had even joined them during a strike for shorter working-hours. The Irish priest was granted greater protection from the violence due to his being a foreign national. Unlike Colombian priests, whose lives were deemed not as significant, the death of a foreign clergyman would reverberate all the way to the Vatican. The church authorities in Colombia, therefore, had little choice but to tolerate Father Lynch's activism, though his placement at the top of Monserrat, away from the disenfranchised workers below, was intended to limit his influence among the working-class of the city. 

In the early days of Aureliano's stay in Bogota, the priest tried to install liberal values in the boy. But despite Aureliano's upbringing in the impoverished world of Mompox, the prejudices that form easily in the minds of those who know few people outside of their small town or village were hard to displace. Jose Arcadio's lack of presence in his son's life was also a psychological factor that ultimately led to Aureliano craving a sense of authority and structure in his life. While not overtly political, it became clear that a more conservative worldview was forming in his head, much to the chagrin of Father Lynch. During their evening conversations over dinner, the priest would discuss the conservative crimes that were being reported in liberal publications. But Aureliano would usually respond in the same way: 'when the natural order is threatened, you should expect violence to be the result.'

Away from the late-night suppers and liberal sermons, the small matter of Aureliano's trial with Millionarios was taking place. He had been asked to train with the reserves and in the practice games against the first-team, he would struggle to get on the ball due to the quality of the first-team players. The training games were an exercise in futility for the reserves, as the Ballet Azul forced them to chase their tails in an effort to dispossess them of the ball. The scorelines wouldn't reflect the true disparity in quality between the sides because the first-team players would often just keep the ball in play and perform tricks and flicks for their own entertainment. After the second week of puffing smoke, Aureliano decided to take matters into his own hands. Having abandoned his position in the middle of the 5 forwards, he made a darting run for Alfredo Di Stefano, who was in the middle of rolling the ball around the reserve half back, and sent the Argentine high into the air before attempting to take the ball on a run of his own. The deafening wail of a whistle sounded as Aureliano became surrounded by offended Argentinian players. The young Colombian hothead locked foreheads with many of his pursuers before being dragged away by goalkeeper Gabriel Ochoa Uribe, who wore a discreet smile on his face having watched the drama from his penalty area. In order to prevent any injuries to his players, Adolfo Pedernera called time on the game. There was a real tension in the air as the Argentine players closed ranks around Di Stefano, while some of the Colombian players walked away with a new hero in their hearts. Aureliano headed for the locker rooms with a feeling of resignation ebbing through him. He had surely blown his chance to win a contract with the club, having upset the star player on the team and his closest allies, one of whom was the manager himself. Adolfo Pedernera sent for Aureliano after the young man had cleaned himself up and returned a degree of composure to his soul. Was this the moment that the dream would die?

The Argentinian player/manager's office was adorned with medals and memorabilia from big games he had been involved in with River Plate and Argentina. Aureliano sat for a moment appreciating the proof of legend that was all around him. While he did not want to have his trial terminated, a part of him craved the telling off he deserved. A sign of weak leadership would not do for his father-less conscience. Pedernera made it clear that violence against team-mates would not be tolerated at the club; that he had a duty to protect the members of his team. But the manager was impressed with Aureliano's show of determination and spirit, and didn't discount those qualities from his consideration. While the route to Millionarios's first team had to be closed off for the time being, lest the manager's authority be undermined, Aureliano was given the chance to earn a future spot in the team by going out on loan for a season to Universidad de Bogota, who were in desperate need of players. 'We will sign you, but you shall play for Universidad. That way you can reflect on what you have done, and atone for your errors'.

Shortly after the clash with Di Stefano, Aureliano Cordoba signed with Millionarios in a low key deal that barely got a mention in the press. He was immediately sent to Universidad de Bogota. Universidad were on the brink of dissolution before the Colombian reserve players of Santa Fe and Millionarios bailed them out. No such luck was to befall Independiente and Huracan of Medellin who dropped out of the 1952 tournament, while Deportes Caldas and Once Deportivo joined together to form Deportivo Manizales, bringing the total number of teams in the league down from 18 to 15. 

Universidad were highly tipped to finish bottom of the Liga Dimayor in the 1952 season. The team was desperately assembled shortly before the league campaign got underway. At the first training session, the players formed into groups based upon the clubs that they joined on loan from. There was little cohesion about the team during the practice games, and the matches would often descend into violent chaos. Prior to the first game of the season away at America of Cali, team manager Sandro Peckerman had given a frank admission to the press: 'we have swept up the forgotten children of Colombian football, and have been asked to turn them into men in the space of a few months. May God have mercy on us.'

Peckerman's pleas seem to have fallen on divine ears, as his side managed to finish the season in a respectable 10th place. With one of the best defensive records in the bottom half, the battling qualities of the forgotten children carried Universidad through the season with a mild dignity. The points were won thanks to the scoring exploits of Aureliano Cordoba, who despite being the youngest player in the league, notched up an impressive 16 goals in 28 games, only 3 behind Di Stefano. The Colombian press were excited about the first wunderkind to emerge during the El Dorado period, and when the stories about Aureliano's feud with Di Stefano were leaked, the pro-Colombian players element of the press had a new hero: Cabeza Magica (Magic Head). 

Final Standings: Liga Dimayor 1952:

(1) Millionarios - 46pts

(2) Boca Juniors - 40pts

(3) Deportivo Pereira - 37pts

(4) Deportivo Cali - 35pts

(5) Quindio - 35pts

(6) Junior- 33pts

(7) America - 31pts

(8) Cucuta Deportivo - 30pts

(9) Santa Fe - 25pts

(10) Universidad - 24pts

(11) Deportivo Samarios - 19pts

(12) Deportivo Manizales - 18pts

(13) Atletico Nacional - 17pts

(14) Sporting Barranquilla - 16pts

(15) Atletico Bucaramanga - 12pts

The season ultimately belonged to Millionarios who became the first team to win two Liga Dimayor titles, as well as the first club to win back-to-back titles. On the international scene, the Ballet Azur would also beat Real Madrid 4-2, leading to many in the Spanish and Colombian press to label the Bogota club the world's best. 

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by Tikka Mezzala

[Tikka Mezzala]

7

Aureliano Cordoba's exploits in the 1952 season for Universidad de Bogota raised his profile dramatically in the sport. All of a sudden, the small-town kid who had been shipped out of Millionarios on loan was the talk of the capital. Periodicals and sports magazines debated whether the arrival of Aureliano marked the beginning of a new golden era; one in which Colombian footballers would steal the show away from their Argentinian counterparts. If it was to be such a period, it had certainly arrived at the right time. Thanks to the Lima Pact, 1953 would be the last year that the diverse pool of talent from around the globe would adorn the kits of Colombian football clubs. At the end of the season, the players would return to their points of origin, and Colombian football would re-enter the jurisdiction of FIFA. 

Aureliano had kept his feet firmly on the ground during his meteoric rise in fame. Still spending his free time doing the odd jobs for Father Lynch in order to justify his keeps at the Monserrat Church, he was insulated from much of the talk about his future. Universidad were unable to fund another campaign in the league, and so any hope of a second spell with the University team was out of the question. But with the Argentinian contingent at Millionarios still not keen to allow the hot-headed Colombian back into the fold, especially after the press had glorified the incident many months after it had happened, it wasn't clear that he had a future in Bogota at all. Upon returning to Millionarios for pre-season, Adolfo Pedernera had informed him that another loan spell would be best for all, considering the situation with foreign players. 'Next year you will have the position all to yourself. The club simply asks for patience'. Pedernera's pandering to his fellow Argentines was a show of weak leadership in Aureliano's eyes. A stronger character would have told the Platenos that the club's interests were primary, and that anyone who had a problem with the manager's decision should make themselves known so that they could be shown the exit door. Although Aureliano bit his tongue at first, he made it clear to the club that if he was not in their plans for a second year due to the feelings of more senior players, he would rather leave on a permanent basis. Given his reputation had shot up in the space of a few months, it was an ideal time for Aureliano to market himself, especially with the exodus of foreign talent that was due to happen the following year. Clubs would be willing to pay premium for a Colombian wunderkind.

Father Lynch was pleased to hear of Aureliano's stance, believing to to be a sign that his liberal sermons were paying off. 'You have challenged the authority of seniority, and demanded you are seen in the clear light of reason'. But Aureliano dampened the priest's spirits when he informed him that he wasn't so much looking to upset any natural order, but simply demand a show of backbone from the club hierarchy. 'I do not like to see leaders bend to the will of inferiors'. 

Despite efforts to appease their young star, Millionarios were unable to prevent him leaving under freedom of contract. Aureliano had, for the first time in his life, taken matters completely into his own hands. As soon as word of mouth spread, clubs were lining up to offer him a contract, but those who had joined in the frenzied activity of snapping up foreign talent were unable to win Aureliano's signature. That prize went to Atletico Nacional of Medellin, whose steadfast commitment to Colombian footballers was to prove crucial in wooing the wunderkind to the city of eternal spring. 

Aureliano had only been in Bogota a year before he was set for a move north. Although Father Lynch would remain in his parish overlooking the capital, he agreed to act as the player's representative. He won assurances of first team football, and a deal that was to make Aureliano the best-paid teenager in the country. This allowed the young man to set himself up in his own apartment in Medellin. The building overlooked the trendy university district with its intellectual cafes and late-night bistros. The climate was also perfect; never cold, but rarely becoming uncomfortably warm. All-in-all, it seemed as though the move was ideal. 

The 1953 season was once again marked by a change in the size of the league. Four teams dropped out of the tournament: Deportivo Manizales, Universidad de Bogota, America de Cali and Independiente Medellin. Deportivo Samarios changed their name to Union Magdalena. 

Atletico Nacional's manager, Jose Saule, a wily old Uruguayan had welcomed Aureliano with open arms. The club had badly needed more firepower to help the 2-3-5 formation perform as it should. Aureliano's off the ball movement and ability to hold up the play made him the perfect centre-forward. His finishing was impressive for his age, but his composure was still due some improvement. Jose Saule recognised the shortcomings in the young man's game, and so spent the pre-season counselling him in a bid to ease the anxiety one on one situations evidently brought him. Saule's comforting approach bore fruit early on in the season, as Aureliano rushed ahead in the scoring charts, including a double against old club Millionarios in a 2-2 draw in Medellin. But one thing that the wily Uruguayan hadn't managed to dispel from Aureliano was his hot temper. Late on in the match against the reigning champions, with the score at 2-1 to the home team, Aureliano reacted to Nestor Rossi's attempts to rile him up by throwing an elbow behind him into the face of the half-back. The referee, who had been lenient up until this point, flashed the red card and Millionarios went on to equalise in the final moments. It was the first time that Aureliano had been sent off, and the incident took some time to recover from. For weeks afterwards, even after his ban was served, the lack of composure returned to his game. Points were thrown away as the ball seemed to go anywhere but in the back of the net for him. It was only in the final stretch of matches, when Atletico Nacional's mid-table status was all but confirmed, that the goals started to return to Aureliano's game. 

Final Standings: Liga Dimayor 1953:

(1) Millionarios  - 35pts

(2) Quindio - 33pts

(3) Boca Juniors - 31pts

(4) Santa Fe - 29pts

(5) Cucuta Deportivo - 26pts

(6) Deportivo Cali - 26pts

(7) Atletico Nacional - 25pts

(8) Union Magdalena - 15pts

(9) Sporting Barranquilla - 15pts

(10) Junior - 15pts

(11) Deportivo Pereira - 14pts

(12) Atletico Bucaramanga - 0pts

Millionarios celebrate an unprecedented third consecutive title, once again thanks to the prowess of their Argentine contingent. But a big question hung over Colombian football at the end of the 1953 season: how would the teams who relied upon foreign talent fare when their stars went back home? And more pressing for Aureliano and Atletico Nacional: could the Medellin-club finally enjoy a year in the sun thanks to their commitment over the years to developing Colombian talent? That was certainly the aim of the club. But could they and Aureliano turn hopes into reality?

 

 

[Tikka Mezzala]

8

Atletico Nacional were well-placed to take advantage of the turmoil that came about as a result of the Lima Pact. A year earlier, they had moved into their new stadium: the Estadio Atanasio Girardot. They also had one of the strongest squads, built mainly with Colombian players. The club President had boldly declared that he had foreseen the inevitable moment when the clubs who benefited most from El Dorado would come crashing back down to earth. But with the club in such an advantageous position, the expectations from the supporters were likely to be raised. 

The Medellin newspaper El Paisa published a feature on the Atletico President ahead of the 1954 season. In it, he outlined his intention to lay the foundations for Atletico Nacional to become the leading team in Colombia for years to come. He pointed to the patient approach that he and his fellow board members preferred, while criticising the rush for instant success shown by teams in rival cities like Bogota and Cali. 'We will never throw the long-term sustainability of the club away in order to gratify a lust for stardom. It may seem somewhat ironic that it is a club from Antioquia, a region that is often derided in Cali and Bogota as not properly belonging to Colombia, that is carrying the hopes for the nation's footballing future on its shoulders.' 

Aureliano had read the interview in the morning papers ahead of training. He admired the President, and desired to meet with him to discuss their respective outlooks. The President, whose name was Julio Salazar, declined to meet Aureliano because he believed in setting up strict boundaries between he and his employees. This firm line only made Aureliano admire him more. 

Ahead of the new season, Fernando Paternoster, an Argentine manager who had previously managed the Colombian national side, was appointed head coach of Atletico Nacional. He was quick to bring in a couple of Argentine players to bolster the Colombian talent already at the club. Paternoster was a respected strategist, and right from day one of his tenure as Atletico manager, he set about dismantling the old hierarchies within the team by moving on certain influential players, and replacing them with younger bodies whom he knew would be loyal to him for giving them the chance to play. The move had the desired effect; the dressing room grew to respect the new boss and no one felt confident enough in their social standing to challenge his authority. Needless to say, this strategy impressed Aureliano who paid very close attention to the way Paternoster worked. 

Over preseason, the team trained in an unconventional shape for the time: a 3-4-3. Paternoster insisted on having an extra body in the defence and midfield to help balance the team. Against the 2-3-5 formation, which was largely universal in Colombia and elsewhere at the time, it proved very effective. Aureliano was given more space to work in as the centre forward, and with an extra body in the midfield, Atletico enjoyed more possession than other teams. The Argentine coach employed two key rules for his team: each positional band was responsible for certain jobs, with very little fluidity, and wide midfield players were to stay deeper to avoid being caught out of position. 

The league itself was reduced to 10 teams, with several clubs unable to cope with the loss of income due to foreign players leaving the country in droves. Atletico Nacional started the campaign ominously with a 3-4 home defeat against Boca Juniors de Cali. Aureliano had proven to be the bright spark in the game, and he continued his form throughout the remainder of the season. A brace against old side Millionarios, and a last minute winner in the derby against Independiente Medellin were highlights on the route to a remarkable campaign for Aureliano and Atletico Nacional. After the opening day defeat, the team went unbeaten through the rest of the campaign, beating Santa Fe 8-2, America de Cali 6-2, and Union Magdalena 8-1 en route to their first ever league title. Aureliano finished the year as top scorer with 21 goals, and as a result, picked up the player of the year award.

Final Standings: 1954 Liga Dimayor:

(1) Atletico Nacional - 31pts

(2) Quindio - 25pts

(3) Independiente Medellin - 24pts

(4) Atletico Manizales - 20pts

(5) Millionarios - 18pts

(6) Boca Juniors - 15pts

(7) America - 15pts

(8) Union Magdalena - 12pts

(9) Deportivo Cali - 7pts

(10) Santa Fe - 5pts

With history achieved, Julio Salazar finally agreed to meet with the team's superstar. He flew Aureliano to Cartagena and put him up in a boutique hotel for the weekend. Aureliano, unbeknownst to himself, walked through streets that decades earlier his parents had passed through. Not much had changed in the old-town, apart from the absence of sailors. There were still horse-drawn carts with fruit, flowers, and bags of coffee heading for warehouses or to a spot in one of the plazas. The taverns and wine-bars still had their hustle and bustle, with handshakes sealing business transactions and new commercial relationships forming over Argentine red-wine and four cheese empanadas. The smell of freshly ground coffee mingled in the air with the scent of flowers. The multi-colour rows of colonial buildings projected hints of magical realism onto the streets. It was a world apart from anything Aureliano had ever seen.

Julio Salazar had arranged to meet Aureliano at one of the wine-bars near the old-town's rear wall. The two men embraced each other warmly upon arrival, and without wasting much time, got down to talking about ambitions. Aureliano praised the President's vision for having rejected the short-termism that was rife in the country's football scene, and also for appointing a coach who didn't enjoy a great playing career, but who had shown tactical innovation as a manager. 'You strike me as someone who sees beyond the pitter patter of everyday democratic thinking, and is willing to look at what really matters. I think the country in general would benefit from having more people like you in its administrative positions.' Julio Salazar didn't require flattery in his life. He was a man who knew exactly what he was, and his privileged upbringing quelled any personal doubts about his standing in life. He was a round man, with thinning, slicked back hair and a pencil thin moustache. He wore a pin-striped suit with a neatly folded red handkerchief in the breast pocket. His large stature kept everyone at a distance from him. 'Mr Cordoba, if you believe like I do in the divine providence of the Lord, then you only have to listen to what is in your heart. I have spent many years listening to people tell me that I have to move with the times and accept the liberalisation of Colombia. But I tell you solemnly: the values that helped my father and his father accumulate their fortune are the only values I truly believe in. Hard-work and a reverence for authority greater than yourself.' Aureliano was happy that his impression of Mr Salazar was not unfounded. The man had an air of importance that made anyone in his company believe that his word would be made flesh if he desired it so. The two men discussed the business of football, the civil war plaguing the countryside, and the difference between Argentine and Chilean wine. It was an evening in which Aureliano felt he had become truly educated. From that moment onwards, he desired more than anything else to become someone important. In order to achieve this, he was willing to learn from the people who wore their sense of self-importance like a badge of honour. As a player he would no doubt be able to gain some importance in society. But he knew very well that the real prize lay in football management. For it was the best coaches on the continent who were being discussed with reverence, and without the acumen to become a businessman like Julio Salazar, it was his best shot at achieving his new life ambition. 

Just as he turned 19 years old, Aureliano Cordoba decided that he would spend the rest of his playing career learning how to become the best football manager in South America. 

 

[bigmattb28]

Great story this mate

[Tikka Mezzala]

2 hours ago, bigmattb28 said:

Great story this mate

Much appreciated! 

[Tikka Mezzala]

9

Ahead of the new season, the Colombian champions travelled to the nearby city of Envigado to participate in the inauguration of a new sports complex. The city was buzzing with anticipation and the temporary stands that were raised for the occasion quickly overflowed with families and small children. There was a carnival atmosphere with native Antioquian music blaring over the top of lively conversations. Food stalls were set up around the perimeter of the new sports field. A small stage had been erected so that the Mayor and the President of Atletico Nacional could speak to the waiting public. The complex had been entirely funded by Atletico who had already invested in similar projects in different Medellin barrios, and nearby Itagui. On the walls of the building that held the changing room areas was the logo of the club. Anyone using the facilities would see the team emblem and be reminded of Atletico's role in providing them. 

Upon arrival, the team was greeted with wild applause and cheering. The welcome was more enthusiastic than anything heard within the club's stadium, where mostly those from the professional classes gathered on their days off. Children dressed in rags, without shoes on their feet, leaped up and down in the air with their hands reaching for the heavens. Some were held aloft on the shoulders of a guardian. The music increased its tempo, but was largely drowned out by the cries of excited fans. The team, followed by the brass band, performed a lap of honour, waving continuously towards the rickety stands. Leading the procession was Julio Salazar. He had become very familiar with the routine, having instigated the community outreach projects some 5 years earlier. When they had finished their lap around the park, the President took to the podium after the Mayor to win the hearts and minds of the Envigado public. He spoke of the club's commitment to the city and to young Colombian players from all social classes. If they were good enough and dedicated enough to the sport, Atletico Nacional would notice them, and they could one day dress themselves in the green and white strips that had become synonymous with Antioquian pride. He added that though they were based in Medellin, they considered Envigado to be every bit as much their home. This led to wild applause from the stands where people who were proud of their city appreciated the President's words. To officially inaugurate the new complex, Ruben Dario, one of the club's wide midfielders who had been born in Envigado, took a penalty kick against a hopeful young goalkeeper. The Atletico player blasted the ball into the top corner and the crowd celebrated it as though it was the very goal that sealed the title for the club the previous season. 

On their way back to Medellin, Aureliano sat alongside Julio Salazar on the coach trip. The President spoke to him about the importance of winning the public:

"You may think that we businessmen are interested only in profit and our own prestige, but that's just the liberals making trouble. The truth is, we believe that our success can be used to spread prosperity throughout the community. Like a fountain that fills up and passes excess water to the level-beneath, we can let our success overflow and reach those in less-fortunate circumstances. What you seen today was this very process in action. The people of Envigado could not themselves afford to establish a sports facility, so we have shared our success with them. Now, when we need the support of the community there, they will remember us and everything we have done for them. This is itself an investment."

Aureliano said that he understood. That the fountain analogy was apt, and would stick in his mind. But what truly made an impression upon his mind was the way in which the people of Envigado hung on every word the President said. He had provided them with a facility that was of small cost to the club, and they ate out of his hands. This was surely the type of prestige that everybody in life should aim for. 

When the 1955 season got underway, head coach Fernando Paternoster had chastised his wide players for failing to remain disciplined. In the opening three fixtures, the team drew twice against Quindio and Santa Fe, and succumbed to a 2-1 home defeat against Medellin rivals Independiente. The wide midfielders had gotten used to the team dominating the ball and creating chances, so they ended up trying to get closer to the goal so that they could improve their personal numbers, but other teams had grown wise to this and aimed clearances into the wide areas where their wingers were able to enjoy the freedom of the flanks. Paternoster managed to correct the issue, but despite a solid home record the rest of the campaign, defeats away to Independiente, Cucuta Deportivo and Santa Fe left them trailing Independiente by 6 points. The title would be staying in Medellin, but heading to the red-half of the city. 

Final Standings: Liga Dimayor 1955:

(1) Independiente Medellin - 31pts

(2) Atletico Nacional - 25pts

(3) Quindio - 24pts

(4) Millionarios - 20pts

(5) Boca Juniors - 18pts

(6) America - 15pts

(7) Deportes Tolima - 15pts

(8) Cucuta Deportivo - 12pts

(9) Santa Fe - 7pts

(10) Deportivo Cali - 5pts

Aureliano only managed to get himself into double figures on the final match day. His form had undoubtedly deteriorated from the previous campaign, but his coach defended him in the press, citing "structural problems" for the team's decline. The disappointing campaign closed off Aureliano's route to the President's office, with Mr Salazar only entertaining employees when he deemed their performance levels merited his time. While there was some hurt to his pride, Aureliano accepted the cut-throat manner in which Julio Salazar conducted his affairs. Indeed, he took note of the impact it had one him, writing in his personal diary: "I feel more determined than ever to improve as a player, mainly due to the need I seem to possess for impressing the club President. I feel there is so much more I have yet to learn from him, and I must earn the right to access his wealth of knowledge." 

Fernando Paternoster stepped down at the end of the campaign and was replaced by compatriot Oscar Contreras who had spend the majority of his coaching career as an assistant manager in Uruguay. Aureliano was disappointed to see Paternoster leave, though he quickly set about trying to work out the character of the new man in charge. 

Oscar Contreras had enjoyed a decent apprenticeship with Defensor Sporting and Danubio as the second in command. But he was a steadfast believer in the 2-3-5 formation that was abandoned by the previous coach. Contreras believed that it was simply a matter of having the best players, and that the traditional shape would always yield results if the sum of its parts were sufficiently able. He brought in several Uruguayan players to bolster the squad and changed the culture within the dressing room to match that of clubs around the river plate between Argentina and Uruguay. Mate was always in someone's hand, and steak was served almost every afternoon in the cafeteria. Colombian coffee was outlawed at the training ground. Aureliano watched on silently as the entire ethos of Atletico Nacional gave way to the Plateno culture. Though privately he believed that the new manager was undoing everything good that the club had previously committed to, he knew his place within the team and respected the manager's authority. Some of his Colombian team-mates didn't take too kindly to the changes, and they were phased out of the side in favour of one of the Uruguayan players. Training sessions became like international fixtures, with Platenos on one side and Paisas on the other. While Aureliano was happy to bite his tongue and let the manager do what he willed, he used the training games to stamp his on-field authority over the Uruguayan players. He was ferocious in his tackling and would hold off any player who came near him with violent thrusts of his hips. The Uruguayan contingent were no mugs themselves, and they would use every dirty trick in the book to rile the Colombian players up and get them reprimanded by the coach. The tension around the training ground was like that of a local derby away from home. 

The 1956 season was shaping up to be a huge test of Atletico Nacional's unity. The Medellin press, though sceptical of the club's recent transfer activity, acknowledged the need to bring fresh ideas to the table after the disappointment of losing the league title to Independiente. Aureliano, for his part, had come to learn that principles were only important in so far as they served a purpose. He watched Atletico Nacional sell out on their dedication to Colombian talent, and all because they had now tasted the sweet nectar of victory. The battle for the soul of the club was well underway. 

[ChileanRanger]

One hell of a marvelous story, this one.

[Tikka Mezzala]

35 minutes ago, ChileanRanger said:

One hell of a marvelous story, this one.

Gracias, amigo. 

[Tikka Mezzala]

10

The tension at the club's training ground continued well into the league season, but Aureliano had managed to find an escape in the form of Antioquian beauty Fermina Daza. The two had met at one of Fernando Botero's private gallery viewings in the city, and though Aureliano had felt quite out of place among the sophisticated crowd that frequented these events, Fermina had calmed his social anxiety with her common touch. The exhibition was marked by Botero's signature style; all of the characters that populated his paintings were comically fat. As the artist guided the attendees around the room, Aureliano simply nodded and smiled, hoping to mask his ignorance of art and its metaphorical language. To him, Fernando Botero simply had a fetish for the overweight. But Fermina Daza, without any hint of condescension, opened his eyes to a new way of seeing the works. "The exaggerated features of the figures is a comment on the inflated sense of importance that many of Colombia's political, religious, and economic leaders have of themselves." Fermina's words flicked a switch in Aureliano's brain. For the first time in his life, the literalness of the world gave way to new possible interpretations. Underneath the surface of things, novel layers of meaning were waiting to be discovered. By the end of the evening, the two of them had agreed to have a drink together, and from there, a simple but true love began to blossom. 

On the pitch, things were not going to plan for Aureliano and Atletico Nacional. Oscar Contreras had put his blind faith in the 2-3-5 formation, and had upset the apple-cart by shoehorning in his Uruguayan favourites. Aureliano kept his place in the team, but was deployed in different positions across the front 5 throughout the season. The lack of trust and cohesion between the Colombian players and their foreign team-mates led to disjointed performances and ill-discipline. Aureliano was sent off 3 times for violent conduct after his frustration with his own team-mates boiled over and expressed itself in late lunges at the opposition defenders. He only managed to score 6 times in 19 appearances, and his reputation as one of Colombia's brightest and best was giving way to the notion that he was likely a flash in the pan. Medellin daily El Paisa described Aureliano in the following tones: "He has the air of a kid that has had his hand smacked for reaching for the dessert spoon before he has finished his vegetables." All of this was quite humiliating for the young footballer, who was tempted to speak out and indict manager Oscar Contreras for his poor form, but his guarded nature got a hold of him. With 5 home defeats and a goal difference of negative 4, the 1956 season proved a disaster for Atletico. 

Final Standings: Liga Dimayor 1956:

(1) Quindio - 37pts

(2) Millionarios - 34pts

(3) Boca Juniors - 33pts

(4) Cucuta Deportivo - 32pts

(5) Independiente Medellin - 30pts

(6) Deportes Tolima - 30pts

(7) America - 24pts

(8) Libertad - 21pts

(9) Atletico Nacional - 20pts

(10) Atletico Bucaramanga - 15pts

(11) Deportivo Pereira - 15pts

(12) Santa Fe - 13pts

(13) Union Magdalena - 8pts

If there was a silver lining to the 1956 season for Atletico Nacional, it was the departure of Oscar Contreras. A bottom-half finish and an awful record at home had been enough to convince Julio Salazar that the Argentine was not fit for office. In a bid to recapture the spirit of the title-winning campaign, the President turned to Fernando Paternoster who happily accepted a return to the city of eternal spring. With the squad in disarray, and with many of the players' contracts up for renewal, the Argentine coach had his work cut out. 

Julio Salazar had organised an emergency meeting with Paternoster the day after he appointed the new coach. The players were ordered to come to the stadium and wait for further news on who would be staying and who would be leaving that summer. Only two of the Uruguayan players showed, but upon finding themselves surrounded by adversaries they left as quickly as they had arrived. The meeting lasted for three hours, while the players waited outside the President's office struggling in the late-summer heat. Soon each player was called into the office one by one. When it came time for Aureliano to face the President, three of his team-mates had already been told they didn't have a future at the club. Because the meeting was arranged in haste, Aureliano didn't have time to call his representative, Father Lynch, to join him for the talks. But he had in mind a fair set of terms that would see him stay one of the club's top earners on bonuses. 

A large mahogany desk sat between Julio Salazar and Fernando Paternoster. There was a vacant seat next to the manager, and Aureliano was encouraged to sit in it. "Mr Cordoba, thank you for coming today at such short notice. We won't waste too much of your time this afternoon, as I'm sure you are rather busy. Fernando and I have been assessing the club's performance over the last couple of years and we believe that a major overhaul is required. While you have given us a more than adequate service in your 4 years with the club, we believe it is time for you to seek pastures new. You are a big salary, and your recent performances have simply not matched the price we are paying you. So we'd both like to thank you and wish you good luck for the future." After finishing his final sentence, Julio Salazar picked up a clipboard and began pouring over the information on it with Fernando Paternoster. The two men behaved as though nothing of any significance had just occurred. Aureliano was stunned into pensive silence. Not long ago he had been the golden boy of Colombian football, and now he was being tossed aside like a hapless reserve player. This was, of course, the nature of the business he was in. Presidents and managers were so used to dealing with people in this manner that it didn't disturb their conscience in the slightest. But for Aureliano it was a huge betrayal. Both Paternoster and Salazar had once given him the impression that he was under their wings. But without so much as a handshake, they had cut ties with him and thought very little of it. 

Aureliano returned home that evening and fell into the lap of Fermina Daza. He stared at the ceiling while she ran her hands through his thick black hair. While she did not understand the business of football, Fermina was very accustomed to the heartlessness of powerful people. As a passionate socialist, she had often professed to Aureliano the wickedness of businessmen and their nihilistic moral compass. Aureliano had always dismissed her as a naive young student with ideas detached from the material realities of the world, but in that moment he would have believed the rantings of Karl Marx himself. As he re-assembled the broken shards of his depressed mind, he only had one question for Fermina: "If I have to leave Medellin, would you join me?" She smiled at him, and simply nodded her head in response. 

 

[Tikka Mezzala]

Part 3: South of the Equator

1

Aureliano felt it appropriate to make the journey back to Santa Cruz de Mompox before taking the next step in his career. It had been just over 4 years since he had set foot in his hometown. When he arrived, the first thing he noticed was the disused docks and the lack of activity down by the river front. There was no ship waiting to be stocked or unloaded; no workers heaving loads on their backs on and off the boats. The plaza was quiet, though very clean. A small gathering of birds were resting in the centre of the square, with a solitary old man sat on a bench watching them with a blank expression. The town looked abandoned. 

Aureliano decided to stop into the church before going anywhere else. While he was not the most devout follower of Christ, he felt the need to reach out to a higher power after he was cut loose by Atletico. In the quiet depths of the church he knelt in front of the alter and prayed silently. A figure creeped around in the shadows, tending to various unseen tasks. After a moment or two, the figure gasped suddenly: 'A Cordoba! Christ have mercy on us!' Aureliano, startled by the remark, turned to find the head priest standing with an outstretched accusing finger. The priest had to check again to confirm that his eyes had not deceived him before uttering something to himself in Latin. Aureliano stood up but couldn't think of anything to say. The two of them stared at each other for a while before the holy man sharpened his tongue: 'I thought we had finally rid this town of Cordobas, but the Lord works in mysterious ways. What business do you have here boy?!' Aureliano was about to explain his presence before he reconsidered what the priest had just said: 'What do you mean "rid this town of Cordobas". My father lives here.' The priest raised one of his eyebrows. 'No one has seen that brutish man in two years. He probably left to join those bandits he brought here to wreak havoc on us all around the time you were brought to this town.' Aureliano was stunned into silence again. What did the priest mean 'he hadn't been seen in two years'? Where could he possibly have gone in that time? The notion that he joined bandits was ridiculous, but where else would a man of modest means and an alcohol problem have gone? 

Aureliano left the priest behind in the church. He made straight for the house that he grew up in on the edges of town. Even before he reached the small adobe building, he could see that there were signs of abandonment. The small garden was bare, and the walls had gathered a thick green moss. He burst the door open and found the place shrouded in a thick cloud of dust. The few possessions that his father owned were still in their places, though veiled with cobwebs and dust. On the small kitchen table an empty glass and a half-finished bottle of wine sat amidst scraps of paper. Aureliano dusted the table down and picked up the papers. Most of what was written on them was illegible, but the river was mentioned several times. There was also something about Iguaran coffee scribbled on the pages. Aureliano was unable to make sense of things, but he thought the best thing to do was ask some of the neighbours if they knew anything. No matter who he approached, the response was the same: 'He just left one day. No one knows where he went.' 

Aureliano spent the rest of the day circling the town on foot, thinking deeply to himself. Some of the townspeople remarked to each other how much he reminded them of Jose Arcadio in his final days in the town. He only ceased his pensive marching when nightfall made it impossible to see beyond the centre of town, with the outskirts thrown into complete darkness. He headed back to his childhood home and after clearing his old bed of dust and cobwebs, lay on the hard surface and fell asleep. His dreams were a series of vignettes symbolising the guilt that plagued his heart. 

In the morning there was a knock at the door. Aureliano sprung to his feet and looked out of a small window. At the door was a slender man who resembled someone that Aureliano remembered seeing on the plantations where his father worked. He answered the door and let the gentleman in. 'I was told you had come back, Aureliano. Your return has caused quite a stir in the town. I hope you'll forgive me for dropping by unannounced, but I have something quite important to tell you, and to be honest, I had to make sure it was indeed you who had come here.' Aureliano apologised for not being able to offer the man coffee, but after clearing some space at the table for the two of them they sat down and continued talking. 'It seems you have found the stack of papers that were left here. I'm sure that caused you some alarm, but they were manuscripts. Your father wrote a novel and he entrusted the publishing of it to me. However, he specifically asked me to wait until you had read it before sending it to Bogota. I wasn't sure you'd ever come back, but now you are here I must give you the final draft. It's here in my briefcase.' The man delved into a small leather briefcase and brought out a thick bundle of paper. Aureliano waited for him to set it out properly on the table before asking him the question that burned his heart: 'Where is my father?' The man ran his hand across his mouth in an anxious manner and looked straight down at the stack of papers. 'Aureliano, your father is with your mother now. I'm sorry.' The man waited for a response from Aureliano, but none arrived. He got up from his seat and before leaving said: 'I'll entrust his work to you now, Aureliano. It's only right that you should be the one who decides what to do with it.' After the man had left, Aureliano picked up the stack of papers and looked at the title on the front page: 100 Years of Solitude.

 

[Tikka Mezzala]

2

When he returned to Medellin, Fermina Daza spent a fortnight consoling and counselling Aureliano. She told him that he had nothing to feel guilty about, and that his father's alcoholism made it impossible for them to have any sort of meaningful relationship. But he knew deep within himself that more could have been done.

It took some time before he could muster the energy and focus to think about his career. Father Lynch had been in touch to inform him that Deportivo and America from Cali had enquired about his services. But Aureliano made it clear that he saw his future outside of Colombia. 'I have to find a new start. All that is here for me now is solitude.' The priest worked tirelessly over the next few weeks trying to drum up interest in Aureliano from Argentina and Brazil, but none of the clubs were willing to do a deal. With a week to go before many of the leagues were due to kick off in South America, a phone call was made to Father Lynch from Peru. A club from Lima was keen to bring him south ahead of the Peruvian league's kick off. Aureliano was informed of the interest and agreed to meet with the manager of the team in Lima. 

Centro Iqueno were managed by Roberto Scarone, a Uruguayan coach who had spent time with Deportivo Cali during Aureliano's first season in Colombian football. He had been impressed by the young striker's ability and believed that with the right mentoring, Aureliano could get his career back on track. The meeting was set at a hotel in the downtown district of Lima, and Father Lynch joined Aureliano in Peru to help negotiate terms. Scarone told the pair that his hands were tied with regards to the length of contract, and that he could only offer a one-year deal because of Aureliano's relative obscurity in the country. While Father Lynch had reservations about the deal on such terms, Aureliano insisted that it was perfect and he agreed to the deal even before finances were discussed. Despite his client's erratic behaviour, the Irish priest cum agent managed to get reasonable terms. Aureliano would be put up with a team-mate in Lima for the year and the club would cover his rent. Everything was good to go, and the next day at the club's stadium, the deal was officially sealed. Without much of a fanfare, and with only a solitary reporter covering the deal, Aureliano was presented as a Centro Iqueno player. 

In the 1956 season, Centreo Iqueno had finished 6th in a 10-team league. Their expectations were modest, but the hiring of a Uruguayan coach with a decent playing career as a right-back behind him galvanised hopes within the club. Scarone had paid attention to the mavericks in Argentina and Brazil who were trying out different tactical ideas, and so he was keen to experiment upon his arrival in Peru. Despite starting with a 2-3-5, he modified the tactic so that there were more players concentrated on the right-hand side of the field. He then employed Aureliano as a left sided inside-forward, and with extra space to exploit the Colombian enjoyed an excellent first season in Peru. 

The league itself was more defensive-minded than Colombia, but Aureliano tallied up 16 goals, just under half of his team's total. With impressive victories home and away against Alianza Lima, Sporting Cristal, and Universitario, Centro Iqueno went on to win their first ever league title. Roberto Scarone was hailed as a genius in the press, and the Peruvian media were quick to laud Aureliano who was awarded the foreign player of the year award. 

Final Standings: Peruvian Primera 1957:

(1) Centro Iqueno - 27pts

(2) Atletico Chalaco - 25pts

(3) Alianza Lima - 24pts

(4) Universitario - 24pts

(5) Sporting Cristal - 23pts

(6) Deportivo Municipal - 23pts

(7) Ciclista Lima - 20pts

(8) Sport Boys - 20pts

(9) Mariscal Sucre - 19pts

(10) Porvenir Miraflores - 15pts

Off the field, Aureliano had settled well into Lima life. He and Fermina got on well with Federico Solano, their flat mate, and his partner Rubella. They enjoyed evenings out together in the trendy bars, and the movie theatres. Fermina had even managed to enrol in the national university of Peru to continue her studies in medicine. It was not the same as Medellin by any stretch of the imagination, but in Lima they could feel themselves at home. 

[Tikka Mezzala]

3

Centro Iqueno's surprise victory in the 1957 Peruvian Primera Division was not without consequences. Shortly after the championship concluded, head coach Roberto Scarone announced that he would be joining Alianza Lima. El Bocon reported the story on the morning the players were due to go on holiday:

"Roberto Scarone, the toast of Iqueno, will take leave of his duties with the championship winning side, and take up residency at Alianza Lima. The Uruguayan coach thanked his employers for helping the team achieve the league title, but insisted that his ambition in coming to Peru was always to take up a role with one of the classic teams. Alianza Lima made contact with Scarone prior to the end of the season, and everything was agreed some weeks ago. Centro will be keen to ensure that the players who helped them win the title do not follow their coach to Alianza."

Indeed, El Bocon were absolutely correct in their assumption that Centro Iqueno were anxious to keep their players for the new season. They even took measures that were fairly novel at the time, such as hiring a negotiator from outside the club, and offering agents financial incentives to get their players to sign on. But little did they know that Roberto Scarone, a master strategist, had offered several players one year contracts purposefully, so that when he moved on to his next team, he would be able to snap them up immediately for no transfer fee. That was his thinking with Aureliano. He knew that Father Lynch would demand a two year deal minimum, so he made up some story about the club restricting deals to a single year. 

It was during his holiday with his girlfriend, Fermina, to Cusco that Aureliano got the phone call from Scarone. 'Aureliano, you belong with a club like Alianza. I brought you to Peru because I knew what we could do together last season. But now I have made the step up and I think you ought to consider it too. I've spoken with the board here at Alianza and they have sanctioned me to give you a one-year deal, with the option of a second year. Have a think about it and let me know.' In the historic surroundings of the old Incan capital, Aureliano didn't need much time to mull over the offer. Alianza had already won 11 Peruvian league titles, and they were respected across the continent. It was a chance to stay in Lima and become a part of a historic club. The allure of such an institution spoke to his ambitious nature. But one thing didn't make sense to Aureliano: how did Roberto Scarone know where he was staying? Fermina demonstrated her sharp deductive skills in reasoning that Roberto must have planned for this scenario, and so gathered all the information he needed weeks ago, including where the players he wanted would be taking their vacation and what the contact numbers were for their hotels. When Aureliano realised that he was part of some big plan that had been concocted by Scarone, he was thrilled. 'That is the sort of man I want to work for. He leaves nothing to chance.' 

Aureliano informed his club that he would not be renewing his deal, and shortly after this he was being presented as Alianza Lima's latest recruitment. This time there was some significant press interest in the deal. Aureliano was taken into a small function hall inside the stadium where reporters had gathered, and, sat alongside Roberto Scarone, he spoke of his delight at becoming part of Peru's foremost club. For the first time since the league-winning season with Atletico Nacional, he was being referred to glowingly in the press. Everyone was keen to see him strut his stuff with a big club, and some were predicting that he'd break the 20 goal mark. While no transfer fee was paid for his services, his first year in Peru had placed a significant weight of expectation on his shoulders. But with Roberto Scarone to help mentor him, he felt confident ahead of the new season. His manager lambasted the Colombian FA for not including Aureliano in their 1957 Copa America squad, and at every opportunity he talked up his new signing's abilities. Scarone believed that Aureliano thrived when people expected things of him, and so he laid down the gauntlet ahead of the new season. 

One of the most exciting aspects of Alianza Lima's 1958 squad was the partnership between Aureliano and Peruvian striker Juan Joya. The latter's goals had been instrumental in helping the club win their last two titles in the 1953 and 1954 campaigns. In order to try and fit them both into their preferred positions, Scarone opted to play a 4-2-4 formation, with Joya on the left hand side of the central pairing with Aureliano. Unfortunately, the first half of the campaign saw only two wins with this approach, and so Scarone decided to revert to the 2-3-5, keeping Aureliano in the centre. Joya's move to left-wing was a revelation, and he went on to end the season strongly, finishing top scorer in the league with 17 goals. Aureliano, however, struggled to keep up with his team mate, scoring only 8 times. His attitude and combative approach were appreciated by Scarone, who continued to defend him in the press. 'Aureliano gives us fire in our play. He has left every defender in the country knowing they have been in a very difficult game of football.' Privately, however, Scarone confessed to Aureliano, that he didn't see his future in a centre-forward position. In a heart-to-heart towards the end of the season, Scarone outlined a possible future for the Colombian firebrand in central midfield. He explained his decision thus:

"The future of the game is about the middle of the park. In the past, we have been able to largely bypass the central midfield players, getting the ball to the 5 attackers as quickly as possible. But now teams are starting to win the heart of the pitch, and they are proving to be the most effective. I see you in there as my general. I want you to take the fight you have in your soul and use it to give the team superiority in the middle of the field. 2-3-5 is going out of fashion, and soon the central midfield player will be the new centre forward in terms of prestige."

Scarone had always struck Aureliano as a visionary, and so he accepted the positional change for the final matches of the season. While the team remained in a 2-3-5 shape, Aureliano was instrumental in helping them stem the flow of goals they were conceding. It wasn't enough to give Alianza a respectable final league position, but clearly new ideas were emerging in the world of South American football, and Aureliano was going to be central to them. 

Final Standings: Peruvian Primera 1958:

(1) Sport Boys - 26pts

(2) Atletico Chalaco - 25pts

(3) Mariscal Castilla - 24pts

(4) Universitario - 23pts

(5) Deportivo Municipal - 23pts

(6) Centro Iqueno - 23pts

(7) Alianza Lima - 22pts

(8) Sporting Cristal - 21pts

(9) Ciclista Lima - 18pts

(10) Mariscal Sucre - 15pts

It was another tight season in the Peruvian Primera, with only 11 points separating top from bottom. Embarrassingly for Roberto Scarone and Aureliano, Centro Iqueno managed to finish the season 1 point better off than their new club. The poor start to the season in Scarone's experimental 4-2-4 shape ultimately proved costly, and the press were quick to point the finger at the Uruguayan for Alianza's poor final position. In taking full responsibility for the failure, Scarone resigned. But before he had cleared out his office and removed his name from the door, he told Juan Joya and Aureliano of his agreement with Club Atletico Penarol in his native Uruguay, and he wanted the players to join him in Montevideo. 

 

 

[Tikka Mezzala]

4

"I have had two decades of wandering in the wilderness of South American football, from La Plata in Argentina, to Lima in Peru, and now I am home with all the wisdom gained from the adventure of a lifetime."

This was how Roberto Scarone introduced himself to the Montevideo press as he faced them for the first time as Penarol manager. The former right-back had started his career with Penarol as an apprentice, but never made a single appearance in Uruguayan football. His playing career was split between Argentina, Colombia and Mexico, where he represented Gimnasia La Plata, America de Cali, and Atlante. He moved into management with Gimnasia in 1948, before enjoying spells with Deportivo Cali, Audax Italiano, Centro Iqueno, and Alianza Lima. His only winner's medal came with Centro in the 1957 season, but he had earned a reputation as one of South America's most innovative coaches in his time plying his trade across the Andean states. After so much time away from his home city, he had landed his dream job with the reigning champions of Uruguayan football. 

The Uruguayan Primera Division had been dominated by Penarol and Nacional for some time. Both clubs had established themselves as leaders of South American football, and to play in Uruguay at this time was considered one of the highest honours for any South American player. That's why it was so easy for Aureliano Cordoba to join his manager in Montevideo ahead of the 1959 season, but Juan Joya had been lured across the water to River Plate in Argentina. Fermina Daza had managed to find a job in the city's general hospital, and so Aureliano convinced his manager to give them a contract of at least 3 years. Scarone was more than happy to oblige with Aureliano's request, indicating his own ambitions to remain with the club for the foreseeable future. 

The facilities and the general aura around the club told you everything. This was an institution built for success, and anyone who pulled on the yellow and black stripes was expected to be exemplary in their conduct and technical abilities. Scarone began preseason by having the players go through military training exercises. These gruelling assault courses not only tested the physical fitness of the players, but also their mental resilience. 'The enemy is all around you at Penarol. Everyone wants us to fail. We must show that we have balls, and revel in the adversity.' Aureliano had never experienced such physical exertion, but he enjoyed the discipline the exercises instilled. The one thing that stood out to him was the fitness of the Penarol regulars, who handled the training regime like it was routine. The newcomer took some time to reach the same fitness levels as his Uruguayan team-mates, but within a month he was keeping up in the laps around the training field. 

Roberto Scarone was keen to retry the 4-2-4 formation that had failed in Lima. The tactic was actually quite common in Uruguay and the other eastern states in South America. But the former Alianza coach insisted that one of his central strikers drop deep into the space behind the front line and act like a number 10. This meant that the shape became more of a 4-2-3-1. Aureliano was employed as one of the central midfield players in the double-pivot. His role was to break up attacks and carry the ball between the central defenders and the deep-lying forward. The early signs in training were promising as Aureliano impressed his coach and the other players with his tenacity, but it took him some time to develop positional discipline. In the first few games of the season, he would win the ball back and set up a counter attack with a quick pass forward to a winger or the deepest striker. That was all that was required of him. But because of his natural attacking instincts, he often continued his runs forward into the box where he hoped to get on the end of a cross. Scarone decided to introduce a fine for Aureliano that would be handed out every time he entered the final third. 'Your job is to protect the centre halves. You should not be getting full pay if you can't do your job.' 

As the season progressed, Aureliano responded to the negative reinforcement. Every time he played the pass forward, he checked himself and held off making the run into the opposition area. This helped to quell one of the most effective tactics used against the team: counter-attacks. Whenever a team tried to launch a quick break against them, Aureliano and his midfield partner would either slow them down until their teammates had reorganised or win the ball directly and launch a counter-attack of their own. The central midfielders were crucial in taking Penarol to the summit of the league, level on points with arch-rivals Nacional. The season would, therefore, end on the most dramatic of notes: a league title playoff. 

Nacional had the best defensive record in the division, having only conceded 14 goals in 18 matches, 6 less than Penarol. The Manyas had a slightly better attacking record, however. Both teams set up in a 4-2-4 shape, but Scarone's innovative move in creating a 4-2-3-1 in possession helped Penarol establish midfield superiority. The game had been a stalemate for 75 minutes before Penarol were awarded a penalty after one of their attackers was hacked down having broke free of the Nacional backline. The foul resulted in a red card, and Penarol took the lead through the resulting penalty. Nacional tried to get themselves back into the game, even with 10 men, but in the dying embers, Aureliano intercepted a through ball and with excellent vision and execution, launched a hail Mary straight into the path of one of the Penarol forwards who made it 2-0. Penarol were the champions of Uruguay once more! 

Final Standings: Uruguayan Primera 1959:

(1) Penarol - 26pts*

(2) Nacional - 26pts

(3) Racing Montevideo - 22pts

(4) Cerro - 19pts

(5) Montevideo Wanderers - 18pts

(6) Defensor Sporting - 16pts

(7) Rampla Juniors - 15pts

(8) Sud America - 14pts

(9) Liverpool - 14pts

(10) Danubio - 10pts

*Penarol win championship playoff 2-0 against Nacional.

Aureliano was given high praise in the Uruguayan press for his role in the team's success. La Republica referred to him as El Liberator after Simon Bolivar, while El Pais described him as "uncompromisingly tenacious". Roberto Scarone highlighted Aureliano's importance to the team, going as far as to say that he was "our anchor, steadying the team". The Colombian's form had even reached the headlines in his homeland, where foreign correspondents were demanding a call-up to the national team. But Aureliano was keen to keep his feet on the ground and continue learning from the great Roberto Scarone. Having now won titles in Colombia, Peru, and Uruguay, his ambition turned to the international stage. The 1960 season would be the first time that the Copa Libertadores was contested, and as Uruguayan champions, Penarol would have a chance at becoming the kings of South America. 

Edited October 7, 2020 by Tikka Mezzala

[tenthreeleader]

Smooth as always. An engaging read. 

[bigmattb28]

Absolutely fantastic read this mate! Can't wait for more!

[Tikka Mezzala]

5

Aureliano and Fermina Daza were on holiday in Buenos Aires when the latter decided to break the news: "I'm pregnant, Aureliano." Fermina had been worrying about telling him, but to her surprise he handled the news with a degree of joy. "We shall get married at once." Aureliano had not been anticipating the pregnancy, but he was in a good place mentally and financially. They may only have been 23 years old, but they could easily provide for another mouth at the table. 

The knot was tied a week later in a cathedral near Penarol's stadium. The whole team turned out for the occasion and Roberto Scarone toasted the happy couple: "To our rock, and to his rock. May your marriage be as successful as Penarol!"

Unfortunately, there was no time for a honeymoon as Penarol had to prepare for the inaugural Copa de Campeones de America. The draw had pitted them against Jorge Wilstermann of Bolivia, with a two-legged tie due to be played ahead of the Uruguayan season. The team once again went through their heavy preseason campaign, with Aureliano able to keep up with his teammates right from the start. A new face had joined them at the training camp: Ecuadorian striker Alberto Spencer. Roberto Scarone had spotted the player while managing in the Andean region, and had tried the previous season to sign him to no avail. Spencer joined Penarol having scored a remarkable 101 goals in 90 appearances for Ecuadorian outfit Everest. With Carlos Borges demonstrating good form the previous season, Penarol would once again be a force to be reckoned with. 

The first leg of the Copa de Campeones game took place in Montevideo. A Carlos Borges double, either side of a Luis Cubilla strike put Penarol 3-0 up within half an hour. Spencer added a fourth before half time. Jorge Wilstermann pulled one back on the 49th minute mark, but the new signing was to steal the show from then on with 3 well taken goals to bring his tally to 4 on his debut. It finished 7-1 to Penarol, making the return game in La Paz a dead rubber. Jorge Wilstermann restored some of their professional pride in the Bolivian capital with a 1-1 draw, meaning Penarol progressed 8-2 on aggregate. After the return match Roberto Scarone scolded his players for taking the game too lightly. Aureliano had been particularly guilty of taking his foot off the gas. His defensive play was adequate, but he dithered on the ball too much and failed to launch quick counter attacks, allowing the opposition to reorganise. He was dropped for the opening game of the Uruguayan league season, where Penarol won comfortably away at Cerro. 

The semi-final of the Copa Campeones pitted the two champions of the river plate against one another: Penarol v San Lorenzo. The build up to the game was huge in both countries, with the winner of the match tipped to go on and become South American champions. The first leg took place in Montevideo: after only 2 minutes, Carlos Linazza had given Penarol the lead. San Lorenzo weren't behind for long, however, when Norberto Boggio nodded home in the 18th minute. The rest of the game was a battle of wits, with both teams unable to create much due to their overly cautious mindsets. Scarone had instructed his wingers to drop deeper, creating a 4-4-2 shape out of possession. This allowed Aureliano to stay central and break up the opposition play. There were 15 yellow cards produced between the sides, and some challenges that warranted greater punishment. But both teams managed to keep 11 players on the field. After a tense 90 minutes, the score ended 1-1. A week later in Buenos Aires, the game picked up where it left off. San Lorenzo, despite having the home advantage, were not committing their fullbacks forward, meaning there was no space to attack for Penarol's wide players like Cubilla. Carlos Borges found himself dropping so deep during the game that he often got in the way of Aureliano and his midfield partner. Scarone berated the deep-lying forward for his libertarian approach to positional play. With another game marred by violent challenges and yellow cards, the scoreline ended 0-0. A play-off game was scheduled 5 days later in Montevideo to decide who would progress. The first 45 minutes were very much like the previous 180, with bad challenges and little quality shown. But on the hour mark, Alberto Spencer got on to a loose ball first, deftly touched the ball around the on-rushing defender, nutmegged the last man, and slotted the ball past the goalkeeper to make it 1-0. San Lorenzo turned to desperate measures in an attempt to get an equaliser. High balls were launched directly at the heart of the Penarol defence, with Aureliano finding himself camped on the edge of the penalty area, picking up second balls and winning headers for balls that hadn't made it to the box. In the 86th minute, San Lorenzo's desperate hoofs paid off: Jose Sanfilippo pounced on a loose ball around the 12 yard line to poke home the equalised. Cries of relief from the San Lorenzo players could be heard all the way back in Buenos Aires. But the old adage 'you are most vulnerable when you have just scored' proved to be true when Alberto Spencer headed in the winner on 89 minutes, sending Penarol through to the final. It was a gruelling contest between the best of Uruguay and Argentina; so much so that Penarol suffered their only defeat of the league season in the next game against Fenix. But they had made it to the final where they would face Olimpia of Paraguay for the South American crown. 

Olimpia were the best side in South America outside of Uruguay and Argentina. They had made it to the final courtesy of a 5-1 mauling of Millionarios in Asuncion. Roberto Scarone took extra precautions for the attacking threat posed by the Paraguayan champions. He insisted that only one fullback go forward at a time, and asked the central midfield player on the side of the attacking defender to slot into the position during transitions. In the first half, Aureliano spent more time at left back than in central midfield. The teams went in level at the break after a well matched half. It wasn't until the 79th minute that the stalemate for finally broken: Aureliano cut off the passing lane between the opposition central midfield player and the striker, and with possession secured he carried the ball over the half-way line before releasing Cubilla on the right-wing. Cubilla faced his man up, but rather than beat him with skill, he decided to send in an early cross that fell right onto the outstretched boot of Alberto Spencer. The goal proved to be the match winning strike, giving Penarol a 1 goal advantage heading to Asuncion. The game in Paraguay was played in searing heat, and many of the Uruguayan players struggled to adapt. Olimpia restored parity on aggregate with a goal from a corner on the half-hour mark, and they pushed and pushed for another before half time. Penarol were barely holding on in the game, and Roberto Scarone decided to replace Borges with another midfielder, creating a 4-3-3 shape. Olimpia's pressure subsided somewhat, though they still enjoyed the better chances. In the 83rd minute, Olimpia were denied what would surely have been the match winner when the Penarol goalkeeper saved at the feet of one of their strikers who was through on goal. The Penarol number 1 then threw the ball an incredible distance where it was controlled by Alberto Spencer on his chest. The Ecuadorian got it down to his feet and with eyes on the back of his head, launched the ball over the opposition fullback where Luis Cubilla was running into space. Cubilla used his pace to get to it first and just as he was running out of steam he slid it past the on-coming Olimpia keeper to make it 1-1 on the night, and 2-1 on aggregate. Penarol held on to become the first ever champions of South America. 

The triumph in Asuncion had set up a clash against Real Madrid in the Intercontinental Cup. Penarol went into the game in good form having won 4 consecutive league matches, including an away win at Nacional. The first leg was in Montevideo in early July. Scarone decided to set his side up in a 2-3-5 to match Real Madrid's shape. Aureliano was asked to play in the half-back role in order to mark Alfredo Di Stefano. The old rivarly between the players was to be resumed for the first time since the Argentine had left Colombia. The two players exchanged insults throughout the game, with Di Stefano telling Aureliano that the Real Madrid players had enjoyed his mother the night before. Aureliano hit back, referring to the Real Madrid players as "necrophiliacs". Every time the ball landed at one of their feet, the other player would immediately fly in with a reckless challenge. Ferenc Puskas was switched with Di Stefano by Madrid manager Miguel Munoz in a bid to get his Argentine star involved in the actual play, but Penarol stifled the attacking flair that Real Madrid possessed in abundance. The best chance of the match fell to Alberto Spencer who grazed the cross bar after attempting an audacious chip. But ultimately, nothing could separate the sides. 

Penarol drew a couple of games, and won 4 ahead of the return leg in Madrid in early September. The league was still in the balance, with Cerro and Nacional kicking at their heels. But all attention turned to the Spanish capital where the first ever club world champion would be crowned. The two teams lined up in the same way as before, only Ferenc Puskas was played directly against Aureliano. Within 10 minutes, the Hungarian had scored twice, with Alfredo Di Stefano adding a third. Penarol were chasing shadows as Real Madrid demonstrated their superiority. Chus Herrera and Francisco Gento added the 4th and 5th Real goals, before Alberto Spencer notched in a consolation 10 minutes from time. The kings of South America proved no match for the kings of Europe. Di Stefano was keen to rub the result in Aureliano's face, leading to a mass brawl at the final whistle, but Penarol ultimately headed back to the east coast of South America dejected. 

Penarol's league form upon returning from Europe was patchy, with several draws allowing Cerro to catch them up. The two sides were level after the final game of the season, and so the title would once again have to be decided by a play-off. Cerro took the lead in the game early on, with Penarol appearing tired and mentally exhausted. But in the second half, after a rousing half-time speech from Scarone, Alberto Spencer, Carlos Borges and a first ever Penarol goal for Aureliano gave Penarol the title. It was without question a moment of sheer relief. After the exertions in the Copa Campeones and the jaunt to Europe, the Penarol players were truly spent. 

Final Standings: Uruguayan Primera 1960:

(1) Penarol - 28pts

(2) Cerro - 28pts

(3) Nacional - 24pts

(4) Fenix - 16pts

(5) Defensor Sporting - 15pts

(6) Racing de Montevideo - 15pts

(7) Rampla Juniors - 15pts

(8) Montevideo Wanderers - 15pts

(9) Liverpool - 14pts

(10) Sud America 10pts

* Penarol champions after 3-1 play-off win against Cerro.

The players would have to do it all again in a few months time. But for the new season there would be two new arrivals in Montevideo: Juan Joya finally agreed to join Penarol from River Plate, becoming the third player to join from the Andean states. While Fermina Daza gave birth to young Arcadio Cordoba, a healthy baby boy with the look of solitude written into his face from the moment he gave his first breath.  

[Tikka Mezzala]

6

In the early nights of fatherhood, Aureliano would sit in the small hours of the morning, holding Arcadio in his arms, looking out over Montevideo. The child cried and cried through the night, keeping the young parents from the happy solitude of sleep. "He must be a liberal" Aureliano would say, as he shushed Arcadio. Sleep deprivation was the usual price of becoming a parent, but the extra waking hours gave Aureliano time to take stock of everything he had so far accomplished. Just a few years ago he was cast out of Millionarios for upsetting the squad leaders; now he was a champion of South America. The only thing that stood between him and a place in the Colombia national setup was the fact that Adolfo Pedernera, his former Millionarios coach, was the manager. The Argentine had never taken well to Aureliano's decision to jump ship to Medellin, and even though much of the sports media in Colombia was demanding a call up for the Penarol player, Pedernera persisted with his favourites. 

When the Penarol team returned to training for the new season, Aureliano displayed the clear signs of parenthood. He was lacking focus and would sleep instead of eat during the lunch breaks. Roberto Scarone felt that it was in the best interests of the club to hire a nanny for the Cordoba family. Over the protests of Fermina, who felt that hiring a nanny betrayed her proletarian loyalty, a nanny was installed in the Cordoba household. As time went on, even the Marxist Fermina appreciated the help, and Aureliano was able to return to his usual self on the training pitch. 

The addition of Juan Joya from River Plate had given Penarol an even greater attacking potency. Alberto Spencer's first season had proven to be a major success, and the Peruvian left-winger was sure to give the Ecuadorian even greater service, as well as sharing the goal-scoring burden with him. As the early games of the season rolled by, Penarol looked refreshed and hungry. Joya, Spencer, Cubilla and Borges were a formidable front 4. Aureliano was rested for the first matches and introduced when the Copa de Campeones started up. 

The first round of South America's premier club competition pitted Penarol against Universitario of Peru. Roberto Scarone was very familiar with Peruvian football, and so he was able to set his team up perfectly for the first leg. Scarone knew that the Peruvians were vulnerable to high diagonal balls, and with Juan Joya and Alberto Spencer having pace to burn, the team switched the play at every opportunity into the space opposite the ball-player. Joya and Spencer grabbed a double either side of half-time, with the score ending 5-0 to the Uruguayans. Despite a lacklustre performance and defeat in Lima (0-2), Penarol progressed to the semi finals where last season's runners-up Olimpia awaited with vengeful hopes. 

Ahead of the semi-final, Penarol swatted away domestic competition as they stormed into a comfortable lead in the Primera Division. The front 4 were helping the team produce a brand of football that the press were quick to associate with Uruguay itself. Joya and Spencer in particular were winning plaudits. When Olimpia arrived in Montevideo, they were quick to learn that Penarol had stepped up from the previous year, and would take some stopping. A 3-1 win for the Uruguayans helped the champions towards a 5-2 aggregate win, after an impressive victory in Asuncion in the second-leg. Aureliano's performance in both games was celebrated in the media of both countries, with a Paraguayan publication labelling him the best Colombian player in the world. 

Some patchy domestic form allowed Nacional to claw their way back into the title race, and so the season's final run in would see Penarol juggling a difficult end to the domestic season with a Copa de Campeones final against Brazilian champions Palmeiras. Aureliano scored a last gasp winner from distance against Racing Montevideo to keep Penarol ahead going into the final three games. At the beginning of June, the Brazilians rolled into town to play the first leg of the final. Palmeiras were at the beginning of a golden era for the club, lead by Ademir da Guia, one of the greatest Brazilian attacking midfield players. The quality of both sides failed to shine through in the match as a tactical chess game was played out, with both coaches reverting to an overly cautious style. It was in the 89th minute from the penalty spot that Alberto Spencer finally split the sides. Penarol just about held on to their lead at the top of the Primera Division, snatching a late draw against Nacional thanks to the acrobatics of Juan Joya, whose overhead kick assured him a place in the collective memory of the club. Routine wins against Rampla Juniors and Fenix sealed the title, Scarone's 3rd in a row and Penarol's 4th. The celebrations were kept to a minumum, though, ahead of the second leg of the final in Sao Paulo. 

Final Standings: Uruguayan Primera 1961:

(1) Penarol 30pts

(2) Nacional 27pts

(3) Defensor 23pts

(4) Danubio 17pts

(5) Cerro 16pts

(6) Racing Montevideo 15pts

(7) Rampla Juniors 15pts

(8) Liverpool 14pts

(9) Montevideo Wanderers 12pts

(10) Fenix 11pts

Brazil's largest city welcomed the international press ahead of the biggest game in Palmeiras's history. Colombian, Ecuadorian and Peruvian journalists turned out in number due to the presence of the three Andean players in the Penarol line up. Juan Joya was followed closely by photographers and reporters, while Aureliano was continually quizzed on his response to being omitted from the World Cup qualifiers by Adolfo Pedernera. "With an Argentine coach and several Argentine players, which national team have I been omitted from?" was his response. Roberto Scarone was clear in his pre-match messages about the difficulties Palmeiras would pose his side. Brazil were the masters of the 4-2-4 system, and Palmeiras were proving to be the greatest advocates of it at club level. While Penarol preferred to keep their two central midfielders in front of the defence, Brazilian sides opted for a split of roles, with one midfielder advancing into the attacking third, while the other sat deeper. Aureliano was tasked with marking the advanced CM, Ademir. It was to prove a fascinating battle between two of the most intelligent players in South America. Penarol took an early lead through Jose Sacia, before Palmeiras began their onslaught. Chasing the game and the tie, they threw forward every player but the central defenders. Ademir would attempt to draw Aureliano from his position, but the Colombian allowed him to drop into his own half uncontested, choosing only to engage him when he entered Penarol's defensive third. Though he enjoyed a lot of the ball, Ademir found very little in front of him and was guilty of losing possession on a number of occasions after his killer balls were snuffed out by one of the Uruguayan defenders. Penarol's biggest problem was the fact that many of their players were spending the majority of the game in the defensive third. They had dropped so deep that even Juan Joya was clearing headers off the line. Palmeiras were rewarded for their pressure in the 77th minute when Nardo's shot was deflected high into the goal, but Penarol stood firm in the final 10 minutes to seal a second consecutive South American crown. After the game, Ademir congratulated Aureliano on a fantastic individual performance. "You read the game like it is an epic poem." 

With yet another league and continental cup double sealed, the Penarol players had assured themselves of a place in history. But they stood on the cusp of something greater still: the chance to become world champions. Having suffered a humbling defeat in Madrid last season, the psychological scars were still there to be seen for many players. This time around it would be Benfica of Portugal who would provide the European opposition. The format of the competition meant that aggregate scores meant nothing; each game was played for points: 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw. If both teams finished on the same number of points, then regardless of goal difference, there would have to be a play-off tie. 

On the 4th September 1961, Penarol flew to Lisbon for the first leg. Benfica were the toast of Europe, and their key player Eusebio was considered by many to be the world's best. The Portuguese side had triumphed in the European Cup final against FC Barcelona, winning 3-2 in Switzerland. The Estadio da Luz was the setting for the first encounter between the sides, and with 40,000 spectators there to back them, Benfica dominated their Uruguayan opponents. Eusebio was dazzling with his quick feet and deft touches, while Mario Coluna provided the greater goal scoring threat. Penarol stood up to the barrage of Benfica attacks, with centre backs William Martinez and Nuber Cano in excellent form. It was on the hour mark that the Portuguese side earned their just reward, as Coluna danced free of Aureliano's close attention, knocked the ball ahead of the centre back Cano, and raced through to finish with aplomb. Benfica then seemed happy to keep the ball and frustrate their opponents, as the scoreline ended 1-0. 

Roberto Scarone had come in for criticism in the Uruguayan media for his overly cautious tactics in big games. The match in Lisbon was held up as an example of the manager's cowardice, with Penarol barely registering a shot on goal. While Scarone portrayed himself as a person who rose above the media chatter, his ultra-attacking setup for the second leg hinted that he had taken some of the criticism on board. Juan Joya and Cubilla were asked to stay high at all times, and Aureliano was even given licence to move into the attacking third. It was a tactic reminiscent of the Palmeiras side they had beaten in the Copa de Campeones final. In front of 56,000 fans at the Centenario Stadium, Penarol put on one of the greatest performances in South American footballing history. At half time they were 4-0 up, with Sasia and Spencer scoring one each, and Juan Joya at the double. Spencer added another in the early moments of the second half, giving Penarol a 5-0 win. Due to the rules of the competition, rather than win 5-1 on aggregate, a play-off tie would have to be played to decide the winner. Scarone berated the format of the competition, insisting that his side had shown already who the best team in the world was, but over his protests the game would have to be played anyway. 

To prevent travel chaos, the game was scheduled once more for the Uruguayan capital. This time 60,000 spectators showed up. Juan Sasia opened the scoring once more as it looked like Penarol would repeat their heroics, but just before half time the mercurial Eusebio jinked past three hapless Penarol defenders to score a memorable equaliser. Clearly Benfica were not cowed by the hammering they received a couple of days previous. Juan Sasia then became the toast of Uruguay when he sent in a free-kick from 30 yards to seal the victory. In truth, the 2-1 scoreline flattered Benfica who were much better organised this time around, but offered little in attack. Penarol were the champions of the world for the first time. 

At the end of the Intercontinental Cup match, Aureliano reflected on his career to date once again. Here he was, at the best team in the world, playing a major role for one of the greatest managers. His tactical notebooks were filled with brilliant ideas and training methods. He had learned so much about the psychology of man-management from Scarone, and felt as though he could have walked into football management there and then. This made it all the more difficult when Scarone announced that he was leaving the club that summer. 

Despite Scarone's departure, Aureliano had agreed to stay at the club for another three years. At 24, he knew that he was in a good place for this stage of his career. Penarol informed him that there was interest from Inter Milan in Italy for his services, but with a young son and a wife who was happy in her job at the general hospital in Montevideo, Aureliano felt that Uruguay was the right place to be. 

 

[Tikka Mezzala]

Part 3: To the Rio Platense, You Belong

1

Aureliano had been living in Uruguay for three years. His son, Arcadio, was born in Montevideo. In one of Uruguay's greatest ever teams, he was a central figure. So when he received a call from Uruguay manager, Juan Carlos Corazzo, on the eve of the World Cup squad selection, he took the offer very seriously. Corazzo had been made aware of Aureliano's situation with the Colombian national team. Whilst Adolfo Pedernera was still at the helm of the Cafeteros, Aureliano would be frozen out of the setup. FIFA had recently decreed that once a player represented a national team at a World Cup or during the qualifiers, he could no longer switch sides. If Corazzo managed to convince the Colombian-born midfielder to join La Celeste, they would have him for the rest of his international career. 

Aureliano's quandary was this: he believed quite strongly that one should only represent the country of one's birth at national team level. The fact that Colombia had fielded its fair share of Argentines in the past was a matter of great annoyance for him. But he knew that turning down Uruguay would lead to resentment in the national press, and hence, among Uruguayan football supporters themselves. To turn down the chance to play for one of the best national teams in the world at the World Cup would be a huge insult for the locals, many of whom would have given their lives for the same opportunity. So Aureliano had to find a way to diffuse the situation without becoming a pariah in his adopted homeland. "My country is Penarol" was his solution. Whilst this failed to convince fans of rival teams, it cemented his place in the hearts of Manyas up and down Uruguay. 

La Celeste went on to have a poor campaign in Chile, finishing third in a group that contained Colombia, the USSR, and Yugoslavia. Just as they had in 1958, Brazil would emerge triumphant in the 1962 edition, beating Czechoslovakia in the final. Uruguay's traditional rivals, Argentina, shared a fate with their rioplatense rivals, going out at the group stage to England and Hungary. For both nations, the 1962 failures would start the beginning of a long period of soul searching in which the idealism of their golden, and often mythic, pasts would clash with the pragmatism of the changing world. 

La Grafica was at the forefront of the spiritual quest to define rioplatense football. The magazine, read across Latin America, identified the Argentine (and by extension, Uruguayan) game with the Gaucho culture that existed in the earliest days of the South American nation. The rugged individualism and spiritual freedom with which mythical characters lived their lives on the Pampas inspired copy-cat culture in the rapidly industrialising cities of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. It was not uncommon to see men roaming the urbanised chaos of the ever expanding cities wearing cowboy attire. Just as Romanticism and the American Transcendentalism movement had rejected the growing mechanisation of life, the romantics of rioplatense football shuddered in the face of the ultra-systematic European schools of thought, where players were merely viewed as parts of the larger machine. 

It was against this backdrop that Penarol turned to a familiar foe to be their new manager: Bela Guttmann. Guttmann had been in the dugout for Benfica when the Uruguayan champions beat them to become Intercontinental Cup winners. He was a pioneer of the 4-2-4 system that Roberto Scarone had implemented to full effect the previous 3 seasons, and so he fitted seamlessly into the club culture. Guttmann was from Hungary, and had lived a remarkable life up until that point. Having survived the Holocaust, he went on to help shape the footballing cultures of Budapest and Vienna at their zenith. In Portugal he had helped Porto win the league championship before jumping ship to their arch rivals Benfica. In Lisbon, he sacked a whole host of first team stars and replaced them with youngsters who would go on to win 2 European Cups. The fact that Penarol were able to convince Guttmann to leave Europe shows how highly regarded the club, and the Uruguayan football scene was. 

Needless to say, Aureliano was over the moon with the appointment. He once again had the chance to learn at the heels of a master. Guttmann had a psychology degree from the University of Vienna, and his understanding of the human psyche was at the heart of his motivational techniques. He believed in always dressing in the finest suits, and he laboured to keep his emotions hidden under the veneer of blank expressions. He was impressed by the fitness of the Penarol players, but implemented changes to their diet. His hard training schedules were legendary, and he made every player believe that the success of the team depended on their willingness to run the extra yard. 

He assessed his players over preseason and chose to keep the tactics pretty much the same as the previous coach's. The only real difference to his system was the attacking licence granted to Aureliano. "You must read the game for yourself, and decide when the correct moments are to join in the attack. The whole organisation of the team depends upon your decisions. Make them count." While it took some time for Aureliano to get comfortable with breaking his defensive position, he eventually managed to overcome the conditioning that had been installed in him by Scarone. This made Penarol more attacking, but surprisingly it was their defensive numbers that improved. Whilst the season began ominously with a win, a draw and a defeat, only one goal was conceded. From the 3rd game on, Penarol would win every fixture, conceding only 9 times in 18 games, and scoring 54; by far the best numbers in the country. They finished the campaign 6 points ahead of Nacional, who had beaten them on matchday 3. The result was a 5th consecutive title, a record that still stands today. Alberto Spencer topped the scoring charts for a second season in a row, with 16 goals. Domestically, the club was untouchable. 

Final Standings: Uruguayan Primera 1962:

(1) Penarol 33pts

(2) Nacional 27pts

(3) Fenix 18pts

(4) Defensor Sporting 17pts

(5) Racing de Montevideo 17pts

(6) Cerro 17pts

(7) Rampla Juniors 15pts

(8) Liverpool 15pts

(9) Central 11pts

(10) Danubio 10pts

The 1962 Copa de Campeones de America was expanded, with 10 teams now competing for the title. As winners of the previous tournament, Penarol had a by into the semi-finals. It was here that they met their arch nemesis, Nacional. The Uruguayan runners up had emerged from a difficult group in the previous round, overcoming Sporting Cristal of Peru and Racing Club or Argentina. After 5 seasons of living in the shadow of Penarol, they were desperate to get one over on their biggest rivals on the grandest of stages. With a win apiece in the league, the Uruguayan press were backing Penarol due to their general dominance at the time, but no one entirely discounted the prospect of a Nacional win. 

The two teams shared a stadium, and so they had agreed to split the tickets 50/50 for both legs. Nacional were designated as the home side for the first tie. In the frenzied atmosphere of the Estadio Centenario, the home side took the lead after 10 minutes after defender Ruben Gonzales headed home from a corner. The scenes in the stand lead to the temporary postponement of the game. After the resumption of proceedings, Aureliano fired home the equaliser on the half hour mark. It was his 5th goal of the season, and undoubtedly his most enjoyable. After half-time, with the score line still level, Nacional notched back in front Guillermo Escalada pounced on a rebounded shot to send the home fans into raptures. After Escalada's goal, the game descended into brutality, with yellow cards, which might have been red, occurring every few minutes. With the flow the game disrupted by violence, Nacional held on to claim the win and the 2 points. 

The return match 10 days later proved to be just as violent. After Penarol's Angel Cabrera gave his side the lead on 20 minutes, the challenges started flying in. The hero of Nacional's win in the last leg saw red just before half time for a lunge at Juan Joya that luckily never amounted to a serious injury. The second half resumed with the Nacional players keen to break up play and prevent any football from being played. With 10 men and little desire to play football, it came as a major surprise when Nacional equalised after 68 minutes. Vladas Douskas was the scorer; a goal that put him on the verge of legend. With 20 minutes to play, and in need of a goal, the mercurial Alberto Spencer rescued Penarol with two sublime goals: the first was a delicate chip from the edge of the 18-yard box, after a corner was cut back to him. The second came from a header after he leaped highest to reach a well placed cross from Juan Joya. The points belonged to Penarol. The tie would need a play-off to decide the winner. 

4 days later, with no loss of enthusiasm, the third leg of the semi-final got underway in Montevideo. Right from the first whistle, challenges flew in and the cards were dished out in equal measure. The lashing down of a heavy rain didn't help matters, with players travelling further in their slide tackles, toppling multiple opponents instead of just their intended target. Mass brawls broke out every few minutes, with the referee losing control of proceedings. The violence on the field translated into unrest in the stands. The game had to be halted 3 times before a goal was scored in the 61st minute. It was scored by Petronilo Acosta of Nacional, who cleared a reckless challenge from Aureliano before unleashing a thunderous strike along the sodden surface, past the Penarol goalkeeper. Nacional could sense history. On 69 minutes, in a bid to atone for his error, Aureliano carried the ball past several failed lunges, deep into the Nacional half, before slipping through Alberto Spencer. The Ecuadorian marksman rounded the Nacional goalkeeper, and with enough pace on his shot to prevent the ball holding up in the mud, scored the equaliser for Penarol. The goal would ultimately win the tie for the Manyas as the goal difference rule came into play after the play-off. It took them 3 gruelling contests, but once again the yellow and black Penarol legends were into the final of the Copa de Campeones. 

Waiting for Penarol in the final was another Brazilian opponent. Palmeiras's city neighbours Santos had blown away their group stage opponents, and seen off Universidad Catolica to reach the moment of history. The first leg was in Montevideo in front of 48,000 spectators. Unlike the Nacional game, it was a celebration of football. Both sides displayed moments of collective and individual brilliance, and the goal mouth action was plentiful in both boxes. Coutinho gave Santos the lead after 5 minutes, with a fantastic solo strike. He added a second goal on 44 minutes, after neat link up play between him and his team-mate Dorval unpicked the Penarol defence. With 15 minutes to go, Penarol pulled one back through Alberto Spencer, whose decision to hang back at the far-post on a corner paid off after the loose ball landed at his feet. Santos would hold on for a prized victory at the home of the reigning champions. 

The second leg in Sao Paulo was another game for the purist. Santos, only needing a draw to be crowned champions, refused to rest on their laurels and pushed for victory. But they fell behind after Alberto Spencer raced clear of their backline and finished neatly under the Santos goalkeeper. A few minutes later and Dorval headed home the Brazilian's equaliser from a well-worked corner routine. On 35 minutes, after excellent build up play from back to front, Mengalvio put Santos in front. History beckoned for the Sao Paulo club. Just after half time, a quickfire double from Penarol put the Uruguayans in front for the second time. Spencer raced through for the first, before Jose Sasia's shot was deflected up and over the Brazilian keeper. Both teams had chances to add to the 5 goals, but the game ended 3-2 to the reigning champions, tying the teams on 2 points apiece. There would have to be a playoff. 

The deciding tie was scheduled for the end of September in Buenos Aires's Estadio Monumental. 60,000 fans made the journey south to witness a game that introduced the competition to one of its greatest ever participants. After Omar Caetano put the ball into his own net on 11 minutes, giving Santos the lead, two mesmerising goals from the Brazilian striker Pele sealed the championship for the Sao Paulo giants. Penarol had put everything into the game, but were outclassed on the night. Everyone from Guttmann to Aureliano himself, recognised that they had been beaten by pure genius. It was heartbreaking and exciting all at the same time. Either way, the 1962 Copa de Campeones de America was a fitting example of the beauty that could be found throughout the continent, even as cynicism and pragmatism started to make themselves felt. 

[Tikka Mezzala]

2

The 60's were in full swing in the city of Montevideo. The latest fashions from California and New York had entered the cultural realm through lifestyle magazines and the beatniks were still holding on to the books of tortured poetry that gave expression to their disgust at the conformity of previous decades. Skirts were getting shorter, hair was growing longer, and the world seemed to be on the verge of liberation and total annihilation all at once. 

Aureliano and Fermina enjoyed taking long walks along the promenade with Arcadio. In those moments, their differences of opinion over the geo-politics of the time were put to the side, and both enjoyed watching people take pleasure in the sun's warmth, and the coolness of the ocean. In those quiet moments, Aureliano came to terms with the disappointment of Buenos Aires, when a young kid named Pele stole the show and condemned Penarol to the awful fate of second place. The defeat brought to an end the hegemony that Penarol enjoyed in South American football, and installed doubt into the minds of the players for the first time. It also marked the end of Guttmann's short lived reign as head coach, with the Hungarian manager heading back to Europe where he would later become involved in the Austrian international setup. Aureliano was disappointed that he did not get to spend more time working under the footballing pioneer, but in their short time together, the Colombian learned a lot about man-management skills. Guttmann was one of the first managers to chart out the squad dynamics, noting who the leaders and influential players were, what personalities were present in the squad, and how different approaches to player/manager interaction were needed for maximum effect. The Hungarian had always kept his ear to the ground for the latest psychological theories and literature, and his approach earned him the nickname Freud among the Penarol players. 

With Guttmann's departure confirmed, Penarol turned to former goalkeeper and World Cup winner Roque Maspoli. Compared to Guttmann and Scarone, Maspoli was an unassuming character with a tendency to interfere only when the situation demanded it. He recognised that the two managers preceding him were goliaths of the game, and felt the best approach was to continue much the same as before, with tweaks here and there. He looked to the team leaders to inform him of the typical training routines and allowed the players to gravitate naturally towards their preferred formation on the pitch. Aureliano was a little disconcerted by Maspoli's laissez faire approach to management at first, but over time he came to revel in the fact that he and the other team leaders were the de facto management. Aureliano was eventually appointed vice-captain, and alongside the other key players in the team such as Alberto Spencer, Juan Joya and William Martinez, he orchestrated preseason training and the team's tactical preparation for the season. 

When the action got underway, the team started well with 5 wins in a row. Aureliano was particularly effective in the games, as he orchestrated the play from the heart of the field. The one criticism aimed at Penarol was the rigidity of their shape. While Aureliano was able to cross into the opponent's half and join the play further up the field, and Borges was willing to drop into space ahead of the opposition defence, very little interchanging of positions occurred. The previous season, Santos had shown the world what a highly fluid system could do. As teams grew wise to Penarol's rigid 4-2-4, the team struggled to keep their form going. A draw, a defeat and a lucky win preceded the opening ties in the Copa de Campeones. 

Penarol started the new South American campaign against Everest of Ecuador, whom they had signed Alberto Spencer from a couple of seasons previous. The Ecuadorians were arguably the easiest draw of the round, and it showed when a Sasia hattrick and a Rocha double gave Penarol a 5-0 win in Guayaquil. The return game in Montevideo saw Spencer put his old side to the sword with 5 goals of his own, as the Uruguayan champions ran out 9-1 winners. The result was a record victory for the time, and not many people were betting against the Manyas reclaiming their South American crown. A defeat away at Nacional in the league left Penarol chasing their rivals in the title race, as it was becoming clear that a tactical change was badly needed. Nacional's form was the best it had been in half a decade and they continued to impress heading in to the final stretch of the season. But before the Primera Division could be concluded, a tie against Argentine champions Boca Juniors had to be resolved in the semi-finals of the Copa de Campeones.

Boca Juniors arrived in Montevideo full of confidence after they had clinched what was arguably the most difficult league championship on the continent. Along with their Buenos Aires rivals River Plate, Racing Club, Independiente, and San Lorenzo, the giants of Argentine football were keeping the rest of the country out of sight. Not since the days of amateur football had anyone other than one of the big 5 succeeded in claiming the Argentine crown. The situation was similar in Uruguay, only 2 clubs rather than 5 were responsible for dominating. As a result, the game brought together 2 clubs that had success ingrained in their DNA, both from countries that believed in their own superiority. Uruguay, though the smaller of the 2 nations, had an Olympic gold medal, 2 World Cup crowns, and a club that had succeeded in the Copa de Campeones and the Intercontinental Cup. Argentina were bitterly envious of this. Games between the national teams had regularly descended into chaos with stones raining down from the stands and gun battles breaking out in the street. A defeat in the Copa de Campeones clash would mark a moment of national shame for the loser. 

In front of 60,000 spectators at the Estadio Centernario, Boca Juniors triumphed 2-1 thanks to a late goal from Brazilian striker Paulo Valentim. The match was marred by a series of horror tackles and crowd violence. Aureliano had been sent off for a late lunge at the goalscorer Valentim, with the incident sparking unrest among the Penarol support. After tempers had calmed, Boca escaped the stadium and were rushed onto the boat home, where a volley of stones saw them out of Uruguayan waters. The defeat brought Penarol in for major criticism in the press, with one publication going as far as to say that Nacional should play the second leg on Penarol's behalf to give Uruguay a chance to restore its pride. A week later in the cauldron of La Bombonera, Boca Juniors sealed their passage to the final with a 1-0 win courtesy of an early second half strike from Jose Sanfilippo. Penarol managed only 1 shot on target the whole game, with Boca easily ushering their attacking players into unthreatening positions. The suspended Aureliano was forced to watch the game from the stands, and from his elevated position he could clearly see the problem with his side's shape. There was simply no movement. 

The defeat to Boca Juniors was compounded by Nacional's first league title in 6 years. The dominance of Penarol was finally at an end. Their overly static play had been too easy to defend against, and the fact that they had conceded twice the number of goals as last season meant only one thing: they were now second best in Uruguay. 

 

Final Standings: Uruguayan Primera 1963

(1) Nacional 31pts

(2) Penarol 30pts

(3) Montevideo Wanderers 21pts

(4) Fenix 19pts

(5) Racing de Montevideo 18pts

(6) Rampla Juniors 16pts

(7) Danubio 16pts

(8) Cerro 13pts

(9) Defensor Sporting 8pts

(10) Liverpool 8pts

The inquest over the team's failures in the Copa and the league took place the day after the season ended. Aureliano had argued that the team was too rigid and had to look at the likes of Santos for inspiration. "They do not have fixed positions in their team. If Pele drops into midfield, a midfielder moves ahead of him into the forward's position. If a defender carries the ball out of defence, a midfield player drops into the vacated slot in the defence. We, on the other hand, pass the ball forward and then hope for the best. We do not make the opponent think too hard." The coach, Maspoli, who spent his career as a goalkeeper, has happy to agree with Aureliano. Perhaps it was time for Penarol to abandon the cult of personality. Rather than rely on the brilliance of Spencer or Joya to win the points, the system itself would have to come into its own. There was still a place for individual inspiration, but it was time to do away with defenders, midfielders and attackers. Penarol would have to become a team of all-rounders, willing to think collectively. 

 

[oche balboa]

This has been a wonderful read 

[Tikka Mezzala]

13 minutes ago, oche balboa said:

This has been a wonderful read 

Cheers, mate.

[Tikka Mezzala]

3

It was around this time, between the 1963 and 1964 seasons, that Aureliano became particularly fascinated by the ideological disputes taking place in Argentina. Uruguay's rioplatense neighbour was much larger in size and population, and yet it had not yet achieved the same sort of international success that Uruguay had enjoyed, not to mention Brazil. While it was largely British immigrants that pioneered the sport in Argentina, a distinct rioplatense style had emerged in contrast to British pragmatism. Depending on one's own ideological colourings, there were positive and negative aspects to the national styles of Uruguay and Argentina. Unlike the quintessential British conduct that was encouraged among the Anglo-Scots populations, with gentlemanliness and a reverence for tradition, the Argentines were willing to demonstrate a lot more flair and charisma. This often spilled over into downright gamesmanship and a willingness to play on the very edges of the law. The flip side of this was the commitment to playing to enjoy oneself. This marked out the Argentine style as a lot less direct than the British way of playing. While predominantly English speaking teams would seek to get the ball forward as quickly as possible to the attackers, their Argentinian counterparts would spend more time weaving pretty patterns with their ball movement, attempting to score goals that amounted to works of sporting art. But for all the elegance that was demonstrated by the great sides of the early days of Argentinian football, very little success on the international level brought the inevitable question forward: should Argentine football sacrifice style for substance?

This debate would continue well beyond the 1960s, culminating in the famous dispute between the two World Cup winning managers Cesar Luis Menotti and Carlos Bilardo. The importance of the debate cannot be overstated: as a country made up largely of European immigrants from diverse cultural backgrounds, Argentina was still searching for its own national identity and consciousness. Football was a major part of how it projected its own self-image to the world. To be recognised as playing beautifully was desirable for many reasons, but if success never followed, Argentina wouldn't enjoy the international prestige it so desired. But it wasn't obvious that consequentialism was the route to follow either. Sure, results mattered, but life is lived day by day, moment by moment; how one lived was as important as any achievement. 

These considerations crossed the river plate and found their way into the conversations that Aureliano was having with the management team and his fellow dressing room leaders. Everyone had agreed that the Penarol system had become stale. There were two main reasons preventing a total overhaul: firstly, the 4-2-4 system had brought unprecedented success to the club, and there was no obvious reason to change shape at this stage; secondly, the squad had been built for the system, and so, there would have to be serious personnel changes in order to bring about a radical new way of playing. Breaking up a team that had brought the club 5 league titles, 2 Cope de Campeones, and an Intercontinental Cup was not on the minds of the Penarol board. It was, therefore, agreed that the solutions were to come from within the system. Reform, and not revolution was to be pursued. 

Having lost out on the title to Nacional, Penarol did not have the Copa to focus on during the 1964 season. Total concentration was placed on reclaiming their national crown. Roque Maspoli was given the chance to lead the team into the new campaign despite the disappointments of the previous season. He still had the backing of the players, and his willingness to take ideas on board from those below him proved important. The 4-2-4 shape remained in place, though fairly radical changes to the dynamics of the system were brought in over preseason. While previous coaches had allowed one of the strikers in the team to drop deep to become an orchestrator, the new style saw both strikers dropping deep at different times, with the central midfielder behind the deeper striker advancing beyond the forward into the vacated space. Sometimes the striker would drift wide allowing the winger to move centrally, becoming a de-facto centre forward. Central defenders would carry the ball up the park due to the fact that opposition players rarely marked the defenders. Fullbacks and wingers would swap positions, or the wide players would go over to the opposite flanks to confuse their markers. Total fluidity was introduced. Aureliano himself was in favour of fluidity, but he did have reservations about the extend of it in the new system. He worried that it had gone too far, and the intelligence required to pull it off was lacking. But he needn't have worried. 

Nacional's exertions in the Copa de Campeones saw their league form suffer. The new Uruguayan champions reached the final of the continental cup, but were defeated by a very pragmatic Independiente. At home, 6 defeats and 3 draws saw them fall into 3rd place. Penarol, on the other hand, with only the league to focus on, thrived. In 18 matches, the Manyas won 16 and drew 2. Their new system had breathed life into the team, and made them a force to be reckoned with once again. With licence to get forward more, Aureliano scored 11 times from central midfield, while Alberto Spencer and Juan Joya continued to be devastating in front of goal. In a handful of games, due to injuries and suspension, Aureliano dropped into central defence and played as a Libero of sorts. All in all, the reinvention of the team's 4-2-4 was a major success. It also highlighted their continued commitment to footballing idealism, which stood in contrast to the new South American champions, Independiente, and their disciplined counter-attacking style. 

Final Standings: Uruguayan Primera 1964:

(1) Penarol 34pts

(2) Rampla Juniors 22pts

(3) Nacional 21pts

(4) Montevideo Wanderers 21pts

(5) Cerro 19pts

(6) Sud America 18pts

(7) Danubio 13pts

(8) Defensor 12pts

(9) Racing Montevideo 10pts

(10) Fenix 10pts

Over in Argentina, Boca Juniors reclaimed the league title from Independiente. Much like the Avellaneda side, they played with a style that relied on defensive organisation, work rate, and direct counter attacks. It seemed, therefore, that across the river plate, pragmatism was winning. But the football daily, El Grafico was keen to point out that Penarol had succeeded with the idealism of old in Uruguay. In its season preview, it set the stage for the 1965 Copa de Campeones: "With Independiente and Boca both qualifying for the Copa de Campeones next season, due to the former's victory this year, and the latter's title success, pragmatism will have 2 representatives on the international stage. In idealism's corner, Penarol and Santos will attempt to keep artistry alive in the South American game. The competition will represent a major collision of ideological differences, surpassed only, perhaps, by the ongoing Cold War between the Soviets and the Yankees of the north."

 

[bigmattb28]

This is absolutely fantastic! Making me want to start a South America save and make a story out of it myself mate!! Looking forward to the next chapters!

[Tikka Mezzala]

1 hour ago, bigmattb28 said:

This is absolutely fantastic! Making me want to start a South America save and make a story out of it myself mate!! Looking forward to the next chapters!

Thanks, mate. I'm enjoying writing about it. It's cool to be able to have people like Pele, Di Stefano, Bela Guttmann, and Alberto Spencer play cameo roles in the story. It really gives it a richer history. 

 

[Tikka Mezzala]

4

Before a ball was kicked in the 1965 season, there was the small matter of Aureliano's contract situation to resolve. The midfielder was free to speak with other teams, and there were certainly a lot of phone calls made to his representative in Bogota. Father Lynch had several players on his books by this stage, all of whom had come from the provinces to Millionarios, but none of them commanded as much interest as Aureliano. 

At 28, Aureliano understood that there may only be a couple of good contracts left in his playing career, and so he was keen to secure the best possible terms for the future security of his young family. Privately, he was very keen to stay put in Montevideo. But in order to make his employers sweat a little, he decided to vacation in Brazil and attend a couple of games while he was there. For Penarol's part, having Aureliano and his midfield partner, Nestor Gonçalves, in the 1965 roster was crucial. But the board were keen never to over value players, and so there was still some wrangling between the parties over the financial details of the contract. When Father Lynch flew into Uruguay for crunch talks, he revealed to the negotiators that Aureliano had ambitions to play in Brazil or Argentina before he retired. Given his age, the window of opportunity was closing, and so, to keep him, there would have to be a very good offer on the table. A game of chicken ensued, with both parties attempting mind games. Rumours appeared in the press regarding Aureliano's "ready-made replacement". The Colombian media started claiming that River Plate and Santos had put down contract offers for the Colombian midfielder. No one on the outside knew what to believe. 

When Aureliano returned home from Rio de Janeiro, he instructed Father Lynch to find a compromise. A very reasonable 2 year contract was written up, and despite a last minute phone call from Torino in Italy, Aureliano signed on the dotted line to extend his stay in Uruguay until 1967. Before the priest left for home, Aureliano asked him which clubs had shown concrete interest in him. "A lot of clubs asked questions. But the Italian club, and a club from La Plata in Argentina were very keen." 

The season got under way after a tense break, and the football that helped Penarol reclaim the title the previous campaign was on full display. A particularly memorable moment came in the 3-1 win against Nacional on matchday 7. With the scores locked at 1-1, and the game becoming a stop/start affair with the high level of fouling, Aureliano picked the ball up from one of the centre backs and carried it past the initial press with close control and muscular shielding. A one-two with his midfield partner allowed him to break well into the Nacional half. The anchor in the Nacional midfield managed to slow his progress, and so he fizzed a ball out wide to Juan Joya on the left. Joya dribbled into the half space, with the left fullback overlapping him. Alberto Spencer showed for the ball, and Joya clipped it around the defender with the outside of his foot to find the Ecuadorian striker. Spencer knocked the ball first-time back onto the left flank where the fullback was racing into space. From the byline, a searching ball was played high into the far-post area where Carlos Borges rose above his marker to knock it back towards the centre. Aureliano had continued his run beyond Spencer into the box, and with the ball falling perfectly for him, he volleyed it into the roof of the net to give Penarol the lead. The goal exemplified an ideal. The ball was stroked about like an artist's brush gliding over the canvass. 

Penarol's form continued well into the season, with only minor setbacks coming against Cerro, Fenix and Danubio. The points dropped in those games weren't to prove crucial, however, as Nacional struggled to keep pace with their nemesis. In the end, 5 points separated the sides. Penarol were once again the creme de la creme of Uruguay. Aureliano managed 8 goals in the campaign, and picked up the player of the season award for his efforts. In terms of performances, it was undoubtedly his best campaign to date. He orchestrated the play from deep, bringing the ball out of the defensive third, beating the opponents' pressing. Only Alberto Spencer came close to denying him the individual award, with the Ecuadorian enjoying a stellar campaign of his own.

Final Standings: Uruguayan Primera 1965:

(1) Penarol 32pts

(2) Nacional 27pts

(3) Cerro 25pts

(4) Racing Montevideo 19pts

(5) Fenix 18pts

(6) Rampla Juniors 17pts

(7) Danubio 17pts

(8) Sud America 11pts

(9) Montevideo Wanderers 7pts

(10) Colon 7pts

On the continental stage, the rebranded Copa Libertadores eagerly awaited the promised ideological battles between good and evil that El Grafico had been promising. Penarol had been placed in group 3 alongside the Paraguayan and Venezuelan champions, Guarani and Galicia. The first match between Penarol and Galicia initially finished 2-2, but when it was revealed that Galicia had fielded an ineligible player, Penarol were awarded a 3-0 win. This was much welcomed after Guarani secured 6 points against the Venezuelans. In Montevideo, the stakes were high for Penarol when Galicia rolled into town for the return fixture. After a tense 45 minutes that ended goalless, nerves were settled when a quick double from Juan Joya and Aureliano put Penarol 2-0 up. The football wasn't spectacular, but the crucial win setup a decisive double header with Guarani. With only one team qualifying from the group, and with both sides locked on 4 points apiece (2 points per win), the hopes of the respective teams hung in the balance. 

The game in Asuncion was played in front of a ferocious crowd of 30,000. Paraguayan football had not enjoyed anywhere near the same success as Uruguay had, but the supporters felt that there moment was soon to arrive. After half an hour, Guarani raced into a 2 goal lead. The nerves was on full display among the Penarol players, with a breakdown of understanding and communication creating gaps for their opponent to exploit. Roque Maspoli managed to settle some of the nerves at half time, and although a better second-half performance brought them back into the game at 2-1, the Paraguayans took the points and moved into the qualification spot. 

When the return game in Montevideo got underway, the Guarani tactics became clear from the very start: no football was to be played. The foul count had reached double figures before the 10 minute mark, and all of Penarol's players came in for rough treatment. Aureliano was on the verge of exploding and getting himself sent off, when Jose Francisco Sassia gave Penarol the lead. The goal changed the complexion of the match, with Guarani needing to score. The Paraguayans were behind on goal difference and heading out of the competition. But one of football's unusual laws seemed to prevent them from getting going: it is much harder to move from an ultra-defensive mindset to an attacking one, than it is to do the reverse. The Guarani players struggled to readjust themselves to the new demands of the situation, and Penarol started to enjoy comfortable possession. Juan Joya added a second goal, the decisive goal, just before the hour mark, and Penarol sailed through to the semi-finals. 

Copa Libertadores Group 3:

(1) Penarol 6pts

(2) Guarani 6pts

(3) Galicia 0pts

When the draw was made for the semi-finals, the whole continent stood up and took notice: 

Semi Final 1: Independiente v Boca Juniors

Semi Final 2: Santos v Penarol

The games saw the best of the pragmatists go head to head in one fixture, with the other game set to discover who the better of the idealists was. 

After three gruelling, violent encounters, Independiente emerged victorious from their semi final after a play-off. The tie was characterised by the success of man-marking and the violence of the fouling. Both teams found their attacking players suffocated, and the medical bills at both clubs rose sharply following each game. It wasn't clear that either side deserved to go through, but the Avellaneda club proved to be the more wily of the two. 

The Santos v Penarol match stood in stark contrast to the battle of Argentina. The Brazilians had gotten the better of their Uruguayan counterparts the last time the sides had met in the final of the competition in 1962. The first leg took place in Sao Paulo in front of 45,000 people. The spectators were treated to one of the greatest games of South American football as Santos ran out 5-4 winners. The game had everything: sensational individual performances from the likes of Pele, Dorval, Spencer and Joya; sublime passing football, with neat interchanges between the players and pleasing geometrical patterns in the play; memorable goals of all types, from Dorval's diving header, to Pele and Joya's dancing feet and curling finishes. It was everything that the footballing purists imagined it would be, and more. 

Penarol had no time to reflect on the aesthetics of the first leg, as they needed to win the second fixture to stay in the competition. They had been unlucky to lose in Sao Paulo in a game that could have finished 10-10, but lose they did. In ordinary circumstances, they would be bracing themselves to face a side determined not to lose. But Santos only knew how to play one way, and that was on the front foot. Penarol were to learn this the hard way, as Santos flew out the traps in Montevideo, racing into a two goal lead thanks to goals from Jose Macia and Coutinho. Penarol were shell-shocked. The Brazilians wasted a couple of good chances to seal their passage to the final in the first half, before a second half collapse handed Penarol a life-line. Joya pulled a goal back straight after half-time with a deftly executed header from the penalty spot. The goal invigorated the Uruguayan team, and Alberto Spencer stepped up to score the equaliser on the hour mark. It was Santos who looked like they were on the ropes, with mistakes creeping in to the Brazilians' game with worrying regularity. With 10 minutes to play, Penarol won a corner, and from it resulted the match-winning goal. Spencer had come in for close attention in the penalty area, and so he moved to the front post, taking his two markers with him. This left a gap for Sassia to run into and meet the cross square on his head. The jubilant scenes in the stands were matched by the celebrations among the Penarol players. Their South American dream remained alive. There would have to be a play-off to decide who would represent idealism against Independiente. 

The play-off match took place in Buenos Aires, with Uruguayan and Brazilian fans joining Argentine purists in the stands of the Monumental. The supporters were treated to a wonderful Santos goal just before half time, when Pele picked the ball up in the centre circle, and having played a series of one-twos with several of his teammates, found himself played in on goal for a one-on-one chance that he converted with style, chipping the ball over the diving body of the Penarol goalkeeper. The neutrals in the ground were thrilled. In the second half, it was Penarol's turn to win the hearts of the purists, when Juan Joya and Alberto Spencer linked up, with the latter playing a first time ball over the top of the Santos defence for Joya to run on to and fire home into the roof of the net. There were several nearly-moments that followed Penarol's equaliser, but the winner would arrive late into added time when Aureliano fired a pin-point dead ball onto the head of Spencer, who had leaped up at the back post to beat his marker to the ball and give the Uruguayans the win. It was harsh on Santos who had given so much in the 3 games, but there had to be a loser. The applause at the end of the game was directed at both sides. 

The final of the competition was set to be more than a game between two clubs. It represented a battle of ideas. Penarol had shown themselves to be the greatest proponents of the beautiful game, whilst Independiente were highlighting the success of a grittier approach. The game also marked another battle between Argentina and Uruguay, two countries that had a history of violence when it came to their teams meeting on the international stage. Penarol's trip to Avellaneda was very much in keeping with this history, as stones pelted the team bus and players had to be ushered into the stadium and onto the pitch with riot shields held above their heads. The violence didn't stop when they entered the field, as Independiente were happy to join their supporters in the assault. The Penarol players had to steel themselves up for a 90 minutes that could end careers, while still trying to make the effort to play football. Both goalkeepers had very little to do throughout the game as the battle centred on the midfield. Crushing challenges and violent elbows left bruising, scars and anger on the receivers. The Peruvian referee tried to keep the game under control, but soon resigned himself to the busiest evening of his career. By the time Independiente scored the only goal of the game on 83 minutes, Penarol had been reduced to 9 men, with Independiente lucky only to be down to 10. The Argentines took the points and left a psychological mark on their opponents. 

A few days later, the Uruguayan supporters welcomed Independiente to Montevideo in a similar fashion. There was violence on the streets and in the stands, but on the pitch, Penarol found themselves 3-0 up by half-time. Gonçalves, Pedro Rocha and Juan Joya had managed to hit Independiente hard in a metaphorical, rather than literal sense. The Argentines were able to pull a late goal back, but were happy to accept that a play-off tie would be required to decide the winner of the Copa Libertadores. The jubilant Uruguayan press had declared the game a "victory for all that is good in rioplatense football". But the Penarol players were hardly keen on another gruelling 90 minutes against the Independiente thugs. 

Prior to the play-off tie in Santiago, Chile, Aureliano noted in his diary that the Independiente approach was "psychological to its core. It can leave a team feeling defeated before it has even stepped foot onto the park. Players who are of a weaker mental constitution would rather leave the game with their legs still intact, than emerge victorious. For all that there is much to dislike about Independiente, there is a reason that they are so hard to play against." The Colombian had noted that several of his teammates were less than enthusiastic about facing Independiente again. The violence of the matches had left a psychological imprint on them. Even though Penarol had managed to win the game in Montevideo, the Argentines had planted the seeds of doubt ahead of the play-off tie. When the game started at the Estadio Nacional in the Chilean capital, the psychological advantage that Independiente had gained was clear for all to see. By the half-hour mark, the Argentines were 3 goals up. Penarol had defended poorly, with several players pulling out of tackles and refusing to challenge in the air. Juan Joya pulled a goal back just before half-time, but the Uruguayans looked a defeated team. In the second half, Aureliano tried to inspire his teammates to show some passion, but his overly aggressive tackle on hour mark saw him sent off. With 10 men, and a spiritless malaise setting in, Penarol conceded a 4th goal late on. Independiente, for the second consecutive year, had shown that it was their pragmatic, ferocious approach that was the style to beat. Idealism was made to look rudderless and frightened. 

In Europe, Inter Milan would win their second European crown in a row under the great Helenio Herrera. The world of football was beginning to be ruled by the dark arts. As an astute observer of the world game, Aureliano took note of the state of affairs. Even though he was at the heart of the team who stood as the last line of defence for idealism, he was not at all disgusted by the approaches he witnessed from Independiente and Inter Milan. The ideological battle that was being waged in South American football took hold of his soul. He was not at all sure where he stood on the issue, but he could not deny that he felt an admiration for the might of his Libertadores final opponents. 

[Tikka Mezzala]

5

In a cigar-smoke filled room on the second floor of the Estadio Centenario, the preseason board meeting at Club Atletico Penarol got underway. There were discussions about the team's performance in the previous season, the changes to the upcoming Copa Libertadores, the World Cup that was due to be played in England later in the year, and the contract situation of several players, including Aureliano. Roque Maspoli was present in the room to offer insights from dressing room level. The vibe was largely positive, despite the loss to Independiente in the Libertadores final, and most of the news was good on the financial front. The Penarol board were known for being shrewd in the business of football, with value for money always at the very top of their list of priorities. Their approach to the transfer market was particularly effective. Three of their key players came from countries on the Pacific coast of South America, where the cost of doing business was much lower than in Argentina and Brazil. In short: the club was well run. 

Unfortunately for Aureliano, the shrewdness of the board meant that his contract situation was judged particularly harshly. Aureliano was one of the club's top earners, and with his contract due to expire at the end of the 1966 season, there was an opportunity for the club to re-evaluate his financial worth to the team. The Colombian stalwart would turn 30 by the end of the campaign, and the club weren't keen to keep him on his current salary. After some discussion on the matter, several options were drawn up: (1) The club could immediately offer him a 1 year extension, with a view to selling him the following summer for a transfer fee. (2) He could be offered a new short-term deal on reduced terms. (3) He could sign a rolling contract that was made up of bonuses depending on contribution. (4) The club could allow him to leave on a free transfer. No one was particularly keen on option (4), and so it was agreed that the other options would be put to his representative when the time came for talks. Roque Maspoli had tried to make it clear that Aureliano was still a major part of the squad, but the criticism that came the Colombian's way in the press had reached the ears of the board members, and despite having very little data to make their case, they agreed that Aureliano was in decline. Perception was clearly more important than empirical facts. 

Since Aureliano's future was uncertain, the board encouraged Maspoli to entertain the idea of starting Pedro Rocha more in his favoured position of central midfield. Rocha had been the squad's utility man for the past few seasons, filling in on the wings, central-midfield, up front, and once or twice as a right-back. He had the technical quality to play more of a role, but the competition ahead of him was difficult to beat. When the start of the league season came around, Rocha displaced Aureliano for the opening three games. He performed well, but was dropped for the Copa Libertadores matches. 

The CONMEBOL tournament had a change of format for the 1966 season. Each country was now able to send its runner-up to participate. Brazil and Colombia withdrew their teams from the tournament. The Colombian FA were unhappy about the financial side of things, while the Brazilians protested the inclusion of runners-up. The tournament went ahead with representatives from the rest of the CONMEBOL nations. Penarol were drawn into Group 3 alongside Nacional, Municipal, Jorge Wilstermann, Emelec, and 9th de Octubre. Aureliano was re-instated into the starting 11 for the opening game away at Nacional. Penarol started the game reasonably well, with a couple of decent chances. But when Nacional took the lead from a corner on 21 minutes, the flood gates opened. By half-time the score was 3-0 to Nacional. In the second half, a 4th goal was added on the hour mark, and Penarol were lucky that the scoring finished there. The press were quick to point to Aureliano's inclusion as the key factor in Penarol's lacklustre performance, but Roque Maspoli was quick to defend his vice-captain. The following week the Uruguayan champions travelled to the altitude of Cochabamba to take on Bolivian league winners Jorge Wilstermann. The game was a turgid affair on a difficult surface, and when the Bolivians snatched the points in the final 10 minutes, alarm bells starting sounding in the Penarol ranks. 

Penarol did manage to claim some decent wins in the league between their continental duties, beating Cerro and Rampla Juniors to keep pace with Nacional. With pressure from the media to introduce Pedro Rocha into his favoured position for the Libertadores games, Maspoli caved. The Uruguayan midfielder displaced Aureliano for the game against 9th de Octubre in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Penarol trailed from an early goal, before Rocha equalised with a spectacular strike from the edge of the box. Aureliano's replacement then played a key role in the winner, breaking the opposition press before laying the ball out wide to Juan Joya who crossed for Alberto Spencer to score in his homeland. It was a much welcomed 2 points. 

Only 2 teams qualified from the opening group stage, and with Nacional looking strong, and Jorge Wilstermann surprising everyone with their impressive displays, there was no margin for error when Penarol returned to Guayaquil to face Ecuadorian champions Emelec. The Uruguayans went behind again thanks to a mistake at the back from Martinez, but Juan Joya soon levelled with an inspired individual effort. Deep into the second half, Aureliano was brought on for Rocha, and immediately made an impact. The Colombian picked the ball up from one of the defenders, before angling a terrific diagonal pass into the path of Cubilla on the right-wing. Cubilla cut inside to score the winner, and relieve the tension among the Penarol players. It was another hard-earned, but important 2 points. A similar pattern followed in the game against Municipal in La Paz, with Penarol coming from behind to win thanks to Aureliano's introduction from the bench. These key contributions silenced some of the Colombian's critics in the press, and saw him come back into the starting 11 for league and cup duty. 

Penarol dropped points against Defensor in the league, meaning they trailed Nacional for the first time that season. But their Libertadores form started to build. Comfortable wins against both Bolivian sides in Montevideo placed Penarol's fate in their own hands. If they could beat both Ecuadorian sides at home in their next 2 games, it would seal their passage to the next round. The first to arrive in Montevideo was 9th de Octubre: they were put to the sword thanks to first-half goals from Pedro Rocha and Alberto Spencer. When Emelec arrived for the crucial deciding match, they were to find Penarol in a rampant mood, with the Uruguayans running out 4-1 winners. It was the sort of form that people expected of the 2 times winners of the competition. After a disastrous start to their campaign, they had qualified with a game to spare. 

The last match of the first group stage came at home to Nacional. Penarol's bitter rivals led in the Uruguayan league, and their 4-0 win earlier in the competition suggested that this was to be their season. But the Manyas fired back with a 3-0 win of their own, thanks to goals from Pedro Rocha (2) and Juan Joya. The win secured Penarol 1st place in the group, with Nacional following them into the semi-final group stage. 

Copa Libertadores 1966: Group 3:

(1) Penarol 16pts

(2) Nacional 15pts

(3) Jorge Wilstermann 10pts

(4) Municipal 9pts

(5) Emelec 8pts

(6) 9th de Octubre 2pts

The semi-final group stage draw pitted Penarol and Nacional together again, alongside Chilean runners-up Universidad Catolica. The Chileans had come through a difficult group with Guarani and Olimpia or Paraguay, as well as their compatriots Universidad de Chile. The opening two game of the semi-final group stage saw both Uruguayan sides visit the Chilean capital, Santiago. On matchday 1, a headed goal from Fernando Ibanez gave Catolica a 1-0 win against Penarol. They followed this up with another 1-0 win against Nacional. The South American press were starting to take notice of the tournament dark horses, who were on the verge of reaching the final at the expense of two of the pre-tournament favourites. 

Ahead of their crucial meeting in group B of the Libertadores, Nacional and Penarol drew 0-0 in a tepid league encounter. The match saw Penarol blow their chance to move level with their rivals, with them now having to rely on favours from other teams to claw their way back into the title race. When the sides resumed their rivalry in the copa, Pedro Rocha showed his true worth to the team with a fantastic hattrick in a 3-0 Penarol win. The goals marked his 10th, 11th, and 12th of the season, beating Aureliano's best tally for the club. Although Nacional managed to overcome Universidad Catolica 3-2 in their clash in Montevideo, Penarol put themselves on the verge of the final with a 2-0 win of their own over the Chileans. Rocha was once again on the goal trail, finishing off a fantastic team move to give Penarol the lead. Juan Joya added the 2nd, with Penarol now a draw away from reaching the Copa Libertadores final once again. 

Nacional had overcome their most difficult remaining league fixtures away at Cerro and Danubio, to put themselves on the verge of the Uruguayan Primera title. But they would probably have traded those results for a win against Penarol to force a play-off tie in Group B. With the rain lashing down in the Uruguayan capital, both sides contested a ferocious encounter at the Estadio Centenario. The match was settled by the only shot on target from Penarol substitute Julio Cortes. Both sides had men sent off, and the referee dished out 15 yellow cards. Aureliano was on the receiving end of a brutal lunge in the first half that saw him stretchered off with a swollen ankle. But it was Nacional who paid the ultimate price, losing 1-0 and heading out of the competition. 

Copa Libertadores 1966: Semi Final Group B:

(1) Penarol 6pts

(2) Universidad Catolica 4pts

(3) Nacional 2pts

Ahead of the Copa Libertadores final against River Plate, Penarol lost out in the Uruguayan title race. The season went down to the final fixture, with Nacional only needing to draw. While Penarol did secure a victory themselves away at Montevideo Wanderers, Nacional's resounding 4-1 victory against Sud America clinched the title. It was a bitter blow for Penarol who had generated decent momentum in the final stretch of league games. 

Final Standings: Uruguayan Primera 1966:

(1) Nacional 28pts

(2) Penarol 26pts

(3) Cerro 23pts

(4) Rampla Juniors 22pts

(5) Danubio 22pts

(6) Sud America 14pts

(7) Montevideo Wanderers 13pts

(8) Defensor 12pts

(9) Fenix 10pts

(10) Racing de Montevideo 10pts

With the Uruguayan title race concluded, all focus turned to the Copa Libertadores final. River Plate, who represented Argentine idealism, had seen off both Boca Juniors and Independiente to reach their first ever final. Aureliano returned from injury for the tie, though he was overlooked in favour of Pedro Rocha for the first leg in Montevideo. The game was played in front of 46,000 spectators, and the atmosphere was electric. Channelling the energy from the stands, Penarol put in a strong first-half performance, but there was no scoring. River were keen to play some good football themselves, and grew into the game during the second half. Despite some neat passages of play, the visitors never managed to craft an opening for themselves. This allowed Penarol to capitalise in the 75th minute. Aureliano had been introduced from the bench 5 minutes before, and he managed to dispossess the River Plate number 10, before releasing Juan Joya on the left. Joya dribbled inside and played a through ball into the path of Alberto Spencer who gave Penarol the lead. 10 minutes later it was Joya on the scoresheet, after Spencer dropped deep, pulling one of the defenders with him, and allowed the space to open up for Aureliano to play in the Peruvian. Joya finished well under the body of the River Plate goalkeeper. Half the job was done.

The Estadio Monumental welcomed 60,000 for the second leg. Despite his key contribution to the team's first-leg victory, Roque Maspoli opted to keep Aureliano on the bench from the start. This decision seemed to be vindicated when Pedro Rocha gave Penarol the lead on 35 minutes. Unfortunately, Daniel Onega pegged the Uruguayans back immediately with the River Plate equaliser. Early in the second half, Alberto Spencer went on a mazy run, and after playing a one-two on the edge of the penalty area with Borges, the Ecuadorian put Penarol back in front. River Playe repeated the feat of equalising right away, after Gonçalves was dispossessed near his own penalty area, allowing Juan Sarnari to score. Ermindo Onega then won the game for River on 69 minutes with a superb strike direct from a free-kick. The game was praised in the media for displaying all the qualities that rioplatense purists most admired. But the sides couldn't be separated after 180 minutes. 

The play-off tie was set for Santiago's Estadio Nacional. The Chilean capital was braced for a fixture between two of the continent's best footballing sides. The local media drummed up so much interest, that at least a third of the supporters in the stadium were Chileans who wanted to witness the spectacle. They were duly rewarded. River Plate raced into a two goal lead in the first half, thanks to goals from Daniel Onega and Jorge Solari. The Buenos Aires giants were well-worth their half-time lead. But the second half took on a completely different tone, as Penarol pulled the scoreline back to 2-2. Extra time would be needed to separate the rioplatense rivals in the Chilean heat. On 102 minutes Alberto Spencer put Penarol ahead for the first time on the evening with a spectacular diving header. River scrambled to try and get back into the game, firing more direct balls forward and abandoning their usual patient approach. But they were caught on the break when Juan Joya picked up a loose ball in his own half, dribbled the length of the touchline, and crossed to find Pedro Rocha, Penarol's new hero, there to meet the ball with his outstretched leg. At 4-2, there was no way back for River Plate. Aureliano came off the bench in the second-half of extra time to add solidity. When the final whistle blew in the Estadio Nacional, he dropped to his knees and shed the first tears of his adult life. After a testing season, he and Penarol were South American champions once more. 

The only things left to conclude in the 1966 season were the Intercontinental Cup and Aureliano's contract situation. Heading into the first-leg of the tie against Real Madrid, Father Lynch had met with the Penarol board to discuss the Colombian's future. The Irishman was clear that he felt his client had at least 3 years left at the top of his game, but the Penarol board had insisted that Pedro Rocha was the new orchestrator in the team's midfield. When Penarol beat Real Madrid 2-0 in Montevideo, with Rocha scoring both goals, it was hard for Father Lynch to argue against the club's position. In the return game at the Bernabeu, with the team leading 1-0 in the final 10 minutes, Aureliano entered the field for the final time in the black and yellow of Penarol. In those final moments, he was to make one last contribution to the club's growing history. Seeing that Real Madrid's players were mentally defeated and not tracking back, he decided to abandon his defensive position and get forward for a counter-attack. Juan Joya escaped the attention of his marker on the left, and swung a looping ball into the back post area. Alberto Spencer rose highest to nod the ball goalwards, but it deflected off the post and rolled back across the six yard box. The goalkeeper was stranded on the floor, and a race was on between Aureliano and the Madrid centre backs to reach the loose ball first. In a moment that seemed to go into slow motion, Aureliano slid across the turf, and before crashing with the legs of two Madrid players, he knocked the ball over the line and scored the final goal in a 2-0 win at the Bernabeu. Penarol were officially the best team on the planet. It was a fitting end to 8 years as a Manya. 

With the season at an end, the 30 year old Aureliano mulled his future. He was out of contract, and unsure of where his next step would be. On a quiet Sunday afternoon in Montevideo, sitting at home while Fermina read and Arcadio played at his parents' feet, Aureliano received a phone call: "Hello, Senor Cordoba. My name is Osvaldo Zubeldia..."

[bigmattb28]

Oooooh wonder where Aurelino will end up!! Great way to end his time in Penarol

[Tikka Mezzala]

Part 4: Anti-Futbol

1

At a racetrack on the edges of Buenos Aires, a well-dressed man leans on a white metal railing with a betting slip clenched between his thumb and forefinger. His eyes are fixed on the starting gates where the 3pm derby will soon explode into life. There is a chilling wind in the atmosphere, and so the man unfolds the collar on his coat to protect the back of his neck from the cold breath of winter. In the quiet of his mind, he watches alternative futures unfold, considering all the possibilities in minute detail. The weight of the jockey, the feel of the terrain on the horses' hooves, the noise from the stands, the integrity of the starting gates; if only these things could be under his control. 

At two seconds past the hour, the horses bolt from the gates and tear up the surface underfoot. The thumping sound of galloping hooves mixes in the air with excited shouting from the terraces. The jockeys violently lash away as they try to pull ahead of the pack. Hearts pound, feet stomp, fists punch the air. As the horses pull into the final stretch, some have already lost hope. Betting slips are torn, and fall to the ground like innocent snow. Feet can be heard marching away in disgust. Wages have been lost, and marriages have been wrecked under the thumping of hooves. There is no photo finish for our well-dressed man, who silently makes his way for the exit with the failed betting slip still in-hand. As he makes for the car park, a fellow loser turns to him and says "you look like a man who has backed the wrong horse." The well-dressed gentleman smiles, and after a brief moment replies: "I backed the wrong jockey."

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Osvaldo Zubeldia was an avid gambler who frequented the race tracks around Buenos Aires and La Plata. In those moments of surrender to chance, he would find in himself a Sisyphean desire to conquer fate. Everyone at the racetracks knew that there were too many variables to consider to make anything more than an educated guess at the betting counters, but Zubeldia felt it his life's purpose to reveal the laws governing our greatest uncertainties. 

Since retiring from playing professional football in a relatively unspectacular career, he had taken on two roles in football management with differing success. His first job came at Club Atletico Atlanta from the Villa Crespo district of Buenos Aires. In three years with the Primera Division minnows, Zubeldia brought a sense of solidity and stability to the club, achieving three consecutive mid-table finishes, and pulling off a number of major upsets against the Grande clubs that dominated the Argentinian game. His work with Atlanta brought him to the attention of the Argentinian Football Association, who appointed him head coach in 1965. After some disappointing performances and personal differences with the AFA, Zubeldia walked away from the post less than a year after taking the job. One of the central issues around Zubeldia's time as Albiceleste manager was his approach to the game tactically. The country's footballing identity was still being forged, but the general feeling among the public footballing-intellectuals was that Argentina should approach the game as some of the great clubs in the past had, particularly River Plate's La Maquina side of the 1940s. But this commitment to an aesthetic had brought little international success to the country, and as such, rebel factions were making the case for a more pragmatic approach. The Independiente side that triumphed in back-to-back Libertadores campaigns provided the strongest argument in favour of what had become known as anti-futbol, 

While Independiente lead the case for pragmatism in the 1960s, it was Zubeldia's old boss Victorio Spinetto who stepped out of the crowd in the previous decades. As manager of Velez Sarsfield, Spinetto employed an alternative romantic vision: rather than commit to the spectacle, the Velez Sarsfield man committed to winning. There was no ideal higher than making one's club a success in Spinetto's eyes. The Velez side that he took over in the 40s had been relegated to the Segunda Division. With limited resources to steer the ship out of stormy waters, Spinetto introduced many of the club's youth players to the first team, and with a battling spirit that would become characteristic of his teams, Velez were promoted back to the top flight at the first time of asking. After establishing themselves as a Primera Division club once again, the high-point of Spinetto's reign arrived in 1953. That season, Velez finished runners-up, becoming the first team outside the Grande Five to break into the top-two. 

While there were better teams around that achieved more than Spinetto's Velez Sarsfield side, no one could match them for toughness, stamina, and determination; three attributes that collectively make up fibra. A tracksuit wearing coach on the touchline, Spinetto could often be seen with a towel thrown over his shoulder, with one knee elevated on the bench, providing support to his arm, which in turn supported his chin. He was a powerful motivator and often asked the players questions like what would your mothers think of you if you lost this game? Despite his reputation for being hard, there was a warm human being underneath the rough exterior, and he always stressed humanitarian values. 

Osvaldo Zubeldia played for Spinetto at Velez between 1949 and 1955. As a striker, Zubeldia found himself doing a lot of defensive work, exemplifying fibra from the front. It was during these years that he learned the basic ingredients for creating a side that would bow down to no one, regardless of reputation or stature. Although Spinetto arguably laid the foundations for the anti-futbol that would come to divide a nation through the 60s and beyond, Osvaldo Zubeldia would become the high-priest of the dark arts. 

After leaving Argentina mid-way through 1965, Zubeldia accepted the position of head-coach at La Plata side Estudiantes. The club had been teetering above the relegation places for a few years, but found themselves deep in trouble by the time Zubeldia took charge. The former Velez striker immediately turned to the club's youth system, where he promoted a raft of players, keeping only four of the first-team players involved due to poor performances. With young impressionable minds, Zubeldia could begin to mould a team based upon the principle of fibra. 

Remarkably, Zubeldia turned the season around in a short space of time. His young side managed to finish in a respectable 6th place, ahead of Grande sides Independiente and San Lorenzo. A 7th place finish followed in the 1966 season, but there was a real sense that something was beginning to grow in La Plata. Zubeldia had become known for his meticulous planning. Unlike any coaches prior to him, he would study opponents in incredible detail, outlining tactical systems and psychological profiles of opposition players. Every advantage was to be used. How Estudiantes set up would depend on the opponent. El Grafico described the team's approach as "football that is designed over a hard week of laboratory work, and explodes on the seventh day with an effectiveness that consecrates the tale of positions. Because Estudiantes continue to manufacture points just as they manufacture football, with more work than talent, they keep on winning." 

The training at Estudiantes was harder and more meticulous than anything South America had ever seen before. Carlos Bilardo, one of the club's midfielders, told the press: "All the possibilities afforded by the game were foreseen and practiced. Corners, free-kicks, and throw-ins were used to our best advantage, and we also had secret signs and language which we used to make our opponents fall into the trap." Zubeldia also pioneered two influential tactics: the offside trap and pressing. The Estudiantes manager even went as far as to say: “I believe in the offside because it crushes the opponent morally; the forward that ends up offside five times ends up being afraid of going into the area”. 

For all the tactical innovations that were being rolled out at the club, there was also the dark side of things. Estudiantes became known for the violence with which they played the game. There was a clear attempt to intimidate the opposition, and every player seemed to relish feisty encounters. But perhaps worst of all was the psychological mind games. Juan Ramon Veron admitted that the team tried to find out everything about the opposition, including their habits, their characters, their weaknesses, and even their private lives in a bid to goad them. In a match against Independiente during the 1966 season, there was a player on the opposition team who had accidentally killed a friend during a hunting trip. All game, the Estudiantes players chanted "murderer!" at him. There was a goalkeeper at Racing Club who had a very close relationship with his mother. She did not want him to marry, but he eventually did, and six months later his mother died. Carlos Bilardo walked up to him and said: "Congratulations. You've finally killed your mother." Bilardo, who was a qualified doctor, drew on his contacts in the medical profession to attain sensitive information about opposition players. He managed to get Racing Club midfielder Roberto Perfumo sent off when he taunted him about a cyst that his wife recently had removed. They were masters of antagonising people, and their methods were highly effective.

It was during the preseason ahead of the 1967 campaign that Zubeldia was alerted to a potential bargain from Uruguay. While Estudiantes were a less attractive prospect than one of the Buenos Aires clubs, Zubeldia was confident that if the club moved quickly and he could get to speak with Aureliano Cordoba, he could convince the Colombian veteran to join the Argentine game's outsiders. On a Sunday afternoon during the off-season, Zubeldia made the call to Montevideo, and after half an hour explaining his views on football and his ambitions for Estudiantes, he had managed to convince the Colombian to join the club ahead of the 1967 season. For Aureliano, it was a chance to finally sample the madness and glory of Argentinian football. For Estudiantes and Zubeldia, it was a chance to sign a decorated midfielder for free. 

Edited October 15, 2020 by Tikka Mezzala

[ChileanRanger]

I foresee Aureliano making recurrent appearances in the writings of a certain Galeano fellow...

[Tikka Mezzala]

2

The streets of La Plata are paved with ****. At least that's what Aureliano was told by a Buenos Aires local as he asked for directions to the twelve o'clock train headed to the provincial capital. The news of Aureliano's transfer to Estudiantes had preceded his arrival in Argentina, and so everywhere he turned in the railway station, his face looked back at him from the newspaper and tobacco stands. In choosing Estudiantes, he had pissed off supporters of most Buenos Aires-based clubs. It was for this reason that he would be directed to the wrong train, making him late for his appointment with his new manager, Osvaldo Zubeldia. 

Mid-way through the afternoon training session, Aureliano showed up at the Estudiantes headquarters. A young woman with thick framed glasses directed him to the waiting area. It would be five long hours before he was called to finally meet the Estudiantes manager. The first meeting did not go well. 'Was I wrong about you, Aureliano?' was all that Zubeldia had to say to him as he sat at an awkwardly long distance away from the Argentine's desk. Aureliano tried to excuse himself, informing Zubeldia that some River Plate supporters had tried to put him on the train to Ushuaia. 'Follow the ball, not the man' Zubeldia replied. The comment was followed by an awkward silence, before the Estudiantes coach dismissed Aureliano, telling him he had a final chance to arrive on time tomorrow. The Colombian stood up, feeling his professional pride, gained over an incredibly successful career, quashed into the ground under the weight of Zubeldia's iron fist. It was crystal clear that under the Argentine manager's watch, all that Aureliano had achieved meant nothing. He was just one name on the roster; a kid from Santa Cruz de Mompox in the bustling metropolis of Argentinian football.