Cesar Luis Menotti, the coach who won the 1978 World Cup with the Argentina national football team, the first in the country’s history, died on Sunday at the age of 85. It has communicated the Argentine Football Association (AFA), the Argentine football federation.
Menotti was born on 22 October 1938 in Rosario, although his birth certificate was only registered on 5 November. In the 1960s he played as a striker in three teams in his country (Rosario Central, Racing Club and Boca Juniors) and in 1967 he was bought by the New York Generals, a team from New York City that went bankrupt the following year. He ended his career as a professional footballer in Brazil, playing for two Sao Paulo teams, Santos and Clube Atlético Juventus.
However, Menotti is remembered above all for having coached the Argentine national team at the 1978 World Cup, which they won by beating the Netherlands 3 to 1 in the final. In the final Argentina took the lead in the first half with number ten, Mario Kempes. However, in the 82nd minute he equalized Dick Nanninga, taking the game to extra time. Kempes was the one to resolve the situation again, when in the 105th minute he discarded two defenders and fortunately jumped the goalkeeper: he managed to score anticipating the other defenders who were arriving. In the 115th minute Daniel Bertoni scored the goal to make it 3-1.
They were the first World Cup won by Argentina, and also the first in which politics and sport mixed in a sensational way, fueling controversies, protests and boycotts: they took place during the military dictatorship of Jorge Videla, and today they are nicknamed the “World Cup of shame”. ”.
In his career, Menotti also coached three European clubs: Barcelona (in the 1986-1987 season), Atletico Madrid (1987-1988) and Sampdoria (for half the season in 1997). In 2020 he was appointed general manager of the Argentine national team, a role he held until the day of his death.
– Read also: The “World Cup of Shame” of 1978