He wasn’t just an icon on the sidelines: Argentina’s 1978 World Cup coach César Luis Menotti. The football world is mourning the loss of a great man – including Lionel Messi.
Argentina’s then national coach Cesar Luis Menotti (center) and Daniel Passarella (right) at a friendly in Bern in 1979.
Imago
(sda) Cesar Luis Menotti died on Sunday at the age of 85. “El Flaco” led Argentina to its first World Cup title in 1978 during the dictatorship of the right-wing military junta. The world champion coach stood for “left-wing football”.
He was the esthete among the football teachers, the philosopher in the dugout. Cesar Luis Menotti was never just about winning, but always about finding the most elegant way to victory. “The ball is to the player what words are to the poet: at the foot or at the head it can transform into a work of art,” he once said. “Football gave me an opportunity to express myself.”
Already with his first coaching title in 1973 with the Huracan club in the Argentine league, “El Flaco” (the skinny one) defined his style: “Offensive, clean, happy” – in contrast to a purely result-oriented game. “The teams that won with good play will be remembered,” he once told the newspaper Clarin. This is “left-wing” football.
Dictatorship of tactics and terror of systems defeated
His greatest triumph came precisely during the period of military dictatorship in Argentina. The junta around dictator Rafael Videla hoped that the 1978 World Cup in their own country would bring recognition and prestige beyond Argentina. And Menotti – who had even become a member of the Communist Party in his hometown of Rosario – delivered.
In the final, the Albiceleste beat the Netherlands 3-1 and were crowned world champions for the first time. However, the path to the final was paved with scandals; the hosts were said to have been favored again and again. The 6-0 win against Peru is considered one of the most controversial games in football history. There are numerous indications that the victory was simply bought.
Although Menotti did not openly criticize the military, he did let his rejection of the junta shine through. “My players have defeated the dictatorship of tactics and the terror of systems,” he said, for example, after the World Cup victory.
Menotti (right) with Diego Armando Maradona in 1981.
Imago
A philosopher to the end
After the Argentine national team failed in the second round of the 1982 World Cup in Spain, after defeats against eventual world champions Italy and arch-rivals Brazil, Menotti had to vacate his post. In the following years, the passionate chain smoker trained, among others, FC Barcelona and Atlético Madrid as well as the Mexican national team.
At the age of 80, he got another job with the Argentine Football Association and became general director of his country’s various national teams. But above all, he was a football philosopher until the end, expressing his thoughts in numerous columns and interviews. He railed against the market logic in football and the economization of the game. “Football is so much more than a business,” said Menotti in a radio interview.
Argentina’s 1978 world champion coach died on Sunday at the age of 85. “One of the great figures in our football has left us,” wrote Lionel Messi on Instagram. FIFA President Gianni Infantino also paid tribute to Menotti: “Many coaches followed Menotti’s vision of the beautiful game. His playing philosophy will be his legacy.”