Followers of Enrique Omar Sivori bade tearful farewell on Friday to the Argentina soccer great who led River Plate and Juventus of Italy to glory in his heyday half a century ago.
Sivori, who had been struggling with pancreatic cancer, died Thursday and was laid to rest Friday at a cemetery in his native San Nicolas, about 230km north of the capital of Buenos Aires. He was 69.
Prominent newspaper La Nacion called Sivori the soccer "ace without borders" in reference to his Argentine-Italian dual citizenship and his starring roles on fields both in South America and Europe.
Others hailed the "soccer genius" who dominated the field for both River Plate and Juventus beginning in the 1950s.
Sivori, honored as the best European soccer player of 1961, played on both the Argentine and Italian national squads and was a memorable onfield presence throughout the 1950s and most of the 1960s.
Known for his flowing hair and a powerful left foot, he starred at forward with the kind of mastery that would be likened later to the ball-handling wizardry of Diego Maradona.
"He was amazing ... a first-class dribbler who had speed and the ability to surprise at any moment," said Humberto Maschio, a former teammate on the Argentine national team.
Sivori led Argentina to the 1957 South American championship, winning the title on a team that included Omar Corbatta, Osvaldo Cruz and Humberto Maschio and remembered for its offensive prowess.
En route to the title, the team scored 21 goals in four games, including a 8-0 rout of Colombia.
As part of River Plate's lineup, Sivori also led the Buenos Aires club to league titles in 1955, 1956 and 1957. Sivori went on to Juventus of Italy where he won a huge following as he helped that squad to three league titles -- in 1958, 1960 and 1961 and to two Italian Cup victories -- in 1959 and 1960.
He remains revered among Juventus fans who still recall his 135 goals in 215 games.
Sivori closed out his career at Napoli in 1968, lifting the team to a 2nd-place finish in one season.
HOMETOWN ZERO: Fans relished the fall of former Brewer-turned-Cubs manager Craig Counsell, as Milwaukee braces to face the Dodgers, who in 2018 denied them a pennant Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy has referred to his team as the “Average Joes,” a nod to their small-market status and lack of big names, but after they beat rivals the Chicago Cubs 3-1 in the decisive fifth game of their National League Division Series (NLDS) on Saturday night, Murphy decided it was time for an upgrade. “You can call them the average Joes, but I say they’re the above-average Joes,” he said. The Brewers relied on contributions from just about every player to get past the Cubs. Andrew Vaughn hit a tiebreaking homer in the fourth inning, and William Contreras and Brice
TITLE CAMPAIGN: The victory sent the Monkeys to the Taiwan Series for the third time in the past four seasons as they seek their first championship since 2019 The stage is set for the Taiwan Series after the Rakuten Monkeys on Monday beat the Uni-President Lions 4-3 in Game 5 of the CPBL Challenger Series in Kaohsiung. The Monkeys, who entered the top of the ninth scoreless, tied the game with a three-run blast by Lin Chih-ping and scored the winning run in the 10th on an RBI single by Lin Li, a three-time batting champion in the CPBL. Both players entered the game as pinch hitters. “The coach told me to stay prepared as a pinch hitter in the later part of the game. My teammates had
The Ministry of Sports on Wednesday night called for the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) to address issues in Taiwanese soccer after national manager Huang Che-ming on Tuesday resigned following Taiwan’s elimination in AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Taiwan on Tuesday were thrashed 6-1 by Thailand in their Group D tie at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Taiwan finished with no points, after losing all four of their matches, eliminating them from qualifying for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. Huang made his surprise resignation at a post-match news conference, following three losses since he took over the team from English coach Gary White in August. Huang
Taiwanese badminton ace Chou Tien-chen was crowned the men’s singles champion at the Arctic Open on Sunday, after defeating Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 21-11, 13-21, 21-19. The 35-year-old Chou, who is ranked world No. 5, and the 24-year-old Vitidsarn, ranked world No. 3, battled it out for one hour and 17 minutes in a grueling three-game match at Energia Areena in Vantaa, Finland. In the first game, Chou took an early 9-7 lead and maintained his momentum, widening the gap, before defeating Vitidsarn 21-11. At the start of the second game, the two players were neck-and-neck. When Vitidsarn pulled ahead
RSS