When Argentine legend Alfredo di Stefano passed away at the age of 88 on Monday, one of the last remaining ties to a golden age of Latin American soccer was cut.
The 1940s belonged to Argentine soccer — and for the first half of the decade, the sport was dominated by one of the greatest teams to have graced a field: River Plate.
Now mostly forgotten outside the continent, the Argentine first-division club played precision “total football” — little wonder that they became known as la Maquina (the Machine). When Di Stefano, who started at River Plate before becoming Real Madrid’s most famous player, was asked who the five greatest players were, he listed La Maquina’s five forwards: Juan Carlos Munoz, Jose Manuel Moreno, Angel Labruna, Adolfo Pedernera and Felix Loustau.
Moreno was not only the team’s best player, but also the most charismatic. He might have surpassed Argentine great Diego Maradona had he looked after himself, but the call of the tango hall and beautiful women proved too distracting.
Yet Moreno was unapologetic about his choices, saying: “Yes, I like the night life. So what? I never missed a training session. Don’t come telling me to drink milk. The time I drank milk, I played badly.”
Even though the best soccer was being played in Argentina, the relationship between club and player remained feudal. Strikes in 1948 paved the way for an exodus of Argentina’s best players to an unsanctioned pirate league in Colombia. Years later, Di Stefano remained irate about the incident.
“They exploited us in an intolerable way,” he said. “Signing for a club meant submitting to its discretion for an unlimited time.”
It was in Spain that Di Stefano would make his mark, paving the way for generations of Latin Americans to make their names in Europe. His greatness lay not just in his skill, but also in his speed.
“In every era, one can apply Einstein’s theory of relativity to its best players. There’s nothing faster than light,” said Oscar Barnade of Argentine newspaper Clarin.
“At the end of the 1940s, during a time of much slower-paced soccer, Di Stefano revolutionized the attack of River [Plate]. Speed and precision in ball control; physical and mental speed. He ran the length and breadth of the pitch. There was no one like him,” Barnade said.
Pele, Johan Cruyff and Maradona all confirm the theory that the greatest players have had speed in addition to talent.
In Lionel Messi, Argentina has found its new messiah. Like Di Stefano, the Barcelona striker plies his trade outside the continent of his birth, but sticks to the best tradition of South American soccer.
With Argentina in the final after beating the Netherlands on Wednesday, this year’s FIFA World Cup is Messi’s for the taking, though los Albicelestes’ dream of meeting — and beating — Brazil in the final did not come true.
Argentina may be in mourning over the loss of one its greatest players, hosts Brazil will not be mourning their World Cup team after their spectacular failure in the other semi-final saw them crushed 7-1 by an unspectacular Germany.
For Brazilian writer Nelson Rodrigues, the Selecao’s 1950 loss to Uruguay on home soil highlighted a sense of inferiority about the country’s place in the world, but that was not the case this time.
This World Cup humiliation reflects what this tournament has failed to achieve for the country. As all the event has managed is papering over the cracks in Brazilian society, the unprecedented loss may be the wake-up call that the country needs.
As for Messi, history awaits as he leads Argentina into the final against Germany, where he has the chance to take his place alongside Di Stefano as among the greatest that the continent has produced.
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