Argentina, a candidate of all for the two World Cups that were not played

He sounded amidst all the applause. within the playing field He was a crack, he was a magician, he was a scorer. Outside, it was tango, it was cobbled, it was a neighborhood. “Yesterday Tucho Mendez came to see me / and in a big hug he urged me to meditate, / so little by little my mind was populated / his sweet memories that I will not forget. / I dreamed of those distant moments / when I was a slovenly man with a thirst for life / weaving very beautiful dribbles on the lawn / and scoring great goals feeling happy … “, is portrayed in the texts of Manuel Pose to which Victorio Papini has set music. Norberto Doroteo Méndez was one of the great midfielders in the history of Argentine football. Y one of the main references of the 1940s, when Argentina could have won two more World Cups.

He played in Huracán, in Racing and in Tigre. And in the national team he distinguished himself as very few: even now, in view of Qatar 2022, he is the all-time top scorer in the Copa América (he scored 17 goals, like the Brazilian Zizinho). More: Back then, it raised the trophy for the oldest continental competition ever three occasions (1945, 1946 and 1947).

There is too much data to count: tucho it was an important piece of every club he played for, a reason to become a fan, reason enough to queue up to buy a popular one in the sun every Sunday. It is also an everlasting emblem of a golden age for Argentine football: days of cracks at every step.

“I’ve lived many lifetimes. I don’t regret it. Maybe now I’ll go back to the days when I was a star with a neatly trimmed mustache.”, confessed to the journalist Miguel Frías in one of his last offered notes, already close to death in 1998. Tucho was an inevitable character of those days. He has appeared in graphic commercials, in songs, in bar speeches. And he was also called upon to star in the film with the same colors, along with two other iconic footballers of the time: Mario Boyé and Alfredo Di Stéfano. His football – and what it was then – was a party every week.

About the “golden age”

In those years, in the so-called “Golden Age ” of Argentine football, the World Cup was a forced absence that took away from the eyes of the world so many talents from this corner of the planet. The Second World War prevented the realization of the 1942 and 1946 editions.

journalist and historian oscar barnado said in this writing that process: “As soon as the 1938 World Cup ended in France, in which Argentina did not participate, the leaders began to think about organizing the second World Cup in South America. In May 1939, they made that wish come true by sending a letter to FIFA applying for the event. So did Germany. The issue was to be addressed at the Luxembourg Congress in May 1940, but the outbreak of the Second World War stopped everything. The incipient professional football in Argentina has consolidated “.

The analysis continues: “The River Machine was his greatest expression, but most of the teams shone. Guillermo Stábile had become an undisputed figure as a coach, starting with the South American team in Chile, in 1941, which comfortably won. Therefore, it is not illogical to think that Argentina could have won one of two frustrated tournaments in that decade. When the World Cup in Brazil was defined by two South American teams, that certainty gained more strength. Above all because Argentina had shown its superiority at the South American level “..

It is a feeling that has transcended its time. Juan Mora y Araujo, in the book History of Argentine footballunderlined about the 1950 World Cup, which Uruguay won against Brazil: “(…) a style triumphed: the one that was born, developed and acquired hierarchy on the banks of the Río de la Plata. And it triumphed through a representation that, at that time, was not its highest expression, since the process of professionalism had already transformed River Plate’s superiority towards the Argentine team “. As in the 1920s, the best football took place on these two shores whose capitals were (and are) Buenos Aires and Montevideo.. Even then, the power of the growing territory that founded the jogo bonito appeared.

In this context, with the titles accumulated at the time by Argentina (South Americans in 1941, 1945, 1946 and 1947) and the proliferation of players and great teams, held the idea of ​​superiority.

Also with San Lorenzo’s impressive tour of Europe between 1946 and 1947, which includes sensational goals against the national teams of Spain and Portugal.

It has been talked about Argentina could form two teams with a couple of cracks in each position. Few names serve to illustrate, even beyond Tucho Méndez: José Manuel Moreno, Antonio Sastre, Sebastián Gualco, Ernesto Lazzati, Vicente De la Mata, Higinio García, Eliseo Mouriño, Angel Labruna, Mario Boyé, Rubén Bravo, Félix Loustau, Adolfo Pedernera, Natalio Pescia, Amadeo Carrizo, Ernesto Grillo, Enrique Sívori, Antonio Angelillo, Rogelio Domínguez, Néstor Rossi, Ernesto Cucchiaroni, Humberto Male, René Pontoni, Pedro Dellacha, Ricardo Infante, Manuel Pellegrina, Rinaldo Martino …

The after those magical days

Argentina then refused to participate in the World Cup in Brazil 1950 and Switzerland in 1954. The real reason, never taken for granted, was not to exhibit the national team, especially due to the exodus of figures abroad (to Colombia and Europe, above all) which prevented us from counting, for example, with the immense Alfredo Di Stefanowho made his debut with the black and white jersey in 1947 in South America.

However, once, Valentín Suárez (president of the AFA between 1949 and 1953) pointed out that the final decision had been made by the President of the Nation, Juan Domingo Perón, since it was not possible to give the “total security” of obtaining the title. For that government, sport was a matter of state. It’s a way to show yourself to the world. However, that look never had an official stamp.

The hard blow received at the 1958 World Cup, after the magical demonstration of the Carasucia in the Sudamericano de Lima the previous year, it appeared as a milestone capable of questioning all previous perceptions.

The 1-6 against Czechoslovakia, the premature elimination and the hostile reception at Ezeiza airport tell how that return to the top was: a resounding failure.

In any case, the alleged truth that we were the best in universal football when the World Cup was not played continues to beat in the corners of the world. The quantity and quality of the stars of that time justify it. They go beyond the myth, which obviously also exists.