He died like Gardel, in Medellín. And young, like Carlitos. Also like him he returned to the homeland in a coffin. On January 17, 1982, a sudden heart attack told him that just 54 years old is enough. I had so much football inside, still…! First there was a burning chapel in the capital of Antioquia wrapped in green and white flags, three days later they watched over it again at 1 and 57, the Student court.
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All his former players were present, all crying their eyes out, thousands of fans shouting “ZU-BEL-DÍA, ZU-BEL-DÍA…!” and the juniors throwing red and white carnations on the drawer. The cheers and raised arms diminished, the hearse headed towards Junín, the small settlement where his love for baseball flourished. Wise, the procession touched the three cities he loved: Medellín, La Plata and Junín.
He had a rare mixture of liveliness that comes from the big city, where he arrived as a boy to join Vélez, and the simplicity of the country man. He was a simple and unassuming man, from clothes to vocabulary, but with a remarkable intelligence and a keen neighborhood cunning. When I was a teenager, the same thing happened with Zubeldía as with Verón: I hated Estudiantes for their defensive and unsightly game, but I adored La Bruja, that lefty who dribbled everyone, and Zubeldía, a cunning without equal. Two geniuses.
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José María Muñoz was the number one rapporteur on Argentine radio. And two and three. He deeply admired Osvaldo Zubeldía and put him on the air after each Estudiantes game. It was a delight to listen to him with his half-flute and folksy voice. Students went from being an easy squad to a terrible, unbearable and winning rival. His combo of advantage, strong leg, tricks and pressure marking was labeled anti-football. And he lined up all the other fans against.
–Do you know what’s going on, Muñoz…? That Students does not sell, but wins, and that bothers.
If Renato Cesarini, Labruna, Lorenzo, Menotti, Bilardo, Pastoriza, Basile, Bielsa, Bianchi, Pekerman, Simeone, Gallardo were present at a meeting and Osvaldo Zubeldía entered, they would all stand up, for sure. Coach was born. He knew them all, he had plenty of street and had an overwhelming charisma. The footballers must admire the coach, think that he knows more than them, so everything goes smoothly. And Zubeldía exuded wisdom. That is why he extracted the most from them.
-Osvaldo’s main virtue was the treatment he gave the player, his respect. That is why he imposed his school, with work, that there is little, and without verse, that there is a lot- described it Marcos Conigliaro, one of the puncturer scorers. -In group talks he went unnoticed. He pitched an idea, let us participate, and had the ability to get the conversation back on track.
–What did Zubeldía tell us when we were champions of America? “Tomorrow we train”, ha ha… Osvaldo was always the same: he lost, he won, and always the same. We were crazy, and he was calm –says Juan Ramón Verón.
* * *
“Yesterday there was no happier city on Earth than La Plata”…
Such was a remembered and happy headline on the cover of the centenary newspaper El Día in its edition of October 17, 1968, in keeping with the epic that the moment demanded.
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At the stroke of the previous midnight, Estudiantes had reached the summit of the soccer Everest: world champion in England, against the famous Manchester United of Bobby Charlton, Nobby Stiles, George Best, Denis Law… England had just consecrated themselves in the ’66 World Cup and United was a huge favorite to be crowned against a small and unknown team that had surprisingly won the Copa Libertadores.
So favorite that when the first leg match ended, on Boca’s court with the student triumph by 1-0, the English players hugged each other satisfied, almost smiling. It was a minimal defeat and they were sure to cook Students in the boiler at Old Trafford. But on a night of rain and mud, Juan Ramón Verón (when not…!) put the red-and-white team ahead with a cross header just after 7 minutes. And United, despite crushing without pause, could barely equalize by one at minute 90.
In the Manchester museum is the blackboard where Osvaldo wrote for his players, before taking the field, that phrase that was immortalized: “Glory is not reached by a path of roses.” He defended his players like a lion his cubs, but he extracted every last drop of blood from them on the field.
It was the culmination of a club, of an excellent group of players and, above all, of that exceptional character called Osvaldo Juan Zubeldía, the cornerstone of that glory. He advanced the times of technical management, innovated, created a school. Students was a club without history that lived fighting relegation, year after year. He hired Osvaldo in January 1965 with the premise of avoiding loss of category. And the planets came together: the genius of Zubeldía and the promotion of some young people who made up ‘La Tercera que Mata’: Poletti, Manera, Aguirre Suárez, Malbernat, Pachamé, Eduardo Flores, Verón. And there was a physical trainer in the club who had been a figure in athletics and used revolutionary methods: Jorge Kistenmacher.
Zubeldía was removing the weeds. The first year Estudiantes came out 5th, the second fell to 7th place, but they already had the team, and in 1967 they struck a formidable blow: champion. The first small box that achieved such a laurel in the history of Argentine soccer. A team that did not play nicely nor would it ever win the Fair Play award, but was ultra-tactical, physical, worked the games, did not give away advantages, they all ran like hell, took advantage of every circumstance of the game, scored, obstructed, put soles, dirty the game, they provoked, they made time and they took advantage of everything. In short: unbearable.
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Criticism of the student game was fierce. And they last until today, half a century later. With that recipe came the most recognized: three-time champion of America 68-69-70 and world champion. But also with work: at a time when he trained little and left almost everything to individual talent, Estudiantes imposed double-shift training, long concentrations, prepared plays, studying the rival, planning down to the last detail. And it implemented novelties such as the offside play, the corner with a leg changed to the near post, one combed it and another from behind put it; the free kick where two or three passed over the ball to mislead and disarm the barrier and a fourth finished off. Countless more details. “I never saw a guy who was looking for more advantages to win,” said Tomás Anglese, director of Banfield.
I never saw a guy who was looking for more advantages to win
He debuted in Libertadores against Independiente in 1968. A rookie against the King of Cups. They had to play four games and in all four, Estudiantes won. The red fans, with fine palates, cursed the student cheering, but they did not realize that it was also a relentless team and that they knew how to play.
A fanatical River fan (“As a boy I cried for River”, he once confessed), Zubeldía never had the pleasure of directing the Banda, instead one afternoon he scored three goals against Amadeo Carrizo playing for Vélez. And then Boca signed him. He already showed his qualities as an organizer and thinker of the game on the pitch. So much so that in 1960 he set a strange record: he played for Banfield in Primera “B” and managed Atlanta in “A”.
-In 1958 I was released from Boca and signed for Atlanta. There I was lucky enough to meet the person who started the Argentine soccer revolution: Adolfo Mogilevsky. He convinced me of something capital: working, you get there.
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After having changed the history of Estudiantes, imprinting a winning mystique on it, he left another trail in San Lorenzo, also champion, and finally ended up with what would be his second strong love: Atlético Nacional, which he also helped to become great with two stars .
unforgettable phrases
He left dozens of coaches who collected his testimony, the eternal love of two fans and a host of unforgettable phrases and teachings. How are you for your colleagues:
1. “Always think that the player can fail you a thousand times, but you as a coach cannot fail him any time”.
2. “When they go to change in the locker room on game day, you better be in there.”
3. “Always try to persuade the player and not impose your orders on him. That way you’ll always have it with you.”
4. “Try to always be nice to him. If you must rebuke him, let it be at the right time.”
5. “You will always have problems with the players, but it is important that they know that you rule the team.”
6. “Keep in mind that when you start talking about prizes or debts in practice, that training is useless.”
7. “Don’t make the player dizzy with so much talk. You must be concrete and concise.”
8. “Don’t go to the labor camp with improvisations. You have to show the player that you are orderly and organized.”
9. “You always have to talk to the player, explain the reasons for each decision.”
10.* “Never speak ill of your players with people who are not on your side. Everything is known”.
11. “In 1969 we had a downturn with Estudiantes and I just received a firm offer from Barcelona in Spain. I have the letter from the businessman Juan Obiol Pons. It says ‘Send figures, there will be no obstacles’. But I couldn’t leave at a bad time. I sink with my players”.
12. “I revolutionized Colombian soccer because I ended the siesta. I’m done with heavy breakfasts and long lunches. To the court! To work morning and afternoon”.
13. “We are going towards an increasingly better football. All teams will reach the tactical-strategic level. When it comes down to it, the imbalance will be imposed by the good players. Static football will end, fixed positions, everyone will have to know how to play everything”.
* * *
–What do I think of Osvaldo…? Simple: he was the best coach in history. And of world history, eye… Miguel Ángel López says from Barranquilla. -I’m sure that not even Guardiola trains today like Zubeldía trained fifty years ago. And a man of absolute humility. He is the only one who won a Third Division, raised it to the First Division and became champion of America three times.
–Is it true that you took him to Nacional, Zurdo?
-Yes. José Curti directed us and one day he resigned. “I don’t direct anymore,” he said. Then Dr. Hernán Botero comes and asks me: “Who are we bringing…?” Look, I replied, I know who is the best: Osvaldo Zubeldía. “Yes, but he won’t want to come.” Let’s try, I suggested. “Okay, go see him.” I went to Buenos Aires and met with him.
-Y…?
–“I can’t, Zurdo, they call me from here, from there…” Until a key question occurs to him: “How is the team…?”. Osvaldo, we came to look for him to be champions, I replied, making him understand that we had great material. “You’re sure…?”. Completely. “Ok let’s go”. And he came to National.
Beyond the style, he taught two clubs that were not to be winners. He sowed joy, a weed that grows and multiplies. He came to love Medellin. There he had found his place in the world. On vacation he returned to Junín, his hometown, to stay for a month with friends and family. But fifteen days later they wanted to return to Colombia. Death took him by surprise. He oozed intelligence and just had 54 calendars. Forty years have passed since his goodbye. The fans of Estudiantes and Nacional never forget it. Neither do the opposites.
LAST TANGO
JORGE BARRAZA
For the time
@JorgeBarrazaok
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