The 40’s and 50’s were two decades of glory for Argentinean football.
Some of the most iconic and legendary players ever played during those times.
The best attacking force ever assembled by any team was the famous River Plate “la Maquina” (the machine) which included players like Munoz, Moreno, Pedernera, Labruna, Lousteau, helped by the creative force and talent of Sivori, and supported in midfield by one of than the best ever number 5’s Argentina has ever have. Nestor “Pipo” Rossi.
In addition to all this great players, on those decades the fans were lucky enough to see Di Stefano, Corbatta, Maschio, Angelillo, Amadeo Carrizo, Rogelio Dominguez, and many many more.
Due to WW2 there were no World cups from 1938 to 1950 which prevented most of this players to ever gain global recognition.
Later political disagreements with other nations and FIFA, meant Argentina did not participate in Brazil 50 or Switzerland 54 depriving the second golden generation of the opportunity to win titles at world level.
Those 20 years saw the albiceleste conquer 7 Copa America of the 11 that were played (Uruguay (2), Brazil and Paraguay won the others)
Although the guys who score the goals are always remembered the most, this particular anecdote involves, none of those. This one is about that midfiled master that was Pipo Rossi.
His role on any of the teams he played for was to get the ball back. He was superb at doing that. He did it at any cost, sometimes a bit more aggressively and violently than the rules would allow him to, hence the high number of red cards on his record.
He was the boss, the one carrying the voice of the Manager, inside the pitch.
He was respected and feared by his team mates, the opposition and even referees.
What he said and shouted went. If he said do this or do that, he meant it and it needed to be done.
So we have established that he gave his all to recover the ball and to make the rest of the team play.
What it is greatly important to know is that when Pipo had the ball on his feet, there were not many players that could be as skilful, accurate and pure in the treatment he gave it.
His trademark phrase was “anyone who can not play the ball to a team mate’s foot accurately is a bad person and does not deserve to play the game”
He was a thinker; he was clear minded and always had more than one plan on how and who to play the ball to.
A referee had sent off 2 players of his team once, but he was still going forward tirelessly. Mid attack he realised he had no one to pass the ball to and that three players were coming towards him. He shouted to the ref “ I’ ll be able to go pass the first one, but no more. You put me on this mess, if I pass it to you and run forward will you pass it back?”
He said he played football because he loved it, he was always looking to enjoy every game he played in.
Win, lose or draw was not the most important thing, the main thing was that he was enjoying himself.
He once, playing for Argentina shouted to none other than Di Stefano “hey blondie, you think you are special? If you don’t start chasing back, I am going to be chasing you back towards them!”
In this particular game that I am going to tell you about, he was not having a very good time.
It was 1957, in Lima Peru. The occasion was the Copa America.
The Argentinean Manager was Guillermo Stabile, known for being the top scorer of the first World Cup in 1930 with 8 goals in 4 games.
Pipo was 32 years of age, and Argentina were facing Colombia. The “Cafeteros” did not have a very strong team, and Argentina were playing really badly, but still winning 4-0 after 23 minutes.
Rossi, noticed that the younger players have decided that that was it, that the game was won and that they were going to to take it easy for the rest of the game.
He took matters on his own hands.
On 34 minutes, Colombia began an attacking move. To everyone’s surprise Rossi was outsmarted and ended up running behind the Colombian attacker.
Then the Colombian enter the penalty box and Pipo without hesitation brought him down, as he was going to be dispossessed by the Argentinean defense.
Clear penalty given to Colombia, only for The Argentinean keeper, Rogelio Dominguez to save Gamboa’s effort. Not one to be defeated, Rossi told the referee that his keeper has moved illegally forward and the penalty should be retaken.
This time Gamboa, made no mistake and scored. Before the half ended the score line was 4-2.
At half time the keeper and Manager went ballistic at Rossi. He took over the half time talk and told everyone there that he has been playing football for many years to have a good time, every time. That he still loved the game and demanded that everybody playing that day did the same. He finished by saying that they were going to start again from scratch, play well and score another 4 goals.
The game finished 8-2 and at the end of the game, he asked everybody: “weren’t the second half 4 goals much more memorable and enjoyable than the ones on the first” And with that, he left the dressing room.
Some of the most iconic and legendary players ever played during those times.
The best attacking force ever assembled by any team was the famous River Plate “la Maquina” (the machine) which included players like Munoz, Moreno, Pedernera, Labruna, Lousteau, helped by the creative force and talent of Sivori, and supported in midfield by one of than the best ever number 5’s Argentina has ever have. Nestor “Pipo” Rossi.
In addition to all this great players, on those decades the fans were lucky enough to see Di Stefano, Corbatta, Maschio, Angelillo, Amadeo Carrizo, Rogelio Dominguez, and many many more.
Due to WW2 there were no World cups from 1938 to 1950 which prevented most of this players to ever gain global recognition.
Later political disagreements with other nations and FIFA, meant Argentina did not participate in Brazil 50 or Switzerland 54 depriving the second golden generation of the opportunity to win titles at world level.
Those 20 years saw the albiceleste conquer 7 Copa America of the 11 that were played (Uruguay (2), Brazil and Paraguay won the others)
Although the guys who score the goals are always remembered the most, this particular anecdote involves, none of those. This one is about that midfiled master that was Pipo Rossi.
His role on any of the teams he played for was to get the ball back. He was superb at doing that. He did it at any cost, sometimes a bit more aggressively and violently than the rules would allow him to, hence the high number of red cards on his record.
He was the boss, the one carrying the voice of the Manager, inside the pitch.
He was respected and feared by his team mates, the opposition and even referees.
What he said and shouted went. If he said do this or do that, he meant it and it needed to be done.
So we have established that he gave his all to recover the ball and to make the rest of the team play.
What it is greatly important to know is that when Pipo had the ball on his feet, there were not many players that could be as skilful, accurate and pure in the treatment he gave it.
His trademark phrase was “anyone who can not play the ball to a team mate’s foot accurately is a bad person and does not deserve to play the game”
He was a thinker; he was clear minded and always had more than one plan on how and who to play the ball to.
A referee had sent off 2 players of his team once, but he was still going forward tirelessly. Mid attack he realised he had no one to pass the ball to and that three players were coming towards him. He shouted to the ref “ I’ ll be able to go pass the first one, but no more. You put me on this mess, if I pass it to you and run forward will you pass it back?”
He said he played football because he loved it, he was always looking to enjoy every game he played in.
Win, lose or draw was not the most important thing, the main thing was that he was enjoying himself.
He once, playing for Argentina shouted to none other than Di Stefano “hey blondie, you think you are special? If you don’t start chasing back, I am going to be chasing you back towards them!”
In this particular game that I am going to tell you about, he was not having a very good time.
It was 1957, in Lima Peru. The occasion was the Copa America.
The Argentinean Manager was Guillermo Stabile, known for being the top scorer of the first World Cup in 1930 with 8 goals in 4 games.
Pipo was 32 years of age, and Argentina were facing Colombia. The “Cafeteros” did not have a very strong team, and Argentina were playing really badly, but still winning 4-0 after 23 minutes.
Rossi, noticed that the younger players have decided that that was it, that the game was won and that they were going to to take it easy for the rest of the game.
He took matters on his own hands.
On 34 minutes, Colombia began an attacking move. To everyone’s surprise Rossi was outsmarted and ended up running behind the Colombian attacker.
Then the Colombian enter the penalty box and Pipo without hesitation brought him down, as he was going to be dispossessed by the Argentinean defense.
Clear penalty given to Colombia, only for The Argentinean keeper, Rogelio Dominguez to save Gamboa’s effort. Not one to be defeated, Rossi told the referee that his keeper has moved illegally forward and the penalty should be retaken.
This time Gamboa, made no mistake and scored. Before the half ended the score line was 4-2.
At half time the keeper and Manager went ballistic at Rossi. He took over the half time talk and told everyone there that he has been playing football for many years to have a good time, every time. That he still loved the game and demanded that everybody playing that day did the same. He finished by saying that they were going to start again from scratch, play well and score another 4 goals.
The game finished 8-2 and at the end of the game, he asked everybody: “weren’t the second half 4 goals much more memorable and enjoyable than the ones on the first” And with that, he left the dressing room.