The Crafty Berlin Decision

It was the most scandalous incident in the history of international football.
Peru were the sole South American representatives at the 1936 Olympic Football Tournament.
The 1935 South American Championship served as a qualifier for the Olympics, but neither champions Uruguay nor runners up Argentina were able to travel to Germany due to an economic recession. Peru had finished 3rd, winning just the one game, against Chile. 


At the Olympics Peru beat Finland by 7-3 in the first round, giving them a match with Austria in the next round.
Austria went  two-nil up through goals from Werginz  and Steinmetz . They held onto this lead until the 75th minute. Campolo Alcalde pulled one back and then in the 81st minute Alejandro Villanueva equalized. Peru were then reduced to 10 men by the loss of Alcade.

This Austria side, with the great Jimmy Hogan as manager, were not of the calibre of Meisl's Wunderteam from earlier in the decade.

The game went into extra time, and during the first period referee Mr  Kristiansen of Norway disallowed 3 Peruvian 'goals'.
Villanueva gave Peru the lead in the 117th minute and in the very last minute of extra time Teodoro Fernández made it 4-2 to Peru.
And then the trouble started.
There was a pitch invasion following the 4th Peruvian goal, The Austrians claimed that one of their players was assaulted. The referee abandoned the match (with just seconds remaining). Press reports stated that "about 1,000 Peruvian supporters" stormed  the pitch with "iron bars, knives and even a pistol". 1.000 Peruvian supporters ? In Berlin? It seems unlikely. The Peruvians counter claim was that the pitch invaders was fascists who couldn't stomach a victory by a team featuring black players.

Following a hearing which the Peruvian delegation missed (they were waylaid en route, stuck behind a fascist parade!)  the Olympic Committee and FIFA ordered a replay behind closed doors.
Peru however (supported by Columbia) chose to go home. Anti German feeling in the South American continent ran high after this debacle. 
The Crafty Berlin Decision was how the incident was described by Snr. Oscar Benavides, the President of Peru.

Marcos Carneiro de Mendonça

Marcos Carneiro de Mendonça was Brazil's first goalkeeper.
Marcos had featured in 3 games during the pre Seleção era, playing against Argentina (1912), Portugal (1913) and Corinthians (England) 1913. He also appeared in the match with Exeter City in 1914. At the time he was playing for América, winning the Campeonato Carioca in 1913. His first club had been the splendidly named Haddock Lobo.

When Brazil played their first official international (versus Argentina, 20.09.14) the elegant Marcos was again the goalkeeper of choice. By this time he had joined Fluminense. He played in 10 of Brazil's first 24 official matches (and another 5 unofficial games) retiring at the conclusion of the 1922 South American Championship. 

Marcos was a 4 time Campeonato Carioca winner and won the South American Championship with Brazil in 1919 and 1922.
Outside football he was an eminent historian specialising in Brazil in the 18th century, publishing works right up until his death, aged 93, in 1988. 

El divino manco

Generally speaking, Hector Castro kept his right arm out of view. In group photographs he has one arm crossed over the other or tucked into his jacket pocket. There is one group photograph of  Nacional  in which Castro is steadying the ball with the stump of his right wrist.
I was intrigued, as a boy, to read that the winning goal (as it was described) in the first World Cup Final, had been scored by a 'one armed man'.
Castro lost his right hand in an accident with a bandsaw when he was 13 years of age.
His breakthrough year came in 1923, He moved from El Centro Atlético Lito , joining Nacional and also made his international debut.
He played for Uruguay 25 times, scoring 18 goals.

Castro was a gold medal winner at the 1928 Olympics.

He was a World Cup winner in 1930.

He played in the victorious South American Championship teams of 1926 and 1935. 

Brazil lose 6-0 to Uruguay

Viña del Mar, Chile, 18.09.20. The third game of the 1920 Campeonato Sudamericano / Campeonato Sul-Americano. Defending champions Brazil, having beaten Chile 1-0 in the opener, come up against Uruguay, who have drawn their first game (against Argentina) 1-1.
What happened next may have been beyond our comprehension until quite recently.
Uruguay, fielding a strong team made up entirely of players from Peñarol and Nacional, hammered 6 goals past Kuntz . It was Brazil's greatest defeat , unmatched for 94 years.

 Uruguay

Brazil

Disputes between the governing bodies of São Paulo and Rio De Janeiro football led to the Seleção  being drawn exclusively from Rio and Santos players.
Romano put Uruguay ahead in the 23rd minute. Antonio Urdinarán scored from the spot on 26 minutes and  Pérez added a third after 29.
The second period saw Cámpolo add a fourth before Romano and  Pérez completed the scoring. Brazil kept the Uruguayans out for the last 25 minutes of the game.

The unfortunate keeper was Julio Kuntz Filho . He played 10 internationals in total (9 championship matches and 1 friendly) keeping 5 clean sheets. 5 of the games were won, 1 drawn and 4 lost. Kuntz was a member of the championship winning Brazil team of 1922.

Brazil			Uruguay
Kuntz	Flamengo	G	Juan Legnazzi	Peñarol
Telefone	Flamengo	RB	Antonio Urdinarán	Nacional
Martins	São Cristóvão	LB	Alfredo Foglino	Nacional
Japonês	Flamengo	HB	Pascual Ruotta	Peñarol
Sisson	Flamengo	HB	Alfredo Zibechi	Nacional
Fortes	Fluminense	HB	Andrés Ravera	Peñarol
De Maria	Andarahy	F	Pascual Somma	Nacional
Zezé	Fluminense	F	José Pérez	Peñarol
Castelhano	Santos	F	José Piendibene	Peñarol
Junqueira	Flamengo	F	Ángel Romano	Nacional
Alvarizza	Brasil-RS	F	Antonio Cámpolo	Peñarol

La maravilla elástica

Ángel Bossio played for the Buenos Aires club Talleres de Remedios de Escalada, joining River Plate in 1931.
He played for Argentina 21 times between 1927 and 1935.
He made 1 appearance in the 1927 South American Championships, 5 appearances at the 1928 Olympic games , 3 appearances in the 1929  South American Championships and 3 at the 1930 World Cup.
Bossio was unexpectedly replaced for the semi final (by Juan Bottaso).
Bossio was known as La maravilla elástica (the elastic marvel) due to his agility.

Pedro Calomino

Pedro Bleo Fournol, known as Calomino, was famed for his dribbling. Calomino played for Boca Juniors from 1911- 1924 (except for the season 1914, which he spent with Hispano).  He was top-scorer in 6 seasons (1913, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919) and won 4 championships (1919, 1920, 1923, 1924). On the international scene he represented Argentina 37 times, appearing at 4 South American championships, captaining his side to victory in Buenos Aires in 1921.

It is sometimes claimed he originated the bicycle kick.

Fernando Paternoster

A button badge presented by an automobile dealers in Buenos Aires showing  Fernando Paternoster of 
Racing Club de Avellaneda. joined Racing from Club Atlético Atlanta in 1923. 
A left back who liked to get forward on the wing, Paternoster's clean, elegant style earned him the nickname El Marqués (The Marquis) . He was also Known as Flaco (Skinny).
His 16 match international career (1928–30) saw him win a South American Championship (1929) but finish on the losing side in both an Olympic and World Cup Final. 

Adhemar Canavesi

Remarkably for a Uruguayan player in the 1920s, only 1 of Adhemar Canavesi's 9 international appearances came against Argentina.Canavesi made his debut against Paraguay in 1925 when he was playing his club football for Bella Vista.A member of the 1927 South American Championship squad, Canavesi played in 2 matches in the tournament, the 4-0 win over hosts Peru and the 3-2 loss to Argentina in the penultimate match that decided the outcome of the tournament. In the 85th minute Canavesi scored an own goal that proved to be Argentina's winner.
Canavesi moved to Penarol  in 1928.
His next taste of tournament football came at the 1928 Olympics at Amsterdam. Canavesi was called up for the semi final clash with Italy, replacing  Jose Nasazzi. This, his 9th international, transpired to be his last. 
Tradition has it that, when Uruguay set out to play the final against Argentina on June 10th, that  Canavesi refused to board the coach. He was convinced that his presence, even if he wasn't playing, would be bad luck for Uruguay. He stayed away from the stadium. Petrone put Uruguay ahead on 20 minutes. Nola Ferreira equalised after 50 minutes. A replay.
3 days later, the same stadium, the same referee. The attendance, officially  28.113, just 140 less than for the first match. 1 change in the Argentina line up. 5 changes to the Uruguay team. Still no Canavesi. Scarone smashed in the winner in the 73rd minute- Uruguay 2, Argentina 1. Adhemar Canavesi was an Olympic Gold Medalist. 

More simultaneous internationals...

Laranjeiras

October 22nd 1922 was a busy day in South American  international football. 

At  Laranjeiras, Río de Janeiro, Brazil played Paraguay in the final of the South American championship.Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay were tied, and playoff matches were planned for the three teams. Uruguay withdrew, so only one playoff match was played between Brazil and Paraguay to determine the champion. Brazil won the match 3-0 with goals from Neco and Formiga (2) ( Formiga or 'Ant' was the nickname of Afrodísio Camargo Xavier ). It was Brazil's second South American Championship.

Brazil-South American Champions 1922

Meanwhile in São Paulo...another Brazil selection were playing Argentina for the Copa Julio A. Roca. Brazil won this match 2-1 thanks to 2 goals by Gambarotta. 
Having ended their involvement in the championships on October 18th under strange circumstances (10 Paraguay players leaving the field in protest at the 79th minute) Argentina, the undoubted masters of the simultaneous international,were also busy that day, in addition to the Copa Julio A. Roca match with Brazil they also played the Chileans 1-0 in a friendly at Buenos Aires, winning 1-0.


22.10.22

Brazil	3	0	Paraguay	Rio	SAC
Brazil	2	1	Argentina	São Paulo	Copa Roca
Argentina	1	0	Chile	Buenos Aires	Friendly

The following year there was another double international date for Argentina. December 2nd 1923 saw  the South American Championship final at Montevideo's Parque Central. The hosts defeated their rivals 2-0 thanks to goals from Petrone and Somma. 
Across the Rio Del Plata another version of the Albiceleste were hosting Brazil in a Confraternity Cup match. The day didn't go well for Argentina, as Brazil ran out 2-0 winners in this match,  Zezé and  Nilo getting the goals. 

Brazil 1919

 The Brazil team that won the 1919 South American Championship. Left to right from the top line:

Píndaro 
Píndaro de Carvalho Rodrigues (26-Flamengo) Full back Pindaro was one of the players who split from Fluminense to found Flamengo. He sported some fantastic headgear during his career, and later coached Brazil at the 1930 World Cup.

Marcos 
Marcos Carneiro de Mendonça (24-Fluminense) Marcos became a goalkeeper as a youth because he had lung problems. He was a real hero of the 1919 championship, particularly for keeping a clean sheet in the deciding match with Uruguay which lasted 150 minutes.

Bianco
Bianco Spártaco Gambini (25-Palestra Itália)

Sergio 
Sérgio Pereira Pires (21-CA Paulistano)

Amílcar 
Amílcar Barbuy (26-Corinthians)
A player who was for many years considered the most skillful to come out of Brazil.

Fortes
Agostinho Fortes Filho (17-Fluminense)
Young Fortes, a versatile half back, made his international debut in the second game of the tournament.

Millon 
Adolpho Millón Júnior (23-Santos)

Arnaldo 
Arnaldo Patusca da Silveira (24-Santos)
Arnaldo was captain of the team. He made a total of 16 appearances for the Seleção.

Neco
Manoel Nunes (24-Corinthians)
Described as the first idol of Corinthians- Neco joined the club as a youth, and aside from one season at Macenzie his association with the club as player and manager lasted 25 years. He played 15 times for Brazil, scoring 8 goals. He was top scorer in the 1919 South American championship with 4 goals. Neco was a carpenter and he was sacked for taking time off work to play in the 1919 tournament.

Fried
Arthur Friedenreich (27-CA Paulistano)
The player of the tournament and scorer of the winning goal in the play off. Fried became a national hero and Brazil's first football superstar. The boot with which he scored the winning goal in the final against Uruguay was paraded around the city on a pole with a banner proclaiming The glorious foot of Friedenreich. The boot was later displayed  in jewellers' shop windows across Rio. 

Héitor 
Héitor Marcelino Domingues (20-Palestra Itália)
In 15 years at Palestra  Héitor played 330 games, scoring 284 goals. In a 12 year international career he played 11 matches and scored 4 goals.

 A crowd scene from the first Brazil v Uruguay match

Brazil after the victory over Uruguay in the second match

Amílcar

Amílcar Barbuy made his debut for Corinthians at the end of the 1913 season, scoring in his first match. In 1916 he became the first Corinthians player to be capped by Brazil. He went on to make 19 international appearances, and was in the South American Championship winning sides of 1919 and 1922.
In 1918 Amilcar converted from a forward to centre half.
In 9 seasons with Corinthians he won 4 Campeonato Paulistas (1914,16,22 & 23).
When Amilcar parted company with Corinthians there was only one place for him to go- being from the Italian community he was already a member of Palestra Italia, and had actually played for them in their first ever match in 1914.
In 1931 Amilcar moved to Italy. He was player coach at Lazio, where the squad of 22 featured 10 Brazilians. 

Roberto Chery

Scholars of postwar football will tell you that Brazil adopted the colour yellow in 1954. We, of course, do not go beyond 1937. During the early years of the Seleção the kit was generally white with blue as a change colour (in 1917 kits of  both plain red and yellow and green stripes were briefly used).
There is, however, a game from our era in which Brazil wore yellow- or to be more precise the gold and black of Penarol.
More remarkable, perhaps, is the fact that Brazil's opponents that day were Argentina, who in place of their familiar albiceleste wore the celestial blue of their neighbours and rivals Uruguay.
The scene was Estádio das Laranjeiras, Rio de Janeiro, June 1st 1919. A crowd of 17,500 watched the match between the recently crowned South American champions and their guests Argentina. Nominally at stake was the Copa Roberto Chery, but in fact the friendly match was a fundraiser.
On May 30th 23 year old Roberto Chery had died of peritonitis in a Rio hospital. Chery had been in the hospital to undergo an emergency operation on a strangulated hernia that he had sustained whilst playing for Uruguay against Chike in a South American championship match at Estádio Laranjeiras on May 17th. 
Penarol goalkeeper Chery had travelled to Brazil as an understudy to the veteran Cayetano Saporiti. 32 year old Saporiti had played 48 internationals by the time Chery was given his debut- and would go on to represent Uruguay 51 times in total. Chery, known as Poeta on account of his passion for poetry, was touted as Saporiti's long term replacement. Tragically Chery's first international would also be his last.
The temporary Aurinegros and Celestes shared 6 goals in the match, and the Copa Chery was presented to Penarol.

El Campeonato Sudamericano de Selecciones-Player of the Tournament

1916: Isabelino Gradín (Uruguay)
The Peñarol  forward scored three goals in the tournament. His inclusion drew complaints from Chile, claiming he was'African'. Gradín was four-time South American athletics champion in the 400 and 200 metres sprint.

1917: Héctor Scarone (Uruguay) Scarone was at the heart of the Uruguay team during the Golden Decade of the 1920s. In 1917 his illustrious international career was just beginning. The 18 year old  made his debut just a few weeks before the South American Championships kicked off . He scored the first of his 31 international goals in the 4-0 win over Brazil and another against Argentina. Of the 9 goals that Uruguay scored in the tournament, 5 came from the Scarone brothers, Carlos and Hector. Their Nacional partner Angel Romano was tournament top scorer with 4.

1919: Arthur Friedenreich (Brazil)

At the time Friedenreich's club was Paulistano. Fried scored a hat trick in Brazil's opening game, a 6-0 win over Chile, and the winning goal in the final play off against Uruguay . This made him the tournament's top scorer. He was a national hero, with his boot being paraded around Rio and displayed in a shop window. 

1920: José Piendibene (Uruguay) Peñarol's Piendibene scored one goal in three matches. He was a creative player influential in the further development of a Uruguayan style of football.

1921: Américo Tesoriere (Argentina)  Argentina's goalkeeper kept a clean sheet throughout the tournamnet, (3 matches) as the Albiceleste won their first title.  Tesoriere's club at the time was Sportivo del Norte, in  the only season of his career spent away from Boca Juniors. Juniors.

1922: Agostinho Fortes Filho (Brazil) Fortes was a wing half who played for Fulminense, As an 17 year old he had played in Brazil's first triumph in 1919.

1923: José Nasazzi (Uruguay) The legendary captain, El Gran Mariscal, was in his first season of international football and playing for the Bella Vista club when he won his first of 4 South American championships.

1924:Pedro Petrone (Uruguay) Artillero moved from Solferino to Nacional in 1924. He was the South American Championship's leading scorer for the second year in a row. 

1925: Manuel Seoane (Argentina)  La Chancha scored 6 goals ( he scored in every game and got a hattrick against Brazil) as Argentina claimed their second title.  He was acknowledged to be un futbolista completo by the Argentine sporting press. 

1926: Jose Andrade (Uruguay) La maravilla negra was another of Uruguayan football's black stars of the Golden Decade of the 1920s. Andrade controlled the midfield as he won his third South American Championship. 
















1927: Manuel Seoane (Argentina) Seoane became the first man to be named player of the tournament twice. His only goals (2) came in a 7-1 demolition of Bolivia, but his influence created plenty of opportunities for others as Argentina clocked up 15 goals in the tournament.

1929: Manuel Nolo Ferreira (Argentina) A versatile player and a great motivator.  Argentina got some degree of revenge for their previous year's defeat in the Olympics (then considered a world championship) beating Uruguay 2-0 in the final game of the competition.














1935: José Nasazzi (Uruguay) Nasazzi's personal haul of honours was very impressive by now, as he had led Uruguay to 2 Olympic Gold medals, a World Cup and now his 4th South American Championship. 
He ran the Uruguay defence as they conceded only 1 goal in a tournament that yielded an average of 3 goals a game.



1937: Vicente de la Mata (Argentina) An expanded champioship of 6 teams. 19 year old de la Mata scored twice in extra time in the play off  as Brazil were beaten 2-0.

Juan Alberto Estrada

Juan Alberto Estrada's finest moments came after 1937, when our study of Association Football ends However, in 1937 he won a Copa America with Argentina, and moved to Boca Juniors.
This picture from El Grafico shows Estrada in action for Huracán, for whom he played over 100 times from 1933-37, making his debut for Argentina in 1936.

Hector Scarone

Hector Scarone  had 3 spells with Nacional, during which he scored 301 goals in 369 appearances. His Nacional career was punctuated by stints with Barcelona (1926–1927), Ambrosiana Inter (1931–1932) and  Palermo (1932–1934).
Scarone won 8 Primera División titles with Nacional (1916, 1917, 1919,1920, 1922, 1923, 1924 & 1934).
In an international career spanning the years 1917-32, he made 52 appearances for Uruguay, scoring 31 goals, winning 4 Copa Americas (1917, 1923, 1924 & 1926), 2 Olympic Gold Medals (1924 &1928) and The World Cup (1930). He scored in both Olympic Gold Medal matches.
Scarone also represented Uruguay in 18 unofficial matches, scoring a further 11 goals.
Scarone had a number of nicknames- Rasquetita (little scraper- his older brother Carlos was Rasqueta- scraper)- Mago (the magician) and The Gardel of Football (Carlos Gardel was The King of Tango).

El Campeonato Sudamericano de Selecciones 1917

The second edition of the Copa America (although that name was not used until 1975) took place in Uruguay in September-October 1917. Uruguay successfully defended their title.
The tournament was a 4 team league, but the championship was decided in the final match played.
Uruguay had beaten Chile and Brazil 4-0 whilst Argentina had beaten Brazil 4-2 and Chile 1-0. In the other match played Brazil beat Chile 5-0.
So, to the final game, played at Parque Pereira, Montevideo on 14th October 1917 in front of a crowd of 40,000. Héctor Scarone got the only goal of the game in the 62nd minute. 

7th October 1917: Uruguay take the field against Brazil

Uruguay 

Brazil vs Argentina

Argentina vs Uruguay

Parque Pereira was the venue for all the matches.

Of the 9 goals that Uruguay scored in the tournament, 5 came from the Scarone brothers, Carlos and Hector. Their Nacional partner Angel Romano was tournament top scorer with 4.