Los grandes centre- forwards

This page is taken from an edition of Mundo Uruguayo published in 1930, the centenary of the nation. The issue was titled 'The Resurgence of the Nation' and focused on the triumphs of the Uruguay national team in the 1920s. The magazine was published on July 18th, the day of the hosts' first ever World Cup match.

The 4 centre forwards featured are:

Jose Piendibene (Peñarol )
Over 500 games for Peñarol . 
40 Uruguay caps (1909-21), 20 goals. 
South American Championship Winner 1916, 1917 & 1920

Pedro Petrone (Nacional) 
29 international appearances (1923-30, his last appearance being on the day the article appeared, 18.07.30).
24 goals.
World Cup winning squad 1930.
Olympic Gold Medalist 1924,1928.
South American Championship Winner 1923,1924.

Carlos Scarone (Nacional) 
25 appearances (1909-22) 18 goals
South American Championship Winner 1917 


Rene Borjas (Wanderers)
7 appearances (1923-28) 3 goals.
Olympic Gold Medalist 1928.
South American Championship Winner 1926.

José Piendibene

 Piendibene scores for Peñarol against Español at Paerque Central, Montevideo .18 July 1926- Ricardo Zamora the beaten 'keeper.

 Piendibene. spent 20 years (1908-28) as a player with Peñarol. He has been credited with being responsible for the second stage in the evolution of Uruguayan football- whereas Juan Harley laid the foundations with the short passing Scottish , Piendibene added the dribbling and flair that completed the  cartachteristic Uruguayan style. 
Piendibene played over 500 games for Peñarol, scoring 250+ goals. He represented Uruguay 40 times (1909-23), scoring 20 goals, including a record 17 in matches against Argentina. 

Salve Divino Maestro, Señor de la Cortada, Rey del Pase, Monarca del Cabezazo, Emperador de la Gambeta, Sultán del Dribbling, Soberano del Taquito
 Diego Lucero (1935)

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.

Copa Centenario Revolución de Mayo 1910

This was the first tournament in South America to involve more than two countries. All previous international competitions had involved just Uruguay and Argentina.
It is therefore considered a proto- South American Championship.
The influence of English, Scots and German immigrants was still very much in evidence in the South American cone.

Chile

The tournament marked Chile's debut in international football. The Chilean Football Federation was founded June 19th, 1895, making it the second oldest South American federation,

In the opening match Uruguay defeated Chile 3-0. Jose Piendibene and Robert Sidney Buck scored for Uruguay. In 1912 Buck represented Argentina against Uruguay!

Hosts Argentina then beat Chile 5-1 to set up the decider.

Argentina beat Uruguay 4-1.
Argentina's scorers in this win were José N. Viale (Newell´s Old Boys), Juan Enrique Harry Hayes (Rosario Central), who was the tournaments top scorer, Arnold Pencliffe Watson Hutton (Alumni AC), son of  Alexander Watson Hutton, the Scotsman known as the father of Argentine football, and  Maximiliano Susán (Estudiantes), a student veterinary surgeon and Argentina's leading goalscorer at the time. 

Harry Hayes (Argentina) top scorer with three goals. His parents were English.