La Máquina Blanca

Nacional won back to back championships in 1933 & 1934, the team nicknamed La Máquina Blanca.
The 1933 championship concluded (almost) in the notorious  El gol de la valija  incident 
The record of the 2 Championship seasons was:

P	W	D	L	F	A
27	20	6	1	56	10
27	17	7	3	51	17

Américo Szigeti of Hungary became head coach during the 1933 season.
The players who contributed to La Máquina Blanca were:

GK	Eduardo García
FB	José Nasazzi   Ulises Chifflet Domingos da Guia (Brazil) Juan Brito Juan Ramón Cabrera
HB	Arsenio Fernández Ricardo Faccio

               Marcelino Pérez

               Michele Andreolo (Italy)

               Fausto dos Santos (Brazil)

               Conduelo Píriz

F             Juan Miguel Labraga

               Aníbal Ciocca
               Rodolpho Barteczko Patesko (Brazil)

               Pedro Cea

               Pedro Petrone

               Zoilo Saldombide

               Santos Urdinarán

               Francisco Arispe

               Pedro Duhart (France)

               Héctor Castro

               Enrique Fernández

               Eduardo Ithurbide

Domingos da Guia

A skillful and authoritative defender,  Domingada has the distinction of having won major honours in 3 countries. Beginning his career at Bangu as a 17 year old he later joined Vasco da Gama. Having won the Uruguayan Championship with Nacional in 1933, he returned to Vasco, who won the 1934 (LCF) Campeonato Carioca. 1935 saw  Domingos helping Boca Juniors to the Argentinian championship. 

Domingos returned to Brazil in 1936 and had spells with Flamengo and Corinthians before returning to Bangu. His career lasted until 1950. 

He was capped 30 times for Brazil, his debut coming in 1931.

Copa Ricardo Aldao

As we have seen , the tradition of trans Platense football dates back to 1889, and Argentine and Uruguayan teams had been playing each other since Albion crossed the river to play Retiro and Belgrano in 1896.

During the first quarter of the 20th century there was something of a mania for copas contested by leading teams from the 2 republics. 
The Copa Ricardo Aldao (also known as the Copa Rio de la Plata and the Campeonato Rioplatense) was established by Dr. Ricardo Camilo Aldao, president of Federación Argentina de Football (1912-1914) and Asociación Argentina de Football  (1918-1919). He was also the president of the Buenos Aires club Gimnasia y Esgrima.
The initial edition of the Cup was due to take place in 1913. Federación Argentina de Football champions Estudiantes took on Liga Uruguaya winners River Plate. Or did they? According to Argentinian historian Miguel Bionda (author of Historia del Fútbol Platense) Estudiantes won 4-1 (in a match played at Montevideo on 17.05.14). Contemporary newspaper reports state that  the game was either abandoned or not played at all due to torrential rainfall. It is speculated that Snr.Bionda has misattributed the result of one of three friendlies played between Estudiantes and River Plate in 1913.

The cup was definitely contested in 1916. On December 3rd at Buenos Aires Nacional defeated Racing Club de Avellaneda 2-1. Both clubs enjoyed a period of considerable dominance in domestic football. Racing won seven consecutive championships from 1913 to 1919.
In 1917 the same two sides drew 2-2 in Montevideo. The trophy was awarded to Racing Club as they were the visitors. 




In 1918 Racing Club defended the trophy successfully on home soil, defeating Peñarol 2-1.
1919 saw a home town victory for Nacional, defeating Boca Juniors 3-0. The same clubs met again on the opposite side of the River Plate in 1920. Nacional again emerged victorious, by 2-1.

The competition then became somewhat sporadic.
San Lorenzo de Almagro travelled to Montevideo and defeated Rampla Jniors (1-0) in 1927.
In 1928 Peñarol won the trophy with a 3-0 win over Huracan at Buenos Aires.

The competition was revivied in the 1930s. Club Athletico River Plate of Buenos Aires enjoying successive wins over Peñarol in 1936 and 1937.

Copa de Honor Cousenier

This competition was established by the Cousenier (Cusenier) Liqueur Company, who provided the trophy. 

Argentina was represented by the winners of the Copa de Honor Municipalidad de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires/ Rosario) and Uruguay by the winners of the Uruguayan Copa de Honor.
The final was played in Montevideo. In one exceptional case (1914) the trophy was contested by 2 Uruguayan teams.

10.09.05	U	Nacional	3	2	Alumni	A
16.09.06	A	Alumni	2	2	Nacional	U
14.10.06	A	Alumni	3	1	Nacional	U
20.10.07	A	Belgrano Ath	2	1	CURCC*	U
20.11.08	U	Wanderers	2	0	Quilmes	A
17.10.09	U	CURCC	4	2	San Isidro	A
1910	Not contested
05.11.11	U	CURCC	2	0	Newell's Old Boys	A
08.12.12	U	River Plate	2	1	Racing Club	A
16.11.13	A	Racing Club	1	1	Nacional	U
08.12.13	A	Racing Club	3	2	Nacional	U
06.12.14	U	Nacional	1	0	Peñarol	U
14.11.15	U	Nacional	2	0	Racing Club	A
10.12.16	U	Nacional	6	1	Rosario Central	A
31.04.18	U	Nacional	3	1	Racing Club	A
01.12.18	U	Peñarol	4	0	Independiente	A
20.09.23	A	Boca Juniors	2	0	Universal	U

*CURCC became Peñarol in 1913

Nacional 1905 

Alumni 1906

Strange days- El gol de la valija

May 27th , 1934,Centenario Stadium, Nacional v Peñarol in the league championship play off . 21 minutes into the second half. The score is 0-0.  Bahía, Peñarol's Brazilian winger, shoots at goal, (at the Colombes end of the ground if you're a stickler for detail). 
Eduardo García in the Nacional goal is beaten but the ball passes his right hand upright. 
The ball then strikes a case belonging to the Nacional physio, and bounces back into play. 
Anselmo passes to Braulio Castro who rolls the ball into the net. Referee Telésforo Rodríguez  signals a goal.
 Nacional's Juan Miguel Labraga and José Nasazzi protest vigorously- to the point of assaulting the referee. After the furore abates Snr.Rodríguez required medical tresatment- he is replaced by Luis Scandroglio. Nasazzi,Labraga and Chifflet are dismissed. Darkness falls and the match is suspended.
64 days later(!) the League passed judgement.Castro's goal was expunged. The match was to be resumed as 0-0 after 70 minutes, but Nasazzi and Labraga remained sent off. Chifflet was reprieved. 
So, on 25.08.34 the remaining 20 minutes was  played behind closed doors at the Centenario. The 9 of Nacional held on for a 0-0 draw , even though 2 half hour periods of extra time were also played.

Braulio Castro

The 9 of Nacional

September 2nd's replay saw a further 150 goalless minutes between the 2 sides (11 against 11 this time).
The matter wasn't decided until November 18th- Centenario was again the venue.
Braulio Castro put Peñarol ahead in the 42nd minute, Hector Castro equalising 8 minutes after the break. 5 minutes later Arremon restored Peñarol's lead but in less than 20 minutes Hector Castro completed his hattrick to seal the championship for Nacional

The ball and the bag.

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. 

Abdón Porte

 Nacional was Porte's ideal- he loved the club as a devotee loves his faith, as a patriot loves his flag

 Numa Pesquera (Nacional official)

El Indio was a half back who joined Nacional in 1911. He played 207 games for  the club and won the national championship  in 1912, 1915, 1916 and 1917.
In 1918 Nacional had signed a new centre half- Alfredo Zibechi,  which made it appear that Porte's place was in jeopardy. However, Porte played in the 3-1 win over Charley on 4th March and put in a good performance. In the early hours of 5th March 1918 Porte shot himself in the centre circle of Parque Central.  He left a note for the club president asking that they took care of his mother along with a poem:

Even Nacional turns to dust, 

and in dust love endures 

Do not forget for a moment
 how much you are loved
Goodbye forever.

He was due to be married the following month- he was about 25 years old.

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).

Aníbal Zapicán Falco

Aníbal Zapicán Falco (Fonseca) of Uruguay holds a  record that will surely never be beaten. 

The  Nacional defender won his first international cap for Uruguay 9 days after his 15th birthday. 
Football in the 1910s was a physically hard game, and the rivalry between the River Plate nations was heated. So for a youth of 15 to play at right back in an international was quite something. 
Uruguay won the game, played at Cancha de Gimnasia y Esgrimain, Buenos Aires on October 4th 1908, with a late goal from José Brachi.
 Falco made a good impression and was selected for Uruguay's next 3 matches (all against Argentina). These were his only 4 caps, meaning that his international career came to an end just two weeks after his 16th birthday.
Aníbal Zapicán Falco was president of Nacional in 1937 when they purchased Gran Parque Central stadium.

Artillero

The career of Pedro Petrone Schiavone, known as Pedro Petrone (or by his nicknames Perucho or Artillero) was a catalogue of successes. 
He started out as a 15 year old with the Montevideo club Charley. In 1924 he moved to Nacional. Petrone spent 2 seasons in Italy with Fiorentina from 1931-33 before returning to Nacional. 


Here is a summary of his achievements by year:

• 1923 Copa America - winner.

• 1923 Copa America - Top Goalscorer (3 goals in 3 games).

• 1924 Primera División Uruguaya - winner.

• 1924 Olympics - Gold Medal.

• 1924 Olympic Football Tournament Top Goalscorer (7 goals in 5 games).

• 1924 Copa America - winner

• 1924 Copa America Tournament Top Goalscorer (4 goals in 3 games).

• Toured Europe with Nacional.

• 1927 Copa America Tournament Top Goalscorer (3 goals in 2 games).

• 1928 Olympics - Gold Medal.

• 1930 FIFA World Cup - winner.

• 1931-32: Serie A Capocannoniere with 25 goals in 27 games.

• 1933 Primera División Uruguaya – winner.

Club career:
Nacional (1924 -30) 146 goals in 128 appearances.

Fiorentina (1931-33) 37 goals in 44 appearances.  
Nacional (1933-34)  30 goals in 20 appearances.

International:
Uruguay (1924-30)  24 goals in 29 appearances.