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.
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.
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