Adolfo Pedernera
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Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Adolfo Pedernera | ||
Date of birth | 15 November 1918 | ||
Place of birth | Avellaneda, Argentina | ||
Date of death | 12 May 1995 | (aged 76)||
Place of death | Avellaneda, Argentina | ||
Position(s) |
Inside forward | ||
Youth career | |||
1932 | Huracán | ||
1933–1934 | River Plate | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1935–1946 | River Plate | 278 | (131) |
1947 | Atlanta | 28 | (4) |
1948–1949 | Huracán | 20 | (2) |
1949–1954 | Millonarios | 81 | (33) |
1954–1955 | Huracán | 10 | (0) |
Total | 417 | (170) | |
International career | |||
1940–1946 | Argentina | 21 | (7) |
Managerial career | |||
1951–1953 | Millonarios (player-manager) | ||
1954 | Huracán (player-manager) | ||
1955 | Nacional | ||
1955 | Gimnasia y Esgrima LP | ||
1955–1956 | Huracán | ||
1957 | Independiente | ||
1960–1961 | América de Cali | ||
1961–1962 | Colombia | ||
1962 | Gimnasia y Esgrima LP | ||
1963–1964 | Boca Juniors | ||
1966–1967 | Boca Juniors | ||
1968 | Quilmes | ||
1969 | Independiente | ||
1969 | Argentina | ||
1970 | Huracán | ||
1975 |
Talleres (Córdoba) | ||
1976 | Banfield | ||
1977 | América de Cali | ||
1978 |
San Lorenzo | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Adolfo Alfredo Pedernera (15 November 1918 – 12 May 1995)[1] was an Argentine football player and coach. Nicknamed "El Maestro" ("The Teacher"), he was widely considered to be one of the best world football players in the 1940s[2][3] and one of the greatest Argentine players of all time.[4] Pedernera was the natural conductor of both the famous River Plate team known as La Máquina ("The Machine"), with whom he won several Argentine and South American titles, and the Millonarios team called Ballet Azul ("Blue Ballet") that won the Small Club World Cup in 1953 among many others Colombian titles.
Pedernera's play with the
Pedernera usually played as an
Early career
As an adolescent, Pedernera displayed talent for football. The first club he joined was Cruceros de la Plata, but he soon joined the professional Club Atlético Huracán. In 1933, he joined the Club Atlético River Plate. In 1935, at the age of 16, he debuted with this club.
During his time at River Plate he was part of five Primera División winning squads in 1936, 1937, 1941, 1942 and 1945.
With the Argentina national team he won the
The
Pedernera's time with Atlanta was short. After the club was relegated for the first time, he returned in 1948 to Huracán where he started his career. However, Carlos Aldabe, the trainer of Millonarios, visited Pedernera in Buenos Aires and convinced him to come to Bogotá, Colombia. There, Pedernera joined the Millonarios on 8 June 1949. He arrived in Bogotá on 10 June and was greeted at the Aeropuerto de Techo by 5,000 fans transported by 200 cars and 25 buses.
Joining Millonarios
Pedernera settled in the north of Bogotá after being received into the club. On 11 June 1949, he attended his first game with the Millonarios, in which they defeated the Club Atlético Municipal (now the Atlético Nacional) with a score of 6–0. On 25 June, Pedernera played for the first time with the club, helping them defeat the Club Deportes Caldas with a score of 3–0. The press of Bogotá received Pedernera well and commented the next day that "El Maestro" ("The Teacher") was "a phenomenon, an artist, a master of passing, and a show of intelligence. After the debut of El Maestro, everything is possible."
Along with
After Carlos Aldabe retired as coach from Millonarios Pedernera took over as
In this era the Millonarios defeated such other strong teams at the time as Argentina's Huracán, Bolivia's Bolívar, Austria's Rapid Wien, and even his old team, Argentina's River Plate, which had won Primera División championships in 1952 and 1953.
In March 1952, when Pedernera was 33 years old, he was part of the Millonarios tour of Europe. On this trip, they achieved an outstanding win over Real Madrid 4–2 at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. The Spanish club asked for a rematch, playing two games else that were also won by Millonarios.
Pedernera also led his team to victory in the Small Club World Cup ("Pequeña Copa del Mundo", an international club tournament held in Venezuela) in 1953. He, along with Don Alfonso and Mauro Mórtola, were placed on a list of noted Millonarios players. The team credits him with establishing their mark on Colombia football.
In 1954, the Lima Pact forced all "illegal" players to return to their clubs of origin, so Pedernera returned briefly to Huracán.
Coaching career
In later years Pedernera also coached
Pedernera also coached Colombia and Argentina national teams. He is remembered in Colombia for helping the national team qualify for its first FIFA World Cup, the 1962 edition in Chile,[4] where Colombia had a good participation. On the other hand, under his coaching Argentina failed to qualify to the 1970 World Cup when the team tied 2–2 with Peru in La Bombonera. This was the first time that Argentina failed to qualify to a World Cup tournament.[8]
Later years
In 1993, he published his autobiography named "El fútbol que viví ... y que yo siento" (the football I lived ... and I feel), assisted by journalist Alejandro Yebra.
In 1994, Pedernera was reunited for the last time with his lifelong friends Alfredo Di Stéfano and Pipo Rossi at the Feria Internacional del Libro in Bogotá. Pedernera died the next year.
Honours
Player
River Plate
- Primera División Argentina: 1936, 1937, 1941, 1942, 1945
- Copa Ibarguren: 1937, 1941, 1942
- Copa Adrián C. Escobar: 1941
- Copa Aldao: 1936, 1937, 1941, 1945
Millonarios
- Categoría Primera A: 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953
- Copa Colombia: 1953
- Small Club World Cup: 1953
Argentina
- Copa América: 1941, 1945, 1946
Individual
References
- ^ "Adolfo Pedernera". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
- ^ FIFA.com
- ^ "7 Greatest Footballers of the 1940's". 22 April 2018.
- ^ a b Chiesa, Carlo F. (22 August 1999). "We are the champions - I 150 fuoriclasse che hanno fatto la storia del calcio" [The 150 champions that made football's history]. Calcio 2000 (in Italian). Action Group S.r.l. p. 128.
- ^ a b "The Copa América Archive - Trivia".
- ^ IFFHS' Century Elections - rsssf.org - by Karel Stokkermans, RSSSF, 2000.
- ^ Yorkhin, Michael (25 July 2017). "FourFourTwo's 100 Greatest Footballers EVER: 60 to 51". FourFourtwo. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
- ^ Argentina-Perú 1969: el peor recuerdo de la Selección en la Bombonera, El Gráfico, Nov 2016
- ^ "IFFHS ALL TIME ARGENTINA MEN'S DREAM TEAM". 26 August 2021.
External links
- Official Millanarios website at the Wayback Machine (archived 2007-10-20) (in Spanish)
- Futbol Factory profile at the Wayback Machine (archived 20 October 2007) (in Spanish)