Bolivia winners of the 1963 Copa America – from:facebbok.com
Article by Giovanni Manenti
The America Cup – the South American equivalent to our European Nations Championship – is one Event in which the 10 Federations registered with CONMEBOL participate (Confederacion Sudamericano de Futbol), with on some occasions extended, to favor the program, to two invited countries, mainly Mexico and the United Statesalthough in 2019 this privilege was reserved for Qatar and Japan for obvious promotional reasons…
Furthermore, of these, only Mexico was able to reach the final stage on two occasions (1993 and 2001)being defeated in both cases by Argentina (1-2) and Colombia (0-1) respectively, while the South American national teams in the strict sense – in addition to the “three big ones” Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay – they managed to lift the Trophy twice each for Paraguay, Chile and Peru, and once for Bolivia and Colombiawith only Ecuador and Venezuela never having obtained such a privilege.
In this regard, The presence of Bolivia among the winners stands out, given that this country has never seen one of its club teams, let’s not say win, but not even play in a final of the Copa Libertadores – as opposed to, for example, Ecuador, which he won the Trophy in 2009 with LDU Quito and reached the final three times with Barcelona and Independiente del Valle – and, as in every case of life, there is a particular explanation that we are going to tell you…
The first fundamental component lies in the fact that the Bolivia is called, for the first time in the history of the event, to host the edition which takes place from 10 to 31 March 1963a determining circumstance not so much due to the fact of being the owner of the house, but because the meetings take place in the Capital La Paz and Cochabamba, i.e. locations located respectively at over 3,600 and 2,500 meters above sea levelmaking breathing very difficult for those who are not used to it.
This implies that Uruguay declines participation due to the designation of La Paz as one of the two cities where the meetings take place, while Venezuela didn’t have a team at the time able to compete at such levels and also Chile renounces, but for political reasons, as there are ongoing diplomatic tensions with the host country regarding the exploitation of the Lauca riverbordering the two states…
They therefore remain only 7 teams competing for the Trophy which, given the small number of entrants, takes place with the Single Group Formula and for which the favored logic, taking into account the outcome of the World Championships held the previous year in Chile, should logically be Brazil and Argentina, but there is a however…
Defined, moreover at the time, as South American Championship – the current name of Copa America dates back only to the 1975 edition – also Argentina does not agree with the decision to play at almost 4,000 meters in La Paz due to its high altitude, but, unlike the “Celeste” send a B formation, which also includes players – like the goalkeeper Edgardo Andradathe defenders Rafael Albrecht and Rubén Navarro and the midfielder Oscar Rossi – destined to wear the shirt of the “Selection“, also part of those called up was a “right” Cesar Luis Menotti.
Brazil, on the other hand, who would have had no difficulty in winning the tournament if they had fielded the team fresh from having won the first two world titles in the history of the Seleçao, takes part in the event with a youth selection, of which none will manage to emerge at high levelscircumstances which all contribute to making the Tournament more balanced than ever and therefore open to any solution…
Tournament so yes opens on March 10th with the debut match taking place atHernando Siles Stadium” of La Paz where 15,000 flock to Bolivia’s debut against Ecuador, match that certainly does not lack emotion, with the hosts atrun away” con the double advantage (of Renan Lopez and Fortunato Castillo the goals…) already gained before half an hour of playonly to be joined before the break by the Ecuadorian reply with Carlos Alberto Raffo and Enrique Raymondi, while the second half brought about the opposite trend, given that this time they were the guests to move to 4-2 in their favor after just 5′ after returning to the fieldwith Jorge Bolanos and Raymondi again scoring, before that this time it’s up to Maximo Alcocer and Wilfredo Camacho to restore parity for the final 4-4.
In the other two matches of the first day, held at “Felix Capriles Stadium” say Cochabamba, Argentina and Brazil demonstrate at least that they do not want to take the commitment lightlywith the Seleccion beating Colombia 4-2, a match that was also decided in the final minutes thanks to the centers of Roberto Hector Zarate (who had also opened the scoring…) and Mario Rodriguezwhile for green-gold it is sufficient the point of Flavio Minuano – excellent goalscorer with over 3509 goals with the shirts of Internacional, Corinthians, Fluminense and Porto – after the first quarter of an hour of play to overcome Peru…
Three days later, Argentina saw its hopes of final success reduced with a 1-2 defeat against Perudespite taking the lead with Zarate at the start of the second half, falling to Alberto Gallardo – who in the summer of 1964 he was purchased by Cagliari, newly promoted to Serie Awearing its colors for two years without making much of an impression – marking the point of overtaking, while the following day the positive debut in the tournament for Paraguay, who beat Ecuador 3-1 (with Raffo still scoring…), just as the prices of the Brazil, landslide (5-1, with Flavio scoring a brace…) over Colombiaso as to lead the ranking after two days.
To make the Seleçao think again that a handful of rookies can follow in the footsteps of the various Didì, Pelé and Garrincha, the same provides Paraguay, who on March 17 in La Paz inflicted the first defeat of the tournament on the green and gold, with a 2-0 which bore the signatures of Eladio Zarate (already scored against Ecuador…) and Juan Ayalawhile Bolivia achieves its first success having prevailed 2-1 (with a brace from Alcocer) over Colombia and Peru defeats Ecuador with the same score, despite Raffo scoring for the third consecutive match…
With a ranking in which everything is still at stake in the next round Paraguay confirmed with full points, despite only coming to an end in the 89th minute of the match against Colombiaresolved 3-2 thanks to Cecilio Martinez’s center, after Zarate had opened the scoring, same result with which Bolivia prevails over Peru (Alcocer still on the scoreboard…) and Argentina redeems itself by overcoming 4-2 (with a hat-trick from Raul Savoy…) Ecuador.
With the Paraguay with 6 points in three days, followed by Bolivia with 5 and Brazil and Argentina with 4the next challenges serve to define the chances of success, with the first to “raise the white flag” And Brazil, clearly beaten 3-0 by Argentina which makes the most of the greater experience of its players, the success it brings the signatures of Rodriguez, Savoy and Ernesto Suarezas well as the Bolivia places a first mortgage on the Trophy thanks to the 2-0 over Paraguay which saw Castillo and Ausberto Garcia scorewhile Colombia takes its only point in the Tournament with a 1-1 draw against Peru, a match in which Gallardo is still on the scoreboard…
We’re back on the field on March 27 with Brazil unable to go beyond a 2-2 draw with Ecuador (Oswaldo scored a brace for the green and gold and Raffo scored again for the fourth time in five matches…) and Paraguay redeemed themselves with the 4-1 at the expense of Peru with a brace from Martinez and Zarate again on goalbefore the match between Bolivia and Argentina takes place the next day, which is worth a good chunk of the Trophy.
The challenge is staged in La Paz and attracts 20 thousand spectatorsdespite the fact that “Hernando Siles Stadium” can contain more than double, ed is entrusted to the direction of the Peruvian referee (of clear Japanese origins…) Arturo Yamasaki – famous in our latitudes for having directed “El Partido del Siglo” between Italy and West Germany at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico – for a match that proves to live up to expectations…
After a first half ofquestion and answer”, con the advantages for the hosts with Castillo in the 12th minute and Ramiro Blacut in the 32nd minute were canceled out by the brace scored by Rodriguez in the 17th and 34th minute, here the decision takes place only 2′ from the final whistle, it was Camacho’s turn to score the final 3-2 with the sweet taste of victory in the Tournament.
Only the last day is missing, with Bolivia with 9 points, followed by Paraguay with 8 and Argentina with 6 and now mathematically excluded from the final successwith the two races deciding the awarding of the Trophy to see the latter to compete against each other in La Paz, while in Cochabamba the hosts await Brazil without any more pretense…
To favor Bolivia even more – in the meantime Ecuador beat Colombia 4-3 in a match that allowed Raffo, who scored a brace, to secure the title of top scorer with 6 goals – comes the news of a draw between Paraguay and Argentina, so that even a draw is sufficient for the national team of the organizing country to win the Tournament.
The Brazilians, however, are not willing to play the role of “sacrificial victim”, immediately replying with Marco Antonio and Almir to the goals of Victor Ugarte and Camachowith therefore the two teams gaining the locker room for the interval with a score of 2-2, as well as it’s up to Flavio (who reaches 5 among the scorers…) to keep 25 thousand spectators worried that fill the stands of the “Felix Capriles Stadium”, canceling the double advantage built by Garcia and Ugarte again, before he takes care of making every fear vanish Alcocer (“top scorer” Bolivian with 5 goals …) with the final score 5-4 4′ from the final whistle on the part of Colombian Ovidio Orrego
Of course, it cannot be said that it was a victory to be excessively boastful of, given the circumstances indicated above, but never more so than in this house does the saying “those who are absent are always wrong…” and, therefore, why not take advantage of it…!?
2024-06-08 13:13:06
#COPA #AMERICA #TRIUMPH #BOLIVIA #STATEMENT #TOURNAMENT #SportHistoria
