Pedro Marchetta He passed away this Thursday morning at the age of 79. Former soccer player and former coach, he was one of the great characters that Argentine soccer had. Owner of unforgettable and funny anecdotes, he was a very lovable guy in the environment because of his sympathy and that infallible share of humor even in the most serious moments.
As a player he began his career at Racing Club de Avellaneda. There he spent two years in the First Division (1962 and 1963). He then went through Gimnasia La Plata, Los Andes, Santiago Morning (Chile) and Deportivo Quito (Ecuador). And he retired at the Ever Ready club in Dolores.
Then he started his most outstanding stage in football: as a coach. He started in Los Andes in 1983, the following year he directed Racing de Córdoba and in 1985 he took charge of Rosario Central, which was in B. With the Scoundrel he became champion and achieved the long-awaited promotion to the First Division. It was his peak, his greatest achievement as a manager. That led him to be quoted and lead Racing and Independent in addition to ten other Argentine clubs and two from Ecuador (Barcelona and Deportivo Quito).
His numerous anecdotes will remain in the memory, some of them very funny that led him to become a nice and special character for interviews.
Here, a decalogue of some of his “occurrences”:
1) When he took office in Platense and faced the squad: “Guys, look if I’m not going to understand that the situation is complicated that when I’m bored at home I turn on TV and watch The Simpsons, but when I’m even more bored I put on a game of yours. “
2) Request to Horacio Carbonari, defender of Central: “Petaco, listen to me: today he kicks from anywhere. In Spanish, a kid named Campagnuolo saves. His last name is jam. If you don’t score a goal, you’re dead.”
3) Request to Darío Scotto, Central forward: “Scotto, you get off the microphone and start kicking at the goal. Today Angelucci saves, you throw a mattress at him and it’s a goal.”
4) On the “bad blood” that was made when directing Platense: “I had two by-pass left from when I directed Platense. I named one Erbín and the other Irusta. Two sons of bitches.”
5) The anecdote with the goalkeeper Antún: “The starter had been injured and this Antún was great in training. Espanol de López-Caballero was coming, a great team that worked very well with the stopped ball. We lost 4-0 with four monumental shits from Antún. The next day, he approached me in the locker room: ‘Pedro, I came to tell you not to count on me anymore, I’m going to drop the football.’ I replied: ‘Why didn’t you tell me yesterday before the game, son? whore?’, ha, ha…”.
6) When he directed Independiente and they insulted him for being from Racing: “They puteed me back. They say that the San Martín del Monumental stall is the most difficult in the world; I tell you that Independiente’s is worse. And that we were 22 games undefeated, eh. I remember a man in a wheelchair, who came every game and whether he lost, tied or won by a landslide, he yelled at me: ‘What do you know how to do, Black Racing fan?’. One day, after beating him 2 -1 to San Lorenzo, I got fed up and replied: “Do you know what I know how to do, paralyzed and your mother’s shell? I know how to jump, you see, jump if you can!”, and I started to jump in front of him. What madness, for God’s sake! (laughs). I was lousy, but he had taken me out. And to think that afterwards I had to use a wheelchair…”.
7) His advice to Daniel Lalín: “Do you know how much money I made Lalín win? One day he came and told me: ‘You can’t put Piojo López any more because if not, you have to pay an option of $600,000.’ I told him : ‘If Racing doesn’t have money, buy it yourself’. With Chelo Delgado the same thing: Cruz Azul asked for 1,800.00 dollars. ‘Buy it yourself, because with these two you are going to win five sticks,’ I told him. I was wrong: he won nine green sticks”.
8) His crossing with the Belgrano bar: “It’s the shittiest fan, I said. I generalized the fart, because those from the bar came to insult me, everything was organized. One day they approached the field and squeezed me: ‘I We’re going to burn down the house and we’re going to rape your culiao wife,’ and I raised the tarpaulin and told them: ‘Watch out for the house, eh’, ha, ha… The guys came in to shit laughing.”
9) The anecdote with Mohamed and Amato: “I kicked Turco out of Independiente, because he made gestures to me when I took him out in a game. I came loaded, because both he and Amato lived in the bowling alleys and slept in the car in the club’s parking lot, before practices. One day I arrived and I hit the windshield of the car, the scare they got! Several years later, he admitted it to me: ‘We are sons of bitches, the players.’ I love the Turk with all my life, He’s very nice, a great person.”
10) The anecdote with Carrario and Ruggeri: “I grabbed him and told him: ‘Throw the long ball to Ruggeri, which is a telephone booth: you pass, put a token, speak and continue’, haha… The Big Head knew this asshole from Carrario and then as soon as the game started I see Ruggeri putting his hand on his shoulder and talking to him. Like that several times. ‘What did Marchetta tell you about me, what did he tell you?’, he insisted. Until he told him. San Lorenzo told us He won about the hour 2-1 and Ruggeri came to shout it in my face. A crack el Cabezón, the last leader of Argentine soccer. And Carrario, a shit.”
