Griffa at the head of Argentina with the third of Newell’s, a young Bielsa and the boycott of the dictatorship

There are just four days left until the start of the Venezuelan Pre-Olympic soccer tournamentwhich will qualify two teams for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. After winning the first two editions, 1960 and 1964, the Argentine team recently returned to play in an Olympic soccer tournament in Seoul 1988. In the middle, decided not to compete twicein one he sent a Third from a First team that had the presence of a young and unknown at the time Marcelo Bielsa and when it achieved classification, the dictatorship bowed to the boycott promoted by the United States against the Soviet Union in the middle of the Cold War.

The third pre-Olympic tournament, qualifying for Mexico 1968, was held in Colombia between March 19 and April 9 without Argentina present. Thirteen days before, and with the match program already put together, the AFA announced that it would not send a team. According to official information from the AFA, it was due to the impossibility of forming a team that represented the true capacity of Argentine football, since there were many inconveniences in having several youth category players, given the refusal of some clubs to lend the players called up for form the combination. Times of disorganization, similar to recent times.

The pre-Olympic for Germany 72 was also played in Colombia, between November and December 1971. For the first time, the 10 South American teams played. It was played in the cities of Bogotá, Cali and Medellín and the Argentine coach was Ruben Bravonicknamed the Master and born in Pujato, the same town of Lionel ScalonYo. Bravo was a forward, he emerged from Central, he was a three-time champion with Racing (1949-51), he played for Botafogo in Brazil, for Palestino in Chile and from 1954 in France, where he retired in 1962 (Nice, Grenoble, As Aix, Rouen and Racing Roubaix Club).

Bravo began his career as a coach at Independiente Santa Fe (1968 and 1969) and when Juan José Pizzuti He was appointed coach of the National Team, on December 31, 1969, he joined as his main assistant. Therefore, he also took charge of the youth teams. He previously competed in Cannes (third) and the Cali Pan American Games (gold medal). The credit was open for the Pre-Olympic.

The coach called up these 18 players: Carlos Leone (Students), Victoriano Dominé (Students), Osvaldo Batocletti (Racing, Angel Mendoza (Huracán), Andrés Rebottaro (Newell’s), Alberto Jorge (Racing), Angel Ungaretti (River), Edgardo Di Meola (Colón), Luis Oruezábal (Vélez), Carlos Avanzi (River), Roberto Acastello (Banfield), Mario Finarolli (River), Rafael Moreno (Argentinos), Hugo Coscia (Students), José Berta (Newell’s), Carlos Montenegro (Vélez), Roberto Cabral (Platense), Jorge Troncoso (Vélez), Miguel Rabanal (Ferro), Eduardo Montilla (Racing, Miguel Leyes (Huracán), José Miranda (Gimnasia). All were under 20 years old and were outstanding players of First in the 70’s.

In the group stage, Argentina shared a group with Brazil (0-0), Bolivia (1-1), Ecuador (2-2) and Chile (2-0). With 5 points, they moved on to the final phase, where they tied 1-1 with Peru and lost 1-0 with Brazil. In the decisive match, against Colombia, Argentina won 1-0 with a goal from Rodríguez 5 minutes into the second half and Andrade tied with five minutes left. The equality left it in third place behind Brazil and Colombia, which achieved qualification.

For the classification of the 1976 Montreal Olympicswhich was played in January 1976 in Recife, Brazil, the AFA made a historic decision: it decided on the Newell’s Tercera, which had been crowned the championship and was directed by Bernardo Griffa.

The main technician was César Luis Menotti and, in the edition of Clarín of January 12, 1976, he explained the decision: “The trip to the pre-Olympic was discussed a long time ago and at the time it seemed to the AFA that this team would require a large expense and so it was agreed not to go.. Now things have changed a lot. Plans were improved. AND It occurred to me that Newell’s Tercera was a good solution. In addition, he has a great coach like Griffa, who is a guarantee. If the classification is won, the team would be reinforced with more experienced people. “You can’t go to an Olympics with 20-year-olds because otherwise the Poles or Hungarians will step on them.”

In addition, Flaco also expanded on the economic issue: “I said that the pre-Olympic was very expensive. Now I explain it better, although this will be AFA’s task. The expense is not going to Brazil but preparing to go to Canada. “We must not forget that thirty people will go to Montreal and they all want to collect their respective travel expenses for a long month.”

In the same edition, Griffa assured that it was a “spiritual reward” for his silent work and that his style of play was “touch, score, hit balls, get away from marking.” He also assured that he would include Américo Rubén Gallego because he “has not yet registered his professional contract”, the same as Aguerópolis, Costa, Bielsa. Bielsa? Yes, Marcelo Bielsa, who was 20 years old at the time. “If they are available I cannot leave them aside,” he assured.

Finally, the squad was made up of 19 players: Marcelo Bielsa, Rubén Ciccapoli, Raúl Alfaro, Miguel Colacray, Luis Correa, José Costas, Héctor Montes, Eduardo Quinto Pagés, Enzo Bulleri, Ricardo Giusti, Javier Graziotín, Dardo Jara, Oscar Cecotti, Raúl Delpóntigo, Roberto Rodríguez, Daniel Moretti, Víctor Civarelli, Américo Gallego and José Rodríguez. El Tolo was world champion in 1978 and gringo Giusti in Mexico 86. El Loco led the National Team between 1999 and 2004.

There was only one place and it was for Brazil, which came first with 9 points. Argentina was third with 5 points behind Uruguay (7). The Rosario youth team began with victories over Chile (2-1) and Peru (3-1), then tied with Colombia (2-2), and finally lost to Uruguay (0-2) and Brazil (0-2).

For the pre-Olympic qualifying for the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980, priorities changed with respect to what happened four years earlier. Argentina had become World Champion for the first time in 1978. and also youth champion in 1979 in Japan. The tournament was played in January 1980 in Colombia, the coach was Federico Sacchi, also from Rosario, who worked on Menotti’s coaching staff, and the team had five youth champions in Tokyo such as Osvaldo Rinaldi, Rubén Rossi, Daniel Sperandío, Juan José Meza and Angel Guillermo Hoyos. In addition, the majority were youth from strong teams in the country that were competing in the National tournament: 7 from Talleres, 5 from Instituto, 2 from Central, one from San Martín de Tucumán, Atlético Tucumán, Racing de Córdoba, Newell’s and Colón. In addition, three from AMBA (San Lorenzo, Boca and Independiente).

The 22 chosen were: Oscar Quiroga (Workshops), Enrique Veloso (Institute), Victorio Ocaño (Workshops), Juan José Meza (Institute), Osvaldo Rinaldi (San Lorenzo), Luis Ludueña (Workshops), Enrique Nieto (San Martín de Tucumán ), Guillermo Hoyos (Talleres), Héctor Bocanelli (Talleres), Luis Oropel (Institute), José Tártalo (Central), Eusebio Roldán (San Martín de Tucumán), Carlos Randazzo (Boca), Héctor Gómez (Atlético Tucumán), Eduardo Astudillo (Talleres), Víctor Binello (Talleres), Daniel Sperandío (Central), Rubén Rossi (Colón), Roberto Gasparini (Racing de Córdoba), Sergio Giovagnoli (Newell’s), Juan Carlos Gómez (Institute) and Gustavo Moriconi.

7 teams participated, all against all, and Argentina won the tournament and the classification, after five victories and a draw: Venezuela (1-0), Peru (4-1), Brazil (3-1), Bolivia (4-0 ) and Colombia (0-0). Meza from Tucumán was the team’s top scorer with 5 goals and one of the figures of the tournament.

On December 27, 1979, the USSR invaded Afghanistan and James Carter, in the midst of his re-election campaign, warned that if Soviet troops did not withdraw before a deadline, the United States would boycott, “in the name of world peace.” , the Olympic Games scheduled for late July and early August 1980. That’s how it happened. On April 12, 1980, the United States Olympic Committee supported President Carter’s decision and then many countries joined in, including Argentina.

The bloodiest dictatorship, led by Jorge Rafael Videla, initially did not adhere to the boycott, on the recommendation of José Martínez de Hoz, the Minister of Finance, due to Argentina’s commercial importance with the Soviet Union. At the beginning of May he was in the United States explaining the situation but finally gave in to American pressure. On May 8, the de facto government recommended “not attending” the Olympics and that was Clarín’s main headline the next day. The “recommendation” was followed by the Argentine Olympic Committee and no athlete went to Moscow. Neither does football.

Just two days earlier, on May 6, the selected, with Sacchi at the helm, began practice in San Miguel de Tucuman with 18 players chosen by Menotti, as contained in official bulletin 757 published by the AFA that day: Rubén Rossi (Columbus), Daniel Sperandío (Central), Osvaldo Rinaldi (St. Lawrence), Jorge Gutierrez (Hurricane), Silvano Espindola (Argentines), Luis Oropel (Racing of Cordoba), Carlos Randazzo (Mouth), Luis Hoyos (Workshops); Roberto Mallea (Athletic Youth of San Juan), Francisco Ruiz and Luis Barrientos (Athletic of Tucuman), Adrian Puentedura (Central North of Salta), Juan Carlos Santillan (Jorge Newbery of Tucuman), Enrique Nieto and Eusebio Roldan (San Martin). of Tucuman), Miguel Rodriguez and Juan Jose Meza (Institute of Cordoba) and Carlos Ereros (Argentine of Mendoza).

As Roquiño Mallea remembers, in a note published by Fabio Garbi in the Diario de Cuyo, there were a couple of training sessions in Tucumán and at the Natalio Salvatori farm in José C. Paz: “The idea is that we would no longer return to our homes, There we would travel to Moscow, but in mid-May, they told us that Argentina had joined the boycott.

Argentina was not in Los Angeles 84 either because it also did not participate in the pre-Olympic tournament held in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in February 1984. The decision was announced by the AFA on January 31 “in disagreement with the untimely and surprising modification of the admission conditions of players for said tournament.” What happened? On November 7, 1983, the South American Confederation ruled that players who had performed in the Copa América could not be included. But then there was a contrary decision from FIFA.

Carlos Bilardo told Clarín: “One day before traveling, they changed the regulations. That doesn’t work, there was something strange here. Therefore, in common agreement with the executive committee, it was decided not to go. If it is to play, you could travel with any team, but that is not the question.”

The return to Olympic competition would occur four years later, in Bilardo’s second cycle as coach, after winning the World Cup in Mexico ’86.