Ángel Antonio León

Ángel “Pulques” León
Personnel
Surname	Ángel Antonio León Méndez
place of birth	Mexico
date of death	April 16, 1996
position	goalkeeper
Juniors
Years	station
	España
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
0000-1937	España
1937-1943	Necaxa
1943-1950	Asturias
1950-1952	Necaxa
1 Only league games are given.

Ángel Antonio León Méndez , better known as "Pulques" León (* in Mexico ; † April 16, 1996 ibid), was a Mexican football goalkeeper who won the Primera Fuerza in 1937/38 with Necaxa and the Primera División in 1943/44 with Asturias has been.

biography

León began his football career as a center forward in the second team of España . When the goalkeeper was unable to play due to an ankle injury, León turned to the coach and asked if he could replace the injured goalkeeper. He made such a good impression that his coach will put him in goal in the future. After a year at the reserve, he was called to the first team, but where he had no chance to oust the deserved goalkeeper "Jorobado" Álvarez, who was considered one of the best Mexican goalkeepers of his time. Therefore, he accepted the offer of the reigning Mexican master Necaxa, to whom he switched in 1937 and thus also belonged to the master squad for the 1937/38 season. Although he initially had to take care of the bench at Necaxa, he improved in two ways: on the one hand, he was now part of Once Hermanos , the best club team in Mexico at the time, and on the other hand, he was the club's substitute for the Mexican national goalkeeper Raúl “Pipiolo” Estrada . When he moved to CF Atlante soon afterwards , “Pulques” León rose to become the regular goalkeeper at Necaxa. He stayed there until the introduction of professional football in 1943. Because Necaxa initially retained amateur status, León moved to Club Asturias, with whom he was the first champion of the newly introduced Primera División in the 1943/44 season. After Asturias retired from professional football in 1950 and Necaxa had assumed professional status at the same time, he returned to Necaxa. There he ended his active playing career in 1952.

Nickname

Because his family was busy trading pulque , Ángel León was nicknamed “Pulques” in his youth team, which he had with him for a lifetime. One of his greatest games completed "Pulques" León on December 20, 1941 in an encounter between Necaxa and the Selección Jalisco . Although the Guadalajara players rolled one attack after the other towards his goal that day, León was almost insurmountable. The spectators were so enthusiastic about his performance that they kept shouting “Pulques! Pulques! ”Cheered. Guadalajara comedian Palillo later commented in the press: "This goalkeeper is so good that he should be promoted from pulque to cognac ."

Others

In his adopted hometown of Apan in the state of Hidalgo , where he settled down after finishing his playing career and henceforth worked as a sports teacher, the sports facility in the city center was named after him. It is called Estadio Pulques León .

Web links

Important note: The two following sources have some inconsistent contradictions. Therefore, the first-mentioned link, based on a report by the renowned Mexican football historian Carlos Calderón Cardoso, was classified as more reliable and focused on.

• www.mediotiempo.com: Carlos Calderón Cardoso: “El Pulques” León (Spanish; article of March 1st, 2004)
• apan.blogia.com: Professor Ángel "el Pulques" León (Spanish; accessed on August 20, 2010)

literature

• Juan Cid y Mulet: Libro de Oro del Fútbol Mexicano (Mexico City: B. Costa Amica, 1961), p. 290