Antonio Carbajal

Antonio Carbajal
Antonio Carbajal (1958)
Personnel
Surname	Antonio Felix Carbajal Rodríguez
birthday	June 7, 1929
place of birth	Mexico City ,  Mexico
size	180 cm
position	goal
Juniors
Years	station
1937-1948	Real Oviedo
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1948-1950	Club España	45 (0)
1950-1966	Club León	364 (0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1950-1966	Mexico	48 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Antonio Felix Carbajal Rodríguez (born June 7, 1929 in Mexico City ) is a retired Mexican football player . His nickname was "La Tota". The goalkeeper Carbajal was the first player to take part in five world championships and, together with Lothar Matthäus , Gianluigi Buffon and his compatriot Rafael Márquez, is the record player with the most participations in soccer world championships .

career

societies

He started playing football at the age of eight in the youth of Real Oviedo , a club from Mexico City. In the next few years he went through all youth classes and showed a great talent for goalkeeping. He was allowed to represent the senior goalkeeper for the first time at the age of 16 for the then second division club Oviedo. He traveled as a substitute goalkeeper with the Mexican amateur football team in 1948 for the Olympic Games in London. When he returned from Europe, he moved to the professional club Real Club España . At first he had to be content with the reservist role. But on October 3, 1948, he made his debut in the Primera División . España won 3-2 goals against local rivals CF Atlante . In 1949, the young goalkeeper with great jumping ability and good reflexes was already part of the extended group of the national team, in which he actually made his debut at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil.

Before the World Cup tournament in Brazil, he moved to Club León . He became a legend there. He won the Mexican Championship with León in 1952 and 1956 and the Cup in 1958 and 1966. In total, he completed 409 league games. After his fifth participation in the World Cup in England in 1966, he ended his playing career. The strong and sure-footed keeper with the dark mustache and the elegant quiff is one of the most revered soccer players in Mexico. He is an honorary citizen of his hometown León . There, at the La Martinica stadium, there is a plaque with the name of "El Eterno", the immortal. Carbajal, the man with the calmness of the bear, which is completely untypical for a Latino, is revered in Mexico to this day and was given the honorary name "El Eterno", the Eternal, because he personified Mexican football for so long.

National team, 1950 to 1966

His first World Cup participation was at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil . Immediately before the World Cup, national coach Octavio Vial decided to play Carbajal, who had no official international match, and so "Tota" made his debut at the opening game of the World Cup on June 24, 1950 in Rio de Janeiro in the Maracana Stadium in front of 82,000 spectators against the World Cup host. In the 4-0 defeat he was one of the better players in his team and was therefore also used in the other group matches against Yugoslavia (1: 4) and Switzerland (1: 2). Through his appearances at the World Cup, he had secured number one in the national team.

When he participated in the World Cup for the fourth time in Chile in 1962, on his 33rd birthday, of all places, on June 7th at the Estadio Sausalito in Vina del Mar, the 3-1 win in the third group game against the eventual runner-up Czechoslovakia, the first World Cup victory for a Mexican National team . From 1965 he lost his regular place in the national team to Ignacio Calderón . The 37-year-old therefore traveled to England as a substitute for the 1966 World Cup. In the last group game on July 19, 1966 against Uruguay, he was still active in his fifth World Cup participation. He was able to keep his goal clean in the 0-0 draw.

The number of his international matches is noted differently. Horn lists it in his "Lexicon of International Football Stars" just like Bausenwein in his book on "The Last Men" with 86 international matches, while in the further evaluated book on "The legendary World Cup goalkeepers" by BF Hoffmann, 48 official international matches are given. The official website of the Mexican Football Association also gives the number of his international matches at 48, naming 46 appearances and two reservists on the bench at the 1966 World Cup. Carbajal was elected "North and Central America's goalkeeper of the century".

The FC León player played eleven games in the following World Cup tournaments:

• Football World Cup in Brazil in 1950
• Football World Cup 1954 in Switzerland
• Soccer World Cup 1958 in Sweden
• Football World Cup in Chile in 1962
• Football World Cup 1966 in England

Trainer

From 1969 to 1995 Carbajal worked after his playing career as a club coach. With his home club Leon, he won the state cup in 1971 and 1972 . His coaching stations also included engagements at Unión de Curtidores and Atletico Morelia .

In addition to football

As a businessman, he successfully ran a glass and porcelain trade. The father of nine also took care of charitable projects. He supported an initiative aimed at enabling drug addicts youngsters to get out of the game through football.

literature

• Michael Horn: Lexicon of international soccer stars. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-89533-466-9 .
• BF Hoffmann : The legendary World Cup goalkeepers. A lexicon. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89533-498-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pit Gottschalk (ed.): The greatest stars in World Cup history 1930–2006, Sport-Bild, 2006, page 122
2. ^ Christoph Bausenwein: The Last Men, Die Werkstatt publishing house, 2003, page 349
3. ^ Profile at the Mexican Football Association