Francisco Aramburu

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Argentina's Juan Carlos Fonda and Francisco Aramburu 1946

Francisco Aramburu , often just Chico (short for Francisco) (born January 7, 1922 in Uruguaiana , Rio Grande do Sul , † October 1, 1997 in Rio de Janeiro ) was a Brazilian football player . At the club CR Vasco da Gama , the striker was part of the club's golden era in the 1940s and 1950s. With the Brazilian national team he lost the decider against Uruguay, which went down in history as Maracanaço, at the 1950 World Cup . In addition, he was one of the main characters in the scandalous play-off between Brazil and Argentina for the Copa América 1946 , which had a lasting impact on football relations between the two countries.

career

Chico began his footballing career in 1939 at the age of 17 in his hometown on the Argentine border at EC Ferro Carril . Just one year later he was able to move to Grêmio in the state capital Porto Alegre , where he was able to showcase his talent at a higher level.

In 1942 he was brought to the then national capital Rio de Janeiro by CR Vasco da Gama . The traditional club with the Maltese cross in its coat of arms was only number five in the metropolis behind Fluminense , Botafogo , Flamengo and America FC .

At the same time as Chico, the successful Uruguayan coach Ondino Viera , who had already won five championships with the Argentinian club CA River Plate and Flamengo, started working for the club. He not only introduced the diagonal sash that has become typical since then - inspired by River Plate - on Vasco's jerseys, but also introduced tactical innovations. The former boxer Mário Américo also joined Vasco da Gama in 1942 as a masseur and physical supervisor - from 1950 he was to accompany the national team over seven world championships as a physical supervisor and as a factotum himself achieve worldwide fame.

By 1945 Ondino Viera managed to put together a high-performance team that had no fear of comparison and won the club's sixth national championship unbeaten. The Expresso da Vitória ("Victory Express"), as which the team from 1945 to 1952 went down in history, benefited above all from its attack line Ademir , top scorer Lelé , Isaías , Jair da Rosa Pinto and Chico on the left wing. By then he had acquired the reputation of a strong, fast, two-footed dribbler with a sharp shot and was soon considered for the national team.

In December 1945 he played his first international match for Brazil in São Paulo against Argentina as part of the Copa Roca games. The hosts lost 3: 4, but in the second leg at the Estádio São Januário , Vasco's home ground in Rio, they achieved their highest win of all time against their arch-rivals 6: 2. Chico contributed to this victory with his first international goal and Brazil secured the trophy in the crucial play-off with a 3-1 win in the same place just a few days later.

Even at these games, things were tough, with the Argentine Batagliero suffering a broken leg in a duel with the only 20-year-old Ademir de Menezes .

Scandal game in Buenos Aires

In February 1946 Chico took part with the national team at the Copa America in Argentina. There he got the 4: 3 final result in the first game against the Uruguayans, who were disappointing in the tournament. On the last day of the tournament, the two unbeaten teams Argentina and Brazil faced each other in front of 80,000 spectators at the Estádio Monumental de Nuñez in Buenos Aires. After 28 minutes there was a scandal.

The Brazilian Jair fought a fierce duel with Salomón, in which the latter suffered a broken leg from which he was never to recover. Argentina's defender Juan Carlos Fonda wanted to take revenge on Jair, who was fleeing into the dressing room, but was stopped by Chico, who in turn was processed by an Argentine and soon also by police officers running onto the pitch. With the help of the Uruguayan referee Nobel Valentini, who ejected him along with an Argentine, and an agent from the Rio special police, Chico finally managed to find refuge in the stadium's catacombs.

After that, the field was finally overrun by a large number of spectators who could only be driven away by the police using gas. After an approximately 70-minute break in the game, the Brazilians only returned to the field after being told that their safety could not be guaranteed otherwise. In the end, the Argentine team defeated stars like Adolfo Pedernera , Angel Labruna and Félix Loustau Brazil 2-0.

The effects of this game were lasting. There were no further games between the two countries until 1956. Brazil decided not to take part in the Copa America in 1947 and 1955 , and Argentina in the tournaments of 1949 and 1953 . Of greater importance, however, was Argentina's non-participation in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil.

As for Chico, he wanted to visit his family in Uruguaiana on the return trip. Twelve Argentine soldiers escorted him on the train ride to the border, where he was received by an enthusiastic crowd.

South American championship cup with Vasco

At club level there was only a disappointing 5th place in 1946 under the new coach Ernesto Santos. In 1947, the Izidor Kürschner student Flávio Costa , who won the state title four times with Flamengo between 1939 and 1944, was again brought to the club as a successful coach. Costa was also the national coach from 1944 to 1950. Under him, the team was further strengthened and in the same year Vasco won again - again undefeated - the state championship. In this capacity, and also because the State choice of Rio das tournament of the State teams won, Vasco became the Brazilian representative at the Campeonato Sul-Americano de Campeões , the "South American Championship of Champions", which in March 1948 in Santiago de Chile , was ordered held .

The decisive game against the favorite River Plate from Buenos Aires , with players like Moreno , Labruna , Loustau , Rossi and the up-and-coming young star Alfredo Di Stéfano one of the most glamorous club formations of all time, is considered one of Chico's outstanding performances. His goal was denied recognition by the Uruguayan referee Nobel Valentini - in the middle of the second half he even knocked it off the field after a tussle with the Argentine Méndez - but the press reported that Chico "worked like a lion". The offensively led, combat-oriented game ended goalless, with which the Maltese cruisers also won this trophy undefeated and at the same time became the first Brazilian club team to achieve significant success abroad.

After Vasco had just beaten Botafogo at state level in 1948, the Expresso de Vitória ran at full steam again in 1949 and won the championship of Rio again undefeated.

World Championship 1950

Flávio Costa called Chico into Brazil's squad for the 1950 World Cup in their own country, in which the team was the big favorite. But Chico had to watch the first two games and came for the first time against the Yugoslavs, who competed with the two later Bundesliga coaches Zlatko Čajkovski and Ivica Horvat , where they made it into the final group with a 2-0 win. There Brazil overcame their first two opponents Sweden and Spain 7-1 and 6-1 respectively, and Chico contributed two goals each to both successes. His goal to make it 4-0 against Spain was the 300th goal in the history of the World Cup finals. Uruguay waited in the playoff, which was only able to keep the title decision open thanks to a late winning goal against Sweden.

In front of a world record crowd of around 200,000 spectators, the Brazilians who competed with six Vasco da Gama players, who would have won the title with a draw, took the lead shortly after the start of the second half through Friaça . But after 80 minutes, the extreme underdog Uruguay, to the horror of the audience, was 2-1 ahead. In the remaining time, the Brazilians didn't do much. It might have equalized in the final minute, but Ademir de Menezes crossed in front of goal too hesitantly so that Uruguayan goalkeeper Roque Máspoli had enough time to intercept the ball in the five-meter space in front of Chico's head . The game went down in history as Maracanaço .

This quasi-final was the last international match for Chico and many more of the Brazilian players - and also coach Costa, although he was reappointed national coach a few years later.

Last years of football

With Vasco da Gama, Chico managed to defend the national championship for the first time in the same year, albeit no longer unbeaten, as with the three previous titles.

After another championship in 1952, the time of the Expresso de Vitória, the golden era of Vasco da Gama came to an end. Chico's star also faded noticeably and the now 30-year-old had to make do with the bank more and more often. He finally ended his career with CR Flamengo, for which he played two more games in 1955 and 1956.

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personal data
SURNAME Aramburu, Francisco
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chico
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Brazilian soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH January 7, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Uruguaiana , Rio Grande do Sul
DATE OF DEATH October 1, 1997
Place of death Rio de Janeiro