Octavio Vial

Octavio Vial (born December 26, 1919 ) is a former Mexican soccer player and coach who coached the Mexican national soccer team at the 1950 World Cup . As a player he acted in the storm center and as an adult player was exclusively and as a coach mostly for the Club América in use. With 148 goals he is the third most successful goalscorer in the history of Club América after Luis Roberto Alves (190 goals) and Cuauhtémoc Blanco (152).

biography

player

His nickname La Pulga (German: the flea ), which Vial had already received in his youth due to his small body size, speed and dynamism, was to accompany him for a lifetime.

At the age of ten, la Pulga Vial came to the junior division in 1930 at the invitation of an official from Real Club España . He didn't feel at home there, however, and therefore preferred to move to Lusitania , an association from Colonia Roma . During a game between Lusitania and América, the coach noticed Vial because it was always dangerous for his team when Ocatvio got the ball. Immediately after the game, he approached the youngster and offered him a contract with America. Vial didn't think twice and has been part of the Club América team ever since.

He wore the America jersey for the first time in 1936. He made his Liga Mayor debut in May 1937 in a game against Real Club España, which he had not liked at the time. At the end of his first season (1937/38) he won the Copa México with his team . A good ten years later, a broken fibula in the 1948/49 season forced him to end his playing career.

Trainer

In the following season 1949/50 he took over the coaching position at Club América and was thus the immediate successor of Rafael Garza Gutiérrez , who had coached the club until then and was involved in its founding 33 years earlier. In the same year Garza Gutiérrez also led the Mexican national team to the 1950 World Cup, where Octavio Vial had also succeeded him and looked after the Mexicans during the World Cup, where they had absolutely no chance and played all games (0: 4 against hosts Brazil, 1: 4 against Yugoslavia and 1: 2 against Switzerland). After the World Cup and a total of five international matches (the other two were preparatory games against Spain at the end of May 1950, which ended with 1: 3 and 0: 0), he resigned from his position as national coach and devoted himself exclusively to club football.

In the 1950/51 season he took over the CF Atlante - successor to Lusitania, with whom he spent some years of his youth - and led him to win the 1951 Cup and runner-up in the same year. He then took over the coaching post at Club América for several years and led him to cup victory in 1954 and 1955 and to winning the Supercup in 1955. With the three-time Copa México victory, Vial is the record cup winner of this competition as a coach.

It is interesting that as a coach he won three cups and was defeated in the final each of the Club Deportivo Guadalajara team . It is also noteworthy that Vial - as a player and as a coach - was a total of four cup winners, but not a single champion.