Oswaldo Piazza

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Piazza 1976 as a player

Oswaldo (more rarely in the spelling Osvaldo) José Piazza (born April 6, 1947 in Buenos Aires ) is a former Argentine football player and current coach .

The player career

In the club

The 1.83 m tall Oswaldo Piazza came at the beginning of the 1972/73 season from CA Lanús to AS Saint-Etienne and became part of the team that dominated the top division of France for years. He started there as a right winger , but was built by the novice coach Herbin in this first season in the defense before goalkeeper Ivan Ćurković , who also made his debut at ASSE in 1972 . As a pre-stopper , he formed a top-class central defense together with Christian Lopez and was also dangerous on the offensive because of his forays into the opposing half. His "trademarks" were the unrestrained, long hair and a mustache; In addition to his unconditional commitment ( Dominique Rocheteau later called him "the locomotive" of the team), Piazza is credited with an extremely positive and friendly attitude, which in addition to his sporting achievements may have contributed to his popularity with the fans. Not many footballers can adorn themselves with the fact that they are honored with a chanson - this was the case with the Argentinean ("Mon copain l'argentin", recorded in 1979 by Bernard Sauvat ; see web link below).

Already in his second year at the Verts of Saint-Etienne , he was for the first time French champion , to cup winners and therefore winner of Doublé . In 1975 he was able to repeat this triple success, adding his title number seven and eight to this record in 1976 in the championship and in 1977 in the cup. In the 1975 cup final, it was he who scored the redeeming 1-0 against Lens after just under 70 minutes and thus brought his team onto the road to victory.
He was also on the European level, even reaching the final with his ASSE in the 1975/76 national championship cup , which was lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich .

In 1975 the France Football jurors voted the Argentine best foreign player of the year; and the editors of the journal Onze Mondial considered him in 1976 and 1977 in their Europa-Elf of the year. At Saint-Étienne he played with numerous "greats" of the French league football of the time such as Janvion , Larqué , Hervé Revelli , Bathenay and Santini .

After seven years on the Loire , Piazza returned to his homeland in 1979 and played there for Vélez Sársfield for three years .

At 35 he took, back in France , coach education and was in the AS Corbeil-Essonnes , a second division club from the Paris suburbs , one last year as a player-manager operates.

Stations

  • CA Lanús (until 1972)
  • AS Saint-Étienne (1972–1979)
  • Vélez Sársfield (1979–1982)
  • AS Corbeil-Essonnes (1982/83, as player-coach)

In the national team

Oswaldo Piazza played 15 international matches for the Argentine national team in the second half of the 1970s . Coach Menotti also called him to the squad for the World Cup in Argentina ; For personal reasons, the defender had to cancel before this tournament.

The trainer

In this new role, Oswaldo Piazza worked mainly in South America; the individual stations cannot yet be completely determined, but he also won several titles beyond the sidelines. In the 1990/91 season he coached the Argentine second division club Almirante Brown ; 1992/93 he was with Olimpia Asunción champions of Paraguay and penetrated with the outsider to the final of the Copa Libertadores , which was lost to Piazza's ex-club Vélez Sársfield . In the latter, he was very successful in the 1995/96 season, winning both Apertura and Clausura (the Argentine championships in the first and second half of the game) and the Supercopa Sudamericana . In 1997/98 he became Peruvian Master with UD Lima , from 2000 to 2002 he worked for Independiente from Avellaneda, a suburb of Buenos Aires, and then returned to UD Lima.

After he had been a hot candidate for the coaching chair at his AS Saint-Étienne in 2000 , his verts made him their official observer of the South American player market in 2004. He is also currently (April 2006) the sports director of the Argentine second division team Talleres de Córdoba .

Palmarès

As a player

As a trainer

Web links