Raúl Cárdenas

Raúl Cárdenas de la Vega (born October 30, 1928 in Mexico City , † March 25, 2016 in Cuernavaca , Morelos ) was a Mexican football player and coach . Cárdenas, also known by the nicknames El Rojo and Guero , took part in a total of four soccer world championships : three times as a player in 1954 , 1958 and 1962, and in 1970 as a coach. In addition, Cárdenas is the second most successful club coach in the Mexican Primera División with six championship titles won .

Player career

society

Cárdenas, who emerged from the offspring of Club Oviedo , began his professional career in 1947 in the service of Real Club España . He then played for Guadalajara (1950/51) and Marte before moving to Puebla FC , with whom he won the Mexican Cup competition in the 1952/53 season. Immediately after the 1954 World Cup, Cárdenas moved to his longest station CD Zacatepec , where he was under contract until the end of his active career in 1965.

National team

His debut for a Mexican national team was Raúl Guero Cárdenas on August 2, 1948 at the Summer Olympics of 1948 in a game against North Korea, in which he immediately scored a goal, but could not prevent the 3: 5 defeat of his team.

He played his last international match on June 7, 1962 at the 1962 World Cup in Chile against Czechoslovakia. Although Mexico was eliminated again after the preliminary round at this World Cup, its farewell game was also a historic game for the whole country; because of all things against the eventual vice world champion the Mexicans achieved their first ever World Cup victory with a 3-1 win.

In total, Cárdenas, who can be used equally in defense and midfield, played 37 international matches in which he scored three goals. The other two goals came in the 2-1 win over England on May 24, 1959 and in the 4-1 win over Costa Rica on April 12, 1961.

In the three football world championships held between 1954 and 1962, he played seven of eight full-length Mexicans games and was only missing in the Mexicans opening game against hosts Sweden (3-0) on June 8, 1958.

Coaching career

society

With six championship titles, el Rojo Cárdenas is the most successful club coach of the Primera División after Ignacio Trelles (seven times champion). He is also the only coach besides Javier de la Torre (with Guadalajara) who has won five championship titles with one team. In addition to the five championship titles he won with Cruz Azul between 1969 and 1974 , he was still successful with Club America in 1976 . He has set another record in just eight years in which he won six championships with the teams he coached. He is also the only coach of the Primera División to this day who (between 1972 and 1974) was champion three times in a row.

National team

Cárdenas de la Vega made his debut as national coach on a hugely successful Mexican tour of South America , which began on October 16, 1968 with a 1-0 win over Colombia and which continued with impressive victories against Uruguay (2-0) and Brazil ( 2: 1) followed.

The highlight of his international coaching career was undoubtedly the 1970 World Cup in his own country, at which the team he coached for the first time in the history of the World Cup in Mexico survived the preliminary round. In addition, the team remained the longest of all tournament participants from the start (294 minutes) without conceding a goal before they failed in the quarter-finals with 1: 4 against Italy.

His first stage as national coach ended with a friendly against Brazil (1: 2) on September 30, 1970. Between 1979 and 1981 he acted again as national coach, albeit far less successfully. The team he coached missed qualifying for the 1982 World Cup because they did not go beyond 0-0 in the last qualifying game against Honduras on November 22, 1981 and El Salvador overtook Mexico with their 1-0 win against Haiti . The goalless game in Honduras was also the 59th and last international game in which Cárdenas was the head coach of the Mexicans. His record: 25 wins, 20 draws and 14 defeats.

International match record as a coach

Years Games S. U N 1968-70 31 14th 9 8th 1979-81 28 11 11 6th

successes

• Mexican champion (6): 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976
• Mexican Cup Winner (1): 1969

Individual evidence

1. ^ Murió Raúl Cárdenas, histórico del fútbol mexicano. In: univision.com. March 25, 2016, Retrieved March 26, 2016 (Spanish). 
2. ↑ Juan Cid y Mulet: Libro de Oro del Fútbol Mexicano , Tomo III, B. Costa-Amic, Mexico City, 1961, p. 665.
3. ↑ Raúl Cárdenas in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Web links

• Raúl Cárdenas in the database of National-Football-Teams.com (English)