The director of National Teams and 1978 World Cup champion coach with the Argentine National Team, César Luis Menottidied this Sunday at the age of 85, as confirmed by the Argentine Football Association (AFA).
“The Argentine Football Association regrets to report with great sadness the death of César Luis Menotti, current Director of National Teams and former World Champion coach of @Argentina. Goodbye, Flaco dear!“, wrote the AFA on its social networks.
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The world of football, mourning the death of Menotti: messages from clubs, athletes, politicians and celebrities
The death was confirmed in the middle of the League Cup final between Estudiantes de La Plata and Vélez, so the AFA He ordered a minute of silence at halftime of the game. played at the Madre de Ciudades stadium in Santiago del Estero.
Menotti was in poor health. and had been hospitalized for 12 days, just over a month ago, due to a “severe anemia”. As a result of that diagnosis, he had undergone surgery, which he successfully completed, and then he was discharged to return home.
However, the situation of the emblematic DT had been complicated by thrombophlebitiswhile his physical weakness prolonged his stay in the hospital until April 12.
“Flaco” had already had a health mishap in August of last yearwhen he suffered internal bleeding as a result of a fall at home, which also required a period of hospitalization before his recovery.
Reactions from politics and football
After the AFA confirmed the news, different political and football leaders began to demonstrate to remember the immense figure of “Flaco.”
Among them, the president Javier Milei expressed his “pain” for the death of the former player and highlighted that he was “the leader of one of the groups that has given one of the greatest joys to the country“. Although he admitted that he does not adhere to the “school” of soccer that led to the coach becoming world champion in the 1978 World Cup, he assured that it would be “foolish” to deny his contribution.
“Deep pain for the departure of the leader of a group that has given one of the greatest joys to the country. Although I adhere to another school, it would be foolish to deny the contribution of César Luis Menotti. Goodbye Flaco…”, expressed the president, who in his youth worked as a goalkeeper in the Chacarita Juniors youth team, on his account on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
The president of the AFA did the same, Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia, who considered that this is a fact that causes him “immense pain.” “Dear Flaco, it is an immense pain to have to say goodbye to you. You left us a lot during your time in the national team and in football. Without a doubt, your passage to immortality will be with the best memories of all of us who love the round,” he wrote on his X profile.
“I send a warm hug on behalf of myself and all of Argentine Football to all of César’s family at this moment. See you always dear friend!“, concluded Tapia.
The career of César Luis Menotti
Physical absence cannot deprive him of the immense importance that it had and will have for Argentine football as the main exponent of one of the styles that generated the rift with Carlos Salvador Bilardo, which marked a before and after in the history of that sport in the country.
Rosarino, born on November 5, 1938, “Flaco” played as a forward for six teams, including Boca (1965 champion), Racing, Rosario Central and Santos of Brazil (1968 Paulista champion).
In an extensive career as a technical director, Menotti also has among his achievements being world champion with the youth National Team in Japan in 1979in a team that had players like Diego Maradona, Ramón Díaz, Juan Simón, Juan Barbas, among others.
Coach of the remembered Huracán champion team in 1973, with footballers such as René Housemann, Carlos Babington, Miguel Brindisi, Roque Avallay, Alfio Basile and Omar Larrosa, his time at Parque Patricios meant a springboard for later direct the National Team in the World Cups in Argentina 1978 and Spain 1982.
With Maradona’s Barcelona he won the Copa del Rey, the League and the Spanish Super Cup in 1982/83. Always confronted with Bilardo’s football thinking, Menotti also coached the Mexican teamwith players like Alberto García Aspe, Jorge Campos, Carlos Hermosillo, among others.
Since February 2019, “Flaco” was Director of National Teams in the AFA, being a key player in the conquest of the Copa América, the Finalissima and the World Cup in recent years. In that sense, among his great contributions to the Albiceleste team, in addition to the 1978 World Cup, Menotti was one of those responsible for the consecration in Qatar 2022: From his position, he was the one who chose the name Lionel Scaloni to be the coach, as recognized by the president of the AFA, Claudio Tapia.
“Menotti was the one who told me that Scaloni had to be the coach of the National Team and have a contract until the World Cup ends, whatever the result. “I couldn’t be the coach according to the competition,” said “Chiqui.”
Reader of Jorge Luis Borges, whom he met during an interview at his home, among other authors, and admirer of the boxers Nicolino Locche, Carlos Monzón and Julio César Chávez, Menotti transcended all the borders of football and he became the owner of a style that he tried to replicate again and again, both on and off the court.
Great defender of the figure of Pele“Flaco” sat the Brazilian at the table of the best in history along with Johan Cruyff, Alfredo Di Stéfano and Diego Armando Maradonawhile in recent years he added a chair for Lionel Messialthough he always highlighted his affection for Angel Di Maria.
In one of his last public appearances, Menotti made it clear, once again, his position regarding sport and life: “A football club is a cultural fact that in Argentina was manufactured through the corners of the neighborhoods, it’s not that great economic powers came and said: ‘Let’s create clubs.’ The club is created by the neighborhood, the neighbors and the dreams of the new generations who continue to defend them.“.
“When I see these struggles to privatize, I get very bad. Privatize what? It hurts me a lot. I really feel a danger due to the profound deculturalization that Argentina is suffering.“He added in his sayings that, without a doubt, will become an eternal legacy.
