Diario La Nación
- Chileans and Argentines draw in yesterday's big match
- THE CAPTAINS' VIEWS
- Changes in the Chilean side
La Nación's sports coverage dealt with the draw between Chile and Argentina at the Campos de Sports de Ñuñoa during the South American Championship. The main report opened with the buzz before kick-off, as fans compared players man for man and imagined moves that ended in Chile's favor. Chilean captain Arellano called the result very satisfying because his side had played almost the whole second half with ten men. Argentine captain Vaccaro praised Chile's vigor and determination but faulted its heavy physical play and lack of technique, blamed his own forwards for missing near-certain goals, and lamented Argentina's bad luck in the Copa América. A shorter note explained how Chile moved players back into defense and rebuilt its attack after going down to ten.
This edition translates three excerpts from the paper's coverage of the Chile–Argentina match. The OCR was badly garbled, so the excerpts were transcribed from the page images. The lower part of one column is smeared and stained, another area is torn and creased with some words partly lost, and tile edges and a calibration strip hide some column margins. The excerpts do not say why Chile went down to ten men and do not name the goal scorers.
Translation
Chileans and Argentines draw in yesterday's big match
One of the most important matches of the current continental championship was played yesterday afternoon at the Campos de Sports de Ñuñoa. In every knot of people, the talk revolved around the approaching contest between the teams of Argentina and Chile. Here people argued about each team's ability and compared the players man against man; further on they predicted the result, cracked jokes, or described fantastic combinations being planned, which nearly always ended in the national colors' favor.
THE CAPTAINS' VIEWS
The captain of the Chilean side, Mr. Arellano, tells us after the contest that all the players took the field convinced that they would put up an outstanding performance against the powerful Argentine team. The result of the contest must be very satisfying for us, since we played with ten men for almost the whole second half.
Vaccaro, captain of the Argentine side, tells us: "The Chilean side, although it played a great match today, in my judgment made far too much use of the body. I believe this is a defect of the team, because its players often lose chances by trying to crash into the opponent. The Chilean side is a group of men full of vigor and of a determination that can stand any test. What they lack, though, is the technique needed to become real players. The forwards of my side showed no determination in front of the goal defended by Cortés. While it is true that the Chileans had to play almost the whole second half with ten men, it is no less true that the forwards lost two or three goals that were as good as scored. Now that our mission in the South American Championship is over, we must lament our proverbial bad luck in the contests for the Copa América. Nevertheless, we accept the results of the matches in a high sporting spirit."
Changes in the Chilean side
Since our men were going to be left with only ten players, the lines had to be rearranged so as not to weaken the defense. Thus Poirier moved to right back, F. González to left back and Subiabre to left half. The attack was then entrusted to H. Muñoz, Ramírez, Arellano and Olguín.
Context
Ñuñoa's Campos de Sports, Santiago's first large sports ground
The Campos de Sports de Ñuñoa, where the main report sets the match, were built in 1918 on Ñuñoa land that the benefactor José Domingo Cañas had set aside in his will, according to Memoria Chilena, the National Library of Chile's heritage site. Memoria Chilena calls the ground Santiago's first large multi-sport venue and says it staged the most important football matches of the period; the South American athletics championships of 1920 and 1927 and the 1926 South American football championship were held there. The English Wikipedia account of the tournament, which calls the ground the Estadio Sport de Ñuñoa, says all matches were played there and gives its capacity as 20,000. Wikipedia's table of Chile results records an attendance of 8,000 for the 31 October draw with Argentina. If both figures are accurate, the crowd at the match whose build-up the paper describes so eagerly filled less than half the ground. The old ground was later demolished, and the Estadio Nacional was built on the same lands.
Where the 1–1 draw left the 1926 championship
The match reported here belonged to a round-robin tournament in which each team played all the others once, and Vaccaro spoke as Argentina's campaign ended. According to the Wikipedia tournament account, Chile and Argentina drew 1–1 on 31 October, and on 1 November Uruguay clinched the title by beating Paraguay. The match record credits Chile's goal to Guillermo Saavedra in the 25th minute and Argentina's equalizer to Tarasconi in the 87th. That timing fits Vaccaro's complaint that his forwards wasted near-certain chances against a Chilean side reduced to ten men. In the final positions Wikipedia lists Uruguay as champions, Argentina as runners-up and Chile third. Vaccaro's lament about Argentina's "proverbial bad luck" in the Copa América is his own view: Argentina had come to Santiago as defending champions after winning the 1925 edition. For Chile, the draw repeated an earlier result, since its results table records a 1–1 draw with Argentina at Viña del Mar in the 1920 championship.
Why Chile played on with ten men
Chile rearranged its lines instead of sending on a replacement because football of that era generally made no allowance for substitutes. Substitutions were added to the Laws of the Game only in 1958; before then the number of substitutes allowed in competitive matches was zero, so a team was reduced whenever an injured player could not continue. Substitutes were not allowed at the World Cup until the 1970 tournament. The excerpts do not say why Chile lost a player, and the general history of the Laws does not establish the specific regulations of the 1926 South American Championship. Within that framework, the third report shows how the side adjusted: Poirier dropped to right back, F. González to left back and Subiabre to left half, leaving four forwards, H. Muñoz, Ramírez, Arellano and Olguín. Both captains referred to the numerical handicap when judging the result.
Arellano, the tournament's top scorer
The leading scorer of the 1926 championship was Chile's David Arellano, credited with seven goals, four of them in the opening 7–1 win over Bolivia. The paper names the Chilean captain only as señor Arellano, and the third report places an Arellano in the reshuffled four-man attack. Memoria Chilena describes David Arellano as the leader and founder of Colo-Colo, who died in his hotel in Valladolid after an apparently trivial incident on the pitch; its chronology dates his death to 1927, the year after this tournament.
Original
Chilenos y argentinos empatan en el gran match de ayer
Uno de los partidos de mayor importancia del actual certamen continental se desarrolló en la tarde de ayer en los Campos de Sports de Ñuñoa. El comentario giraba en todos los corrillos alrededor de la contienda que se aproximaba entre los elencos de Argentina y Chile. Aquí se discutía acerca de la capacidad de cada uno de los equipos, se hacían comparaciones de adversario a adversario, más allá se vaticinaba el resultado, se bromeaba o bien se narraban fantásticas combinaciones en proyecto, casi siempre rematadas en forma ventajosa para los colores nacionales.
LA OPINION DE LOS CAPITANES
El capitán del elenco chileno, señor Arellano, nos dice, después de la brega, que todos los jugadores entraron al campo de juego convencidos de que iban a hacer un destacado papel frente al poderoso conjunto argentino. El resultado de la brega debe ser para nosotros muy satisfactorio, pues actuamos con diez hombres casi todo el segundo período. Vaccaro, capitán del cuadro argentino, nos expresa: " El cuadro chileno, aunque hizo hoy un gran partido abusó, a mi juicio, excesivamente del cuerpo. Creo que éste es un defecto del conjunto, pues muchas veces sus jugadores pierden oportunidades por tratar de estrellar al contrario. Es el cuadro chileno un conjunto de hombres lleno de vigor y de decisión a toda prueba. Les falta, sí, la técnica necesaria para llegar a ser verdaderos jugadores. Los delanteros de mi cuadro no demostraron decisión frente a la valla defendida por Cortés. Si bien es cierto que los chilenos debieron actuar casi todo el segundo período con diez hombres, no es menos efectivo que los delanteros perdieron dos o tres puntos casi hechos. Terminada nuestra misión en el Certamen Suramericano, debemos lamentar nuestra proverbial mala suerte en las contiendas por la Copa América. Sin embargo, aceptamos con alto espíritu deportivo el resultado de los lances.
Modificaciones en el cuadro chileno
En vista de que los nuestros iban a quedar con sólo diez hombres, hubo de modificarse las líneas para no debilitar la defensa. Así Poirier pasó a actuar de zaguero derecho; González F. de zaguero izquierdo y Subiabre de half izquierdo. El ataque quedó entonces entregado a H. Muñoz, Ramírez, Arellano y Olguín.
Source: Source: Internet Archive