44 years ago, the city that hosted the São Paulo final saw a game that changed Argentina’s course

The career of Ricardo Bochini, 68, was marked, in addition to the titles, by a phrase from Diego Maradona: “Welcome, maestro. We were waiting for you”, said the 10 to him when he saw his childhood idol enter the field in the final of the 1986 World Cup against Germany.

It is possible to argue that the world title in Mexico was not the most important achievement of the midfielder’s career. The same goes for the five Libertadores trophies obtained with Independiente. The most relevant of them took place in Córdoba, the city where this Saturday (1st) São Paulo decides the Copa Sudamericana against Independiente del Valle (EQU).

About 20 kilometers from the Mario Alberto Kempes stadium, where the Brazilian team will take the field, Bochini scored the goal that gave Independiente the Argentine national title in 1977. A move on the Doble Visera field that could have prevented the rise to the presidency of a general who, decades later, would be convicted of crimes against humanity.

“In the early years, not so much was given [ao gol]. Neither us nor the fans. Over the years, due importance has been given”, notes Bochini in a statement to the book “El Partido Rojo” (the red match, in Spanish), by journalist and writer Claudio Gómez.

The name of the work alludes to the nickname that won the final between Talleres and Independiente. It also recalls the color of the shirt of Bochini’s team and the persecution by the Argentine military government at the time of groups it considered subversive, almost always on the left.

“The dimension of the match lies in the fact that Luciano Benjamin Menéndez was in Córdoba, a genocider, the worst of all genocides, probably the most perverse, the most sadistic. He needed for political and propagandistic reasons that Talleres would emerge champion”, Gómez told Efe.

General Menéndez’s hope was that the Talleres title and the popularity of victory in football would catapult him to the presidency of the Republic. He was head of the third army corps, based in Cordoba. He controlled a force of 15,000 soldiers, three brigades and 20 regiments.

Under his responsibility, 238 clandestine detention centers were created, where an estimated 3,000 cases of torture, kidnapping or deaths have taken place.

Just through La Perla, Menéndez’s favorite center, 2,200 people passed. Argentina was under a military regime that began in 1976 and would only end in 1983.

The general’s wish was not absurd. General Leopoldo Galtieri, president of the country between December 1981 and June 1982 and responsible for bringing Argentina to the Falklands War, came from the political-military group closest to him.

“What was said is that Menéndez would do everything possible to make Talleres win because it would be the merit of the first Argentine champion Cordoba club”, analyzes Héctor Kunzmann to the Argentine daily Página/12. He was stuck in La Perla when the final took place.

It would not be just Cordoba’s victory. Talleres could be the first national champion team from the interior and Menéndez was already planning the photo with the players next to the cup. The image would be published by the newspapers the day after the match, scheduled for January 25, 1978. After the 1-1 draw in Buenos Aires, the home team would need to win by any score to take the title.

The end result of the second game was 2-2, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Menendez was in referee Roberto Barbeiro’s locker room minutes before kickoff. With Independiente winning 1-0, he gave Talleres a dubious penalty (converted by Cherini), validated a goal scored with Bocanelli’s hand and then, by complaint, expelled three players from the visitors.

Talleres had the advantage on the scoreboard and 11 on the field. The Independiente, only eight.

“It was not [uma arbitragem] bad. It was bad. A referee who takes a penalty that didn’t go, validates a goal with his hand and then sends three players off… More than that, a referee can’t do it”, said Bochini for the “Ball of Lead” podcast.

With seven minutes to go, Daniel Bertoni and Mariano Biondi started an attack by Independiente, despite the numerical disadvantage. The ball stayed with Bochini at the entrance of the area. He hit a shot to tie the match and give the title to the team by the tiebreaker criterion for away goals.

The result is considered the biggest comeback in the history of Argentine football. Menéndez had buried the dream of popular ascension with the use of football. He would later be sentenced to life imprisonment 13 times for torture and disappearance of political prisoners.

Bochini, by the way, also changed the course of Argentine football. Menendez had promised Talleres president Amadeo Nuccetelli that he would be president of the AFA (Argentine Football Association) if the Cordoba team won.

“He [Nuccetelli] was just minutes away from being president of the AFA. He had everything in his favor and we can only imagine what national football would be today if the draw hadn’t happened”, speculates Gómez.

Argentina was six months away from hosting the World Cup, which they would also win. The following year, the Association would have a new president: Julio Grondona, representative of Independiente in winning the title in Córdoba. He would leave office only dead, in 2014.