The goalkeeping position now for many top-flight teams is a world away from what it used to be. It’s not enough just to be able to stop shots. A keeper needs to be able to play with their feet, act as a sweeper. Distribution from your keeper is also important and has become as useful a tactic as a long pass from a defender.
But there was a time when keepers were just there to stop the ball, nothing else.
Many positions in football have evolved and developed over the years. It can appear the great revolution in goalkeeping has only happened recently. But there was a time when keepers didn’t wear gloves, they didn’t venture outside their own area and they didn’t consider goal kicks as an important aspect of their play.
One man changed all that.
Amadeo Raul Carrizo.
Born in Rufino, Santa Fe in Argentina in June 1926, he was generally known as just Amadeo. He later became affectionately known as ‘Tarzan’. Rufino is a small place housing about 20,000 people and about five hours drive from Buenos Aires.
Needless to say, Amadeo had to move to the country’s capital to progress his career. He made his debut for River Plate in 1945 when aged 19. This was the same year one Alfredo Di Stefano made his debut for the club. He and Amadeo were born a month apart.
Di Stefano spent four years at River before becoming a worldwide star name, playing in Colombia and then Spain with Real Madrid.
Amadeo, on the other hand, stayed at River for 23 years.
By the time he arrived at River, they had won the Argentina League seven times, and were already known as, “Los Millonarios”. In the four years he and Di Stefano were there a further two league titles were picked up, and in each season they did the Primera División-Copa Aldao double.
Rather fittingly, the club Di Stefano went to in Colombia was Millonairos in Bogotá.
Just prior to Amadeo’s arrival, River were commonly known as ‘La Máquina’ (The Machine). During the 1950’s the team he was an integral part of were labelled ‘La Maqunita’ (The Little Machine). The team won five championships in six years.
Amadeo was earning a reputation as the first ‘El Loco’. Long before the world had ever heard of Ramon Quiroga, Rene Higuita or Jose Luis Chilvert, Amadeo was being talked about due to his unconventional methods.
He was the first goalkeeper to wear gloves. People thought he was mad. He would regularly come out of his area to add an extra outfield player. People thought he was reckless. Then on goal kicks he would target players he wanted to pass to, rather than just lump it upfield into the opponents’ half to allow the attackers to do their job.
His stats during his time at River were impressive. He won 10 trophies, seven league titles. He played 520 matches over a 23-year career, becoming the club’s record appearance holder.
When he retired he held the record for most appearances in the Argentine First Division and most consecutive clean sheet (8).
But that wasn’t the whole story of this remarkable man.
Amadeo received the call from his country for the first time when Argentina went on a short European tour in late 1954. He played in both matches, his debut came in Lisbon when they beat Portugal, 3-1 and then they moved onto Rome where they were beaten 0-2 by Italy.
Argentina were coached by Guillermo Stábile, the man who was top scorer at the 1930 World Cup.
Despite his performances at domestic level, Amadeo was unable to convince Stábile he should be the main man in goal. That honour fell to Boca Juniors keeper, Julio Elias Musimessi, Lionel Messi’s grandfather. Musimessi played in the Copa America ’55. Then the coach plumped for Rogelio Antonio Dominguez, Racing’s keeper, for the Panamerican Championship a year later.
Domiguez was then Stábile’s choice for the Copa America ’57 when Argentina won the tournament in Peru. Stábile had put together a team widely considered one of the best squads the country had ever seen.
Amadeo finally received another call for the Copa Julio Roca, a trophy competed for between Argentina and Brazil. They won in Rio and lost in São Paulo.
His performances were enough to convince the coach he was first choice when the qualifying matches for Sweden ’58 came around. In four matches against Bolivia and Chile he only conceded in one as they eased through to the finals.
The four friendlies leading up to the tournament produced mixed results. Defeats in Paraguay and Uruguay were followed by home wins, and two clean sheets, against the same opponents.
Argentina had been one of the dominant nations in the world game in the 1920s yet watched as Uruguay won two Olympic titles in 1924 and 1928 and then the inaugural World Cup in 1930. They were one of the best sides around during the 1940s but there were no international tournaments for them to showcase their talent, due to the Second World War.
When the 1950s came around Uruguay picked up another World Cup trophy, spoiling Brazil’s party at the beginning of the decade. Argentina withdrew from the 1950 qualification because of a dispute with the Brazilian FA. They didn’t take part in qualification for 1954 either, so 1958 was an attempt to win their first-ever World Cup.
They departed for Sweden in confident mood. Defending South American champions, they had players of the calibre of Amadeo and Angel Labruna from River, Omar Orestes Corbatte, José Manuel Ramos Delgado and José Sanfilippo.
With him and Mussimessi the only keepers in the squad, Argentina were well fancied to get out of their group. They were drawn with defending champions, West Germany, Czechoslovakia and rank outsiders, Northern Ireland. The Irish were appearing in their first-ever World Cup, having knocked out Italy in qualifying.
Things began spectacularly for Stábile and his men when Corbatta gave them the lead inside two minutes of their opening match against West Germany. But fielding five survivors from the 1954 Final the West Germans won fairly comfortably, 3-1 with Uwe Seeler scoring his first World Cup goal.
Three days later they met the Irish in Halmstad. While Argentina were losing to the Germans, Wilbur Cush scored the only goal of the game as Northern Ireland pulled off one of the shocks of any tournament when they beat the Czechs.
Another early goal, this time from Peter McParland and the Irish were off to another sensational start. Corbatta equalised from the spot and in the second half Amadeo’s club mate, Menéndez and Avio gave Argentina a 3-1 win.
With West Germany and Czechoslovakia playing out a 2-2 draw, the group was wide open going into the final matches. Northern Ireland pulled off another incredible result. Twice leading they were held to a 2-2 draw by West Germany.
Argentina could top the group with a win over Czechoslovakia. They lined up in Helsingborg unaware of what was about to hit them.
Milan Dvorak gave the Czechs the lead inside the opening ten minutes. Less than 10 minutes later, Zdenek Zikan doubled the lead. Just before the break, he added a second and the Argentines were really up against it.
If they could somehow get back level in the second half they would go into a play-off against Northern Ireland. The next goal could be crucial. Midway through the second half Argentina finally had an opening. They were awarded a penalty. Corbatta converted it. During his career he had an impressive record from the spot, scoring 64 from 68.
Unfortunately, for Amadeo and Argentina, they couldn’t build on this and the comeback never materialised. Jiri Feureisl restored the three-goal lead for the Czechs just four minutes later. Vaclav Hovorka scored twice in the last ten minutes and the humiliation was complete.
Argentina had lost 1-6. It remains their biggest-ever defeat in a World Cup match.
Local newspapers criticised defender, Nesta Rossi for being too slow in the first goal. Then in the second half, they accused the team of ‘physical laziness and mental impotence’. It also remarked on how the Czechs were adept at swapping positions and their play was more fluid than the South Americans.
They’d finished bottom of their group and were sent home with their tail between their legs. The fallout was brutal.
10,000 fans were waiting at the airport to greet them with jeers, boos and some threw coins. The performance is still etched on the Argentine psyche, it is referred to “El desastre de Suecia” or “the Sweden disaster”.
Stábile immediately resigned. He’d been coach since 1939 yet couldn’t come to terms with the embarrassment. Amadeo didn’t play again for the national side for five years.
Many of the players complained they weren’t prepared to play three matches in a week in the tournament. Striker and River teammate, Angel Labruna told the press;
“We were blindfolded. We were not prepared either physically or tactically to face three games in a week.”
Amadeo said of flying back home;
“When we got to the country after the elimination, the plane did not land on the usual runway of Ezeiza but instead near a chakra in Monte Grande so the people wouldn’t kill us. Some Argentine journalists, who were in Sweden, had asked people to go the airport with sticks and stones.”
No one was going to believe us that Argentina lacked organisation and that none of us took any money to play that World Cup.
I was booed and whistled at in every stadium except River’s during the season after.”
Stábile was criticised for not understanding how far ahead tactically the Europeans were. He could point to being unable to select the biggest Argentine star of the age, Di Stefano. He’d played matches for a Colombia XI. The league had broken transfer rules by signing players under contract. FIFA consequently banned him from playing for Argentina.
By 1958 he had become a Spanish citizen. Ironically, Spain had just failed to qualify for the finals so his birth nation didn’t suffer the ignominy of seeing him do better than they did.
He was also hampered when the Italian club refused to allow their Argentine players to play in the tournament. Humberto Maschio, Antonio Angelilo and Enrique Sivori had played a part in the Copa America win in 1957, but now they were missing from the squad in Sweden and they could well have made a difference.
There were other instances, behind the scenes, which contributed to the general poor organisation and preparation. They travelled to Sweden without an alternative kit. Swedish TV said there would be a colour clash and so a draw was made. Argentina lost and had to play in yellow, the colours of local side, Malmö.
Amadeo finally received a recall to the national side in October 1963, aged 37. Only José Varacka remained from the 1958 team as Argentina beat Paraguay 4-0 in Asunción.
A fortnight later he was again in the side when Paraguay visited Buenos Aires. Future World Cup winning manager, Cesar Luis Menotti scored in Amadeo’s home stadium but they lost 2-3.
José D’Amico was in charge of the team at the time but his tenure only lasted for these two matches. José Maria Minella replaced him.
This was important for Amadeo as Minella was his coach at River. When it was time for the Taça das Nações, the Little World Cup, in Brazil in 1964 Amadeo was first choice keeper.
The tournament was held to celebrate 50 years of the Brazilian FA, and he was one of four in the squad who’d suffered the disaster of Sweden. One of those, Alfredo Rojas, scored the opening goal of the tournament as they beat Portugal, 2-0.
Four days later they lined up against Brazil in São Paulo and thanks to some fairly aggressive tactics, walked off with a 3- 0 win.
The game represented a personal triumph for Amadeo. With 20 minutes to go and Argentina leading 2-0, Pelé went down just inside the area. Referee Gottfried Dienst had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Instead of the great Brazilian talisman stepping up, responsibility for the penalty was handed to Gérson. He placed it to Amadeo’s left but the keeper threw himself across to push it onto the post and it bounced away to safety.
Had Gérson scored it may well have galvanised them to find an equaliser. As it was Amadeo’s save boosted his own team who went on to add a third for a memorable win.
Three days later they were in the Maracanã and Rojas was again on target with the only goal of the game against England.
They won the tournament and it was considered the first international success for the country. They’d beaten the defending World Champions, Brazil, the subsequent World Champions, England and the team which finished third in England in 1966, Portugal.
No one could blame Amadeo for feeling vindicated and having a distinct feeling of satisfaction as to how his international career had ended in the success it did.
He must’ve felt discarded and estranged from his country after what happened in Sweden ’58. Yet he’d returned to play a crucial part in Argentina lifting their first international trophy outside of the Copa America. Not only that, he saved a penalty against Brazil.
Domestically, Amadeo finally left River in 1968. He followed in Di Stefano’s footsteps when he joined Colombian team, Millonarios at the ripe old age of 42. It was here the fans nicknamed him Tarzan as a result of his acrobatic saves, even at his age.
He finally hung up his gloves, gloves which had revolutionised the world of goalkeeping, in 1970 when aged 44.
Such was Amadeo’s influence in the continent he was voted Goalkeeper of the Century in South America by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) ahead of Chilavert, Fillol and Gilmar.
Characters like Higuita and Chilavert brought joy to thousands for their antics and quirky methods. But they owed much to Amadeo Carrizo for blazing a trail when goalkeepers were very much the poor relation amongst teams.
Fine praise indeed.
He held the position of honorary president of River from 2013 to his death in March 2020, aged 93.
