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Template:Football club infobox
San Lorenzo de Almagro is a football team based in the Boedo barrio (neighbourhood), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Its colors are blue and red vertical stripes.
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History
In the early 1900s, a street gang based in the Almagro barrio (neighborhood) would invite gangs from other neighborhoods to play street football by writing in graffiti: Los Forzosos de Almagro desafían (Almagro's strongmen dare you). As tramway and bus lines extended into Almagro, street playing became dangerous, and following an accident in which a tramway car seriously injured a footballer, Catholic priest Lorenzo Massa started hosting the games in the backyard of his parish church in México avenue. Under his guidance, a football club was formally established April 1 1908 and named San Lorenzo de Almagro honoring both Father Massa and the barrio.
San Lorenzo soon became one of the top clubs in Buenos Aires; ever since the start of professionalism in 1931, it was counted in the top five (cinco grandes) together with Boca Juniors, River Plate, Racing and Independiente.
In the 1930s, Isidro Lángara and other players of Basque descent endeared San Lorenzo to the Basque community. The team also relied on players from the provinces, known as los gauchos, and won its first professional title in 1933.
In 1946, San Lorenzo broke the River Plate monopoly and won the league title; the team then went on to a tour of Spain and Portugal that was one of the highlights of the club's history. After losing to Real Madrid, it went on to defeat Barcelona and both the Spanish and Portuguese national teams; the Spanish press acclaimed San Lorenzo as "the best team in the world". Player René Pontoni was offered a contract with Barcelona but declined to leave Argentina (River Plate's Alfredo Di Stefano was then drafted); fellow player Reinaldo Martino did stay in European football and would later become a star with Juventus.
In the 1960s, a generation of players known as carasucias (literally: dirty faces) were the darling of Argentine fans because of their offensive, careless playing and their bad-boy antics outside the pitch. The 1968 team was nicknamed los matadores as it won the championship without losing a single game. In the years 1968-1974 San Lorenzo won a total of four league titles, its best harvest ever.
The team was relegated in 1981, only to return to the top division with great fanfare in the 1982 season, which set all-time attendance records for the club.
By that time, the club had no stadium and was plagued by debt and irregularities. Controversial president Fernando Miele (1986-2001) delivered both the new stadium and two league titles. The current president is Rafael Savino. The finances of the club are steadily improving.
Following the resignation of coach Néstor Gorosito during the 2004 season, Héctor Bambino Veira returned to the position. Veira was a staple of the carasucias and the coach of the spectacular 1983-1984 team that failed to win any championship titles. In 1986 he took River Plate to its first Copa Libertadores title, but then his career suffered because of a protracted trial for the alleged sexual abuse of a minor, in which he was found guilty and later acquitted on appeal.
San Lorenzo is identified with the working class atmosphere of the Boedo neighborhood. Its classical rival from the southern part of Buenos Aires is Huracán, which currently plays in the lower divisions. (The club Huracán currently in the top division is from the town of Tres Arroyos in Buenos Aires province.)
Stadium
The old Gasómetro stadium in La Plata avenue was a venue of great renown, where many international games were held. Due to debts, it was sold in 1979 and torn down. The new stadium, called the Nuevo Gasómetro was opened December 1993 in the intersection of the Perito Moreno and Varela avenues in the Flores neighborhood.
The official name of the stadium is Pedro Bidegain after a former club president. It has a capacity of 43,494 and the pitch size is 110 x 70 m.
Professional titles
- 1933
- 1946
- 1959
- 1968 (Metropolitano - unbeaten)
- 1972 (Metropolitano)
- 1972 (Nacional - unbeaten)
- 1974 (Nacional)
- 1995 (Clausura)
- 2001 (Clausura)
International titles
- Copa Mercosur 2001
- Copa Sudamericana 2002
Famous Players
- Orsi
- Isidro Lángara
- Lindolfo Acosta
- Mario Boyé (el Atómico)
- Rinaldo Martino (Mamucho)
- Armando Farro
- René Pontoni
- José Sanfilippo
- Osvaldo Rendo (Toscano)
- Rafael Albrecht
- Héctor Rodolfo Veira (Bambino)
- Victorio Casá (Casita)
- Victorio Cocco
- Roberto Fischer (el Lobo)
- Narciso Doval (el Loco)
- Roberto Telch (Oveja)
- Sergio Bismarck Villar
- Juan Carlos Milonguita Heredia
- Rubén Ayala (el Ratón)
- Héctor Gringo Scotta
- Oscar Ortiz (el Negro)
- Armando Husillos
- José Luis Chilavert
- Walter Perazzo
- Pipa Higuain
- Quinteros
- Rubén Darío Insúa
- Jorge Rinaldi (la Chancha)
- Néstor Pipo Gorosito
- Leonardo Rodríguez
- Biaggio (El Pampa)
- Alberto Acosta (el Beto)
- Bernardo Romeo
- Pablo Michelini
- Lisandro Romagnoli (el Pipi)
Nicknames
- Los gauchos de Boedo (after the many players from the provinces who played in the 1933 champions)
- Los santos (the saints) (from the club's name)
- Los cuervos (the crows) (after the black color of Father Massa's robe)
- El ciclón (the cyclone)
- Los azulgrana (the blue-and-red)
- Los matadores (originally used for the unbeaten 1968 champions)
- The fans' collective calls itself la gloriosa (the glorious)
External Links
- Official site (Spanish) (http://www.sanlorenzo.com.ar)
- About the team (Spanish) (http://www.sanlorenzo.com.ar/htm/plantel/)
- (English) (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/argentina/teams/san/Scorecard)
Template:Primera División de Argentinaes: Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro