He could be South America's all time greatest goalkeeper. To many pundits, it's beyond doubt.
I do not want to take any attention from any recently posted article, but I feel it necessary to post a short tribute entry to Ladislao Mazurkiewicz, who could well have been the greatest goal keeper in the history of the Americas, and easily one of the all time greatest in world football history.
Part of the River Plate region’s (Argentina and Uruguay) “All Time Holy Trinity” of Goalkeepers: Usbaldo Fillol (Arg), Amadeo Carrizo (Arg) and Ladislao Mazurkiewicz (Uru), we’re not talking about any keeper, but one of the true all time legends of the position ever. The first time I ever saw a video of him was when ESPN Classic played the 1966 Intercontental Final (2nd leg) between Peñarol and Real Madrid. To say that I was stunned was an understatement. I was surprised by how sad I felt to hear the news, and on the behalf of La Celeste Blog, I want to express my respect for this remarkable person. Below, I will be posting a few humorous anecdotes of his.
The Spanish press were left stunned at the 21 year old's level of skill (Intercontinental 1966 Final- Peñarol defeat the legendary 1966 Real Madrid 4-0 on Aggregate in perhaps the most iconic final of all time)
A few Anecdotes:
1. Lev Yashin meets Mazurkiewicz: In 1968, Mazurkiewicz was invited by FIFA to an ‘all star celebration’ match featuring Pélé and the all time greatest keeper ever, the Russian Lev Yashin. Yashin was so impressed with the young goalie that he gifted him his gloves after their practice together. They met in the 1970 FIFA World Cup Quarter Final (a classic), and upon his retirement in 1971, Yashin declared Mazurkiewicz to be his successor.
2. Mazurkiewicz meets the Queen of England and the Earl of Snowdon: 1966 FIFA World Cup (in England) opener, England v. Uruguay at Wembley. Loved for his sense of humour, he tried to calm his teammates before the game by jokingly taunting the Queen of England (Elizabeth II) and her husband the Earl of Snowdon as they shook hands with both teams. Upon passing the Queen, Ladislao winked at her and said: “We’re going to win today”. Upon passing the Earl of Snowdon, Ladislao said: “Vos si que estas pintado”, which is slang for “it’s as if you’re painted on a canvas”, which basically means “you really are useless here aren’t you”. His teammates stood stunned in disbelief. Apparently it worked to ease the tension before the match.
1966 World Cup Opener
3. Mazurkiewicz didn’t want to be a goalie: His first experience as a goalkeeper occurred when the 5th division keeper of Racing of Montevideo had to go to the dentist. He ended up saving 6 penalty shots that practice!
His performance in this match is astonishing. Uruguay lost 0-2 but could have lost by over 10 goals.
Games I highly recommend you to watch to see how amazing this guy really was:
- Copa Libertadores 1966 Final (3rd game)- Peñarol vs. River Plate
*Many consider it to be the greatest Copa Libertadores final of all time with 2 legendary teams meeting.
- Intercontinental Cup 1966 (2nd leg)- Real Madrid vs. Peñarol
*Many consider it to be the greatest and biggest Intercontinental final of all time with, again, 2 legendary teams meeting.
- 1970 FIFA World Cup Quarter Final- Uruguay vs. the Soviet Union
*A masterful performance to keep Uruguay in the game.
- 1974 FIFA World Cup Group- Uruguay vs. the Netherlands
*a game where Uruguay would have lost 13-0 had it not been for him.
"El Chiquito" was famous for his all black uniform. He said it made him invisible to strikers who had no time to check for his position.
Awards
*Note: This was during an era where the Uruguayan league was one of the best in the world, and the Brazilian league was easily the world’s greatest.
Club
1x Copa Libertadores- 1966 (Peñarol)
1x FIFA Intercontinental Cup- 1966 (Peñarol)
3x Uruguayan Championship- 1967, 1968, 1981. (Peñarol)
1x Brazilian Championship- 1971 (Atletico Mineiro)
National Team
1x South American Championship/Copa America- 1967 (Uruguay)
1970 FIFA World Cup Award: Best Goalkeeper of the tournament
FIFA World Cup Appearances: 1966, 1970, 1974
The famous play in the 1970 WC Semi Final v. Brazil- Ladislao is tricked by Pélé but he always joked that he still stopped Pele from scoring.
Chiquito. I never watched you play live, but I am still inspired by your legend. RIP and thank you.
Foxfang4
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Yorugua
FourThreeThree
Foxfang4
NicoGF
FoxFang4
Bravo. If I may say something, He was truly something else, different era sure but an immortal nonetheless. For the longest time he was considered the best keeper Uruguay ever produced, I think that’s an argument that may still hold water today.
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So many people all around, non less in Russia and Poland, are saddened by the news.
Just google “Ладислао Мазуркевч”, his name with Cyrillic letters, and you will see how many Russian pages all around did notice and spread the news of death of one of the world’s greatest ever goalkeepers.
Ladislao is only the second member of that legendary 1970 World Cup team to pass away (the first was Omar Caetano three years ago but he did not play any minutes in that particular tournament).
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It would be a nice gesture by La Celeste goalkeepers if instead of their normal neon uniforms, they would wear the black or grey that Ladislao wore.
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My condolence to all Uruguayans! He was one of the best,if not the best after Lav Yashin.I had a great privilage and favour to watch him.Sometimes to be old can be an advantage.
But I am worried about La Celeste U-20 team.Very good players(Betancourt is a carbon copy of Cavani,I was not able to believe what I saw),but a horrible coach,who was keeping Rolan the first half on the bench,while Peru has scored the advantage.This Verzeri has already disastrously failed on the World Cup,and has been trashed on Sudamericano by Brazil 6:0,when he has shown all his impotence and incompetence.If it was not for Luna’s free kicks,Uruguay would never qualify for Olimpics.Verzeri is a real jerk on the bench.Why Coito was not allowed to continue with the same generation(U-17) he has led to the final?
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Fortunately, the result was super yesterday (even though it could have easily ended up in disaster).
BTW, the blog seems to be half-dead
very few entries
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Not to say anything negative about the other fine writers active here, but Yorugua is the very heart and soul of the blog.
The blog misses Yorugua right now already. I hope he will (after a well deserved break) become aware of how much he misses writing for the blog as well.
If so or not, like the NT, the blog needs to think about addition/substitution in time.
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Farerets/Dutch Fan
Thank you for your concern and your kind words.
In my opinion, FoxFang4 has done an incredible job of running the Blog during my absence. While you see a lot of gambling websites, all of the money (which isn’t much) is put back into the Blog, meaning we can’t pay people to write for us (yet) ––– Sometimes life creeps in and the people who make LCB happen have to take a step away from it, it’s a situation where we have to sometimes scramble for articles. I’ve tried securing articles and some time ago was able to convince someone on Twitter who covered the Belgium league to write an article about Nacho, but not all of my attempts are successful. A lot of people still want to be paid for their work, I don’t fault anyone because that’s just the way it is.
FoxFang4 has contributed so much to this Blog, words can’t express how much all of us here at LCB appreciate what’s he’s given us. It’s not easy writing, especially timely pieces but they’re good pieces, I’m not much of a Liverpool fan but you can see the passion he feels about Uruguay’s NT, Uruguayan players and football in general. Hopefully Fox is here to stay and will continue to contribute to the story of Uruguay’s football on this Blog.
Nico meanwhile managed an incredible interview with Nacho which garnered a lot of buzz on the Danubio websites and even QueNoNiNo went ahead and reprinted excerpts from it. Hopefully this will convince Nico to secure more interviews as he has clearly shown a true talent in this sphere of journalism.
My aim right now as far I see it, is to see where Uruguay will end up once 2013 is over. Hopefully it’s a happy ending and we can all take part in it via the Blog.
I always hope people continue to read this Blog and help us get known, not so much for press or money, but problems such as temporary vacations whether it’s me, FoxFang, Jules or Nico could be solved if more people wanted to take part in this Blog. Like I said writing ain’t easy but if more people knew about us, I’m sure someone out there would be willing to contribute and sometimes, it’s kind of cool hearing another voice. It lets us know how many people love the Uruguay NT.
Anyway, thanks for the comments, thank you for continuing to check in on us, and lets keep the good vibes going.
Yorugua.
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It seems Uruguay has become a country of great attackers,but unfortunately so poor in defenders and midfielders.How is generally with la Celeste A team so is with U-20,with adds that this one is far better team than U20 two years ago.It has scored already 6 goals in two matches,the efficiency which would be for Luna’s and Polenta’s squad equal to SF novel.
Ruben Betancourt,Diente Lopez,Diego Laxalt,Diego Rolan,Gonzalo Bueno,Renato Cesar,Rodrigo Aguirre,Jim Varela,this are names of a junior dream team,who should be watched immediately by maestro Tabarez,as potential La Celeste,especially these first four,mentioned;Rolan and Laxalt is what he is looking for in the midfield.Guys with precise and intelligent passes,anad dribbling abilities.Betancourt and Lopez a perfect substitutes for Cavani and Suarez.
Only in defense the situation is not so promising.Velasquez is really a good central defender,much better;faster and well marking than Coates(in spite of autogoal which was not his fault but terrible mistake of the biggest dissapointment of this team,the goal-keeper Matias Cubero,the best goalkeeper of U17 Mondial,now a disastrous hole in Uruguayan defense which is shakey and insecure.Most of defensive tasks works put the midfield,and most of the rival’s attacks are intercepted already on 40 or 20 meters from Cubero’s goal,but as soon as the ball is in the box,the defense reacts in panicky,just like the defense of the Olimpic team.
This shakey defense is not a part of the tradition,and country’s DNA,since Uruguay was exclusively known for good and solid defenders and goal keepers.
Verzeri has prepared team very good,they have got to know each other well,the chemistry is good,each player know whom to pass,where and when to run in,this team has very good and precise passers,pelotassing is much better even than the one of the A team,but Verzeri didnt work enough on a defense,or didnt call up right players,and he is quite inconsistent coaching during the match.So I am afraid he could screw up one very promising generation.
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