The Argentina national team of the early to late 1940’s has been largely ignored in comparison to the Argentine squads of later on in the 20th century. Unlike Maradonas 1980’s team, Batistutas 1990’s version or even the national heroes of today, the 1940’s squad never had an opportunity to participate in the World Cup, due of course to World War II. This may go a long way towards explaining why they suffer from a lack of recognition in the grand scheme. This a great shame, because this squad is possibly Argentinas finest ever team. This team exemplified the country’s football theory La Nuestra, Our Way. They were constructed largely on the base of the incredible River Plate team of the 1940’s known as La Machina, and featured some of the decades greatest players.

 

With this foundation, Guillermo Stabile’s team dominated the South American Championships, winning their first in 1941, before raising the cup three times in a row in 1945, 1946 and 1947. They didn’t just win however - they did so in exquisite fashion. The 1941 edition saw them dispatch Peru with relative ease, before thrashing Ecuador 6-1, Marvezzi alone scoring 5 of those goals. They then defeated Uruguay and hosts Chile in the final. The 1945 Championships were again held in Chile, Argentina opening proceedings by beating Bolivia 4-0 followed by a 4-2 win over Ecuador. Colombia were handed a footballing lesson in the next game, with the Argentines giving them a 9-1 belting. Against one of the continents toughest sides, Brazil, they won 3-1, and then claimed the cup with 1-0 defeat of Uruguay.

 

Argentina had hosting responsibilities in 1946, and put on a display for the home fans with a win over the Paraguayans followed by a 7-1 walloping of Bolivia. Easy defeats of Chile, Uruguay and finally Brazil saw Argentina claim the Championships yet again. Pontoni scored a hat-trick in their opening 6-0 win in the next edition in Ecuador. Argentina destroyed Bolivia 7-0 and then claimed victory in a hard-fought match against Peru, 3-2. Once again, they reached the final where they took out Uruguay for their third Championship in a row and their fifth overall. 

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It’s perhaps unfortunate that the team reached their peak during a period where their government enforced a degree of isolationism and international football was attempting to recover from the second world war. It’s difficult to imagine what would have happened if Argentina had participated in a World Cup during this time period, many of Argentinas supporters and players of the period lamenting the missed opportunity. Rene Pontoni himself once said “I feel like I have a thorn stuck in my side that has not gone away over the years. I don’t want to be presumptuous but I believe that if we’d been able to take part, we’d have taken the laurels.”

Achievements: South American Championship – Champions x4
                         Copa Newton – Winners x2
                       Copa Lipton – Winners x2
                       Copa Julio A Rocca – Winners x2

Star player: Felix Lostau 25 December 1922, Bueno Aires, Argentina, nickname: Chaplin

Born in 1922, Loustau was a key player for River Plate’s La Machina squad, one of the five forwards on the team. As part of this squad, Loustau won eight national titles. The peak of his career occured during the second world war, and consequently his international career was quite limited. However, he did play 28 times for Argentina, and participated in all three South American Championship tournaments that Argentina won in a row. At 17, he was spotted by a River Plate scout while playing for Racing Club. He made his River debut in 1942, and was quickly intergrated in the most famous front line of all time along with Munoz, Moreno, Pedernera and Labruna. His teammates nicknamed him Chaplin due to his perculiar dribbling movements. By 1958, Loustau had played 365 matches and scored a 101 goals. He elected to leave River Plate and briefly played for Estudiantes, before deciding to call it quits that year. He went on to mentor upcoming coaches for the Argentine F.A. Felix passed away in 2003, at 80 years of age.