Soccer in Sun and Shadow

Nasazzi

Not even X rays could get through him. They called him “The Terrible.”

“The field is a jar,” he liked to say. “And the mouth of the jar is the penalty area.”

There, in the box, he was boss.

José Nasazzi, captain of the Uruguayan teams of ’24, ’28 and ’30, was the first caudillo of Uruguayan soccer. He was the windmill of the entire team, which worked to the rhythm of his shouts of warning, disappointment, and encouragement. No one ever heard him complain.