Garcia, Amadeo

Amadeo Garcia was one of the first enthusiasts for the development of football in Spain. Since 1926, in the Basque city of Vitoria-Gastejs , García Salazar headed the newly created Alaves team . At that time, the development of football in the country was in its infancy, however, tactical constructions of the Salazar team stood out against the general background. The mastery of the organization of protection has become his calling card. But "Alaves" not only had a clear defensive structure, but also tried to experiment with the new at the time system "double-ve" ^[1] .

By the early 1930s, Garcia had developed a strong prestige of a great connoisseur of football. That is why he was assigned to lead the Spanish national team at the 1934 World Cup . At that championship, the Spanish team was not among the top favorites. In Spain, which was going through hard times, there were no funds for foreign tours and friendly matches, which were held in a large number of Austrians and Italians, therefore, on the eve of the tournament, the “red fury” remained a mystery.

At the tournament, Garcia Salazar picked up a well-equipped lineup. Gates defended one of the best goalkeepers of pre-war football, Ricardo Zamora , a couple of defenders were Jacinto Kinkoses and Ciriaco Errasti, and the Basques played the main role in the attack: in the center of Isidro Langar , Luis Regeiro and flank forward Guillermo Gorostis . However, the main thing that distinguished this team from the majority of others was the competent tactical organization of the game. Due to this, the Brazilians (3: 1) were defeated in the 1/8 final, among which the very young Leonidas stood out ^[1] .

After a confident victory over the Brazilians, Spain began to be perceived as a serious force capable of giving battle to the hosts of the tournament - the Italians, to whom the Spaniards reached the quarterfinal. In addition to the sports component, the game had a political background - it was a confrontation between Republican Spain and the fascist regime of Mussolini;

The game was extremely nervous. Despite the home field, the cool selection of players and the significant support of the fans, led by Benito Mussolini himself, the Spaniards scored the first goal ( Regeiro successfully executed a free kick). At the end of the first half, Giuseppe Meazza equalized the score, and after the break, the Italians staged a siege on the Zamora gate. The Spanish counterattacks were suppressed by frank rudeness, which the arbitrator was looking over his fingers. Especially in this sense, the defender of Argentine origin, Louis Monty , tried. The Spaniards, thanks to a successful game, Zamora survived, but seven players of the main team, including Zamora himself, could not take part in the replay, which took place a day later, through serious injuries. Replay repeated the scenario of the second half of the first match. The Italian defenders continued to beat the players of the Spanish national team, which had to end the match in the eighth game: Kinkoses , Regeiro and Bosc were removed from the field. The Swiss referee Rene Mars (shortly after the game, the Swiss Football Federation deprived him of a professional license) ^[1] was absolutely indifferent to the fouls of the Italians and did not include Chacho's net goal to their gates. As a result, the Italian national team achieved a victory (1: 0), but its reputation turned out to be badly damaged. In the football world, the match provoked a storm of indignation, and many people began to call the championship of 1934 “the pocket championship of Mussolini” ^[1] .

The Spanish Garcia Salazar returned to their homeland almost as heroes. But for a long time this team did not exist. With the beginning of the civil war (1936-1939), many players were mobilized. Amadeo Garcia Salazar led the national team until 1938, but with the start of the war his work became a formality. In 1938, Spain was unable to compete at the World Championships in France, after which Garcia finally stopped working with the national team ^[1] .

The Spanish coach died July 18, 1947 at the age of 62. For the outstanding achievements of the Spanish coaching school, one of the squares in his native Vitoria is named after Amadeo ( Spanish Amadeo Garcia de Salazar Plaza ) ^[1] .