From Menotti, Bielsa to Messi: Why is Rosario a football city?

There are regions of the world, regardless of whether the cause is differences in geography, climate, bio-physics, culinary culture, sports culture or labor tradition, which have become lands that produce champions.

Sometimes that formation looks natural. The Great Rift Valley of the East African Rift, for example, is home to some of the world's best marathoners. At times, this formation becomes a challenge for statisticians in their quest to find the root of the problem. For example, the smallest province in Spain, Gipuzkoa (in the Basque autonomous region), is home to four coaches who lead teams in the English Premier League from the 2023-2024 season, including Mikel Arteta (Arsenal), Unai Emery (Aston Villa), Julen Lopetegui (Wolverhampton) and Andoni Iraola (Bournemouth).

The Basque Country alone was the land with the most coaches working in Europe's top five leagues last season, including Xabi Alonso (Bayer Leverkusen) and Jose Luis Mendilibar (Sevilla - the reigning Europa League champion). Even the Basque country, if including the territory in France, is also the hometown of Didier Deschamps.

Rosario, the capital of the province of Santa Fe, is commonly known as the "cradle of the Argentine flag". The reason is that in 1812, the national flag that exists to this day of the country tango dance was first raised here. However, this place should also be considered a mecca for players and coaches. A Shangri-La of round balls.

Six months ago, Argentina won the World Cup in Qatar thanks to three goals in the final against France from "the children of Rosario": two from Lionel Messi and one from Angel Di Maria. Messi grew up in Newell's Old Boys, while Di Maria grew up in Rosario Central. These two clubs are rivals, but are always the flagships of Rosario, challenging the traditional dominance of Buenos Aires football - which is famous for its "five tigers" including River Plate, Boca Juniors, Independiente, Racing Club and San Lorenzo.

"From Di Maria to Messi, from Bajada to Perdriel, always Rosario, the city of football!" Not an Argentinian, but Italian commentator Daniele Adani said on RAI radio when commenting on Argentina's goal against Mexico in the 2022 World Cup, referring to the neighborhoods of Rosario, where Messi and Di Maria grew up.

Located nearly 300 km north of Buenos Aires, Rosario - Argentina's third largest metropolitan area with about 1.3 million inhabitants - has the most players who have won world championships. According to El Pais (Spain), this place is home to 69 players who once belonged to the ranks of the Argentina team that won the World Cup in 1978, 1986 and 2022.

Not stopping at that tradition, Newell's Old Boys' Julio Libonatti in 1925 also became the first Argentine player to be sold to Europe. And that tradition is also replicated in military circles: Cesar Luis Menotti – the 1978 World Cup winner, or Marcelo Bielsa – “the teacher of teachers” and currently leads the Uruguay national team – is also proud to be the son of Rosario. .

The list is surprisingly long, if expanded to include the inner city and suburbs of Rosario, which is known as Gran Rosario (Great Rosario). Familiar faces with the past and present, such as Santiago Solari, Javier Mascherano, Giovani Lo Celso, Maximiliano Rodriguez or the 2022 World Cup champion Angel Correa, all have worn the Albiceleste shirt and played top football in Europe. Europe.

Since 2015, the Argentina team has been led exclusively by coaches from Rosario or more broadly in the province of Santa Fe: Gerardo Martino, Edgardo Bauza, Jorge Sampaoli to Lionel Scaloni.

Argentinians are naturally aware of the pride that bears the name Rosario. In Buenos Aires last week, a documentary about football Rosario was released. Titled "Pelotero del mundo" ("Player of the World"), directors Damian Finvarb and Ariel Borenstein chronicled the growth of many young players growing up in Rosario.

Jorge Solari was also a player who started out at Newell's before joining other clubs in Argentina. When he hung up his boots, he also returned to work as a coach at Rosario.

Jorge Griffa of the '80s and Jorge Solari of the '90s became revered and respected teachers in Argentina. Hundreds of boys from all over Argentina come to Rosario to study football, to be taught by Griffa and Solari.

Spain's "sage" Luis Aragones once said "Griffa taught me how to win". But with Argentine football, Griffa is also credited with teaching generations of this country's players how to play. He used to be a teacher of names including Gabriel Batistuta, Jorge Valdano, Maxi Rodriguez, Abel Balbo, Americo Gallego, Gabriel Heinze, Gerardo Martino, Marcelo Bielsa, Mauricio Pochettino, Eduardo Berizzo or Lionel Scaloni...

Having good teachers is one thing, the opportunity to socialize and play football plays a key role in the growth of young players. Here, we are talking about the size and scope of Rosario football.

In Argentina, the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) recognizes only one branch and that is the Football Federation of the city of Rosario, named Federación Rosarina. Federación Rosarina was originally founded in 1913, after separating from another older association of Rosario, Liga Rosarina de Fútbol (born in 1905).

El Pais newspaper lists, if only the low-level divisions of Federación Rosarina - tournaments for men, women and futsal - have up to 92 clubs, bringing together 985 teams and about 37,000 players in Rosario. That's not to mention many small teams outside the official organizational chart, such as Grandoli - a "neighborhood" team - where Messi played before moving to Newell's training academy.

Playing football is almost a daily routine for the kids in Rosario, because the city alone hosts eight different and at the same time annual youth tournaments. Some tournaments are friendly, others are more competitive.

Journalist Nicolas Galliari, author of the book "Rosario: Cradle of the Stars - Why are the talents of Argentine football concentrated in this city?", has highlighted three reasons for the current phenomenon. that statue.

"The first is the competitiveness with which the players are acquainted since the age of four, when there are hundreds of different football clubs in the city," he wrote. "Next, from the 60s onwards, Rosario always had good teachers, like Jorge Griffa, Marcelo Bielsa, Jorge Solari, Miguel Ignomiriello, Carlos Timoteo Griguol or Angel Tulio Zoff. And third, football is a field. the focus of the country, the kids who attend football are well-trained and well-bred; the clubs themselves have a foundation in training. passion and love for football, helped feed it in Rosario."

Since the 80s, Rosario has taken it upon himself to change the way talent is discovered in football. Club Renato Cesarini - named after a late Italian player - where made Javier Mascherano, Martin Demichelis or Augusto Solari, is a typical example. With a campus of 56 fields and 700 boys aged 4 and up, Renato Cesarini was created solely to train players. Instead of waiting for the boys to come and take the entrance exam, the club started going around looking for promising local talent.

It was that method that was absorbed and perfected by Marcelo Bielsa for Newell's Old Boys in the early 1990s. The story of "El Loco" traveling thousands of kilometers by car across Argentina in search of football idols. the future is real. Today, the big boys like River Plate or Boca Juniors and the rest still do.

In August 2022, in an interview with El Pais newspaper, Jorge Griffa once recounted: "I really can't remember how many players I have trained. The scale of Newell's training has grown thanks to the The club actively looks for players, instead of waiting for them to come to us. We scour the hinterland of the country, choosing players who have tried, sacrificed and worked hard in each province."

"Bielsa and I did a few trips together, when he was in youth football. Together we discovered Mauricio Pochettino in the championship town of Murphy, south of Santa Fe. We liked Mauricio and went to his house to take it home. I don't remember, it was around 2am or midnight. His house didn't have a bell and we had to knock. His son chose to go to another club, Rosario Central. We asked 'Have you signed the contract yet?' and he said 'No.' Then we tried to convince him: 'Let the boy come. play a tournament with Newell's, finish the game and decide whether to stay or go to Central' He agreed and Pochettino ended up winning the tournament with us. When he got home, he said he wanted to stay. Newell's."

In another sense, Rosario is also the best football storyteller, literally. Roberto Fontanarrosa was born in Rosario. Born, he is a cartoonist and writer of brilliant football stories of Argentina. The legendary figure in Roberto's works is Tomas Felipe 'El Trinche' Carlovich, who spent almost his entire football career at Rosario's Central Cordoba club and in Argentina's fourth division. In 2020, he died after being assaulted by a bicycle thief. 'El Trinche' is always considered the best unknown player in the world.

Legendary coach Cesar Luis Menotti of Argentina in 2017 once concluded in Tiempo Argentino newspaper that: "Football in Rosario is an unimaginable cultural entity. There is always an endless and unending passion for the game. In Buenos Aires, football is not as closed and close as in Rosario. Therefore, the way football is communicated in the capital is also different. In Rosario, football becomes a daily debate. Actually, we're better here, because the English don't come to Rosario and lay the foundations of football, instead they're Scots and they play more passing football than the English."

Menotti's conclusion is another historical story. Scottish Latin American football historian, Ian Campbell Whittle told BCC in 2014 about the birth of the first football club in Rosario, Rosario Central. Accordingly, the British actually set foot in Rosario, but they did not lay the first foundation for this city's football.

From the 1860s to the 1890s, Rosario experienced two waves of railroad construction, the first connecting the city to Argentina's almost empty hinterland, and the second connecting to Buenos Aires. Those who did it were British engineers and mechanics. The need for entertainment and fitness of these Britons was the premise for the birth of the sports club Rosario Athletic. However, Rosario Athletic mainly plays cricket and rugby.

Some other workers wanted to play football, which was gradually becoming a trend all over England. At Christmas 1889, these English football enthusiasts held a meeting in a bar north of Rosario. That meeting was to decide whether the club to be born should focus on football or cricket. The person who brought the biggest voice calling for members to choose football was Colin Bain Calder, a Scotsman. Thus, the city's first football club was born, named Central Argentine Railway Athletic Club, the forerunner of today's Rosario Central.

It was the seed for football that sprouted in Rosario. In the early 1900s, Newell's Old Boys - Messi's starting club - was also established. And in 1905, as has been said, the Rosario Football Federation (Liga Rosarina de Fútbol) also formed.

When co-director Ariel Borenstein of the documentary "Player of the World" was asked about the work, he said: "Rosario is also an export port for Argentina's soybeans and other raw materials. through this documentary shows how governing football is not so different from managing a country."

That statement by Borenstein sounds irrelevant and exudes the essence of his football movie. However, it was the voice of a person who was distressed about the reality of Rosario.

Rosario is not only the "Chicago of Argentina", not only the headquarters of Argentina's largest drug trade, but also the country's main soybean export port, and the phrase "Pelotero del mundo" is more than simply "Player" of the world", but also "Player of the World Cup", which refers to Messi. That is pride. And "the way to manage football is not too different from managing a country" is a comparison to lament.

Rosario is also a football city.

"Argentine's Chicago"? Are not. The city is called "Fútbol".