Argentina–Uruguay football rivalry

Football had been introduced many years ago in both countries, being the first game played in Argentina on 20 June 1867, with the establishment of Buenos Aires Football Club, the first football club not only in Argentina but in South America. In Uruguay, football had been introduced in 1870. Argentina organised its first league championship, Primera División, in 1891 while Uruguay held its first domestic tournament, also named Primera División, in 1900.

Both countries considered themselves rivals due to their proximity. Moreover, the Argentine and Uruguayan Associations were the first in South America, organising together the first international competitions in the Río de la Plata, such as Tie Cup (1900) or Copa de Honor Cousenier (1905), played by champions of each associations.

Argentina (left) and Uruguay national teams that played the first international match outside Great Britain on July 20, 1902

Although the first match ever recorded between Argentina and Uruguay was played on 16 May 1901, this is not considered an official game due to the match was not organized by Uruguay's Football Association but by Albion FC in its home field, "Paso del Molino". The Uruguayan side had nine players from that club and the remainder from Nacional.[5] Argentina won the match by 3–2.

In fact, the first official match was held in the same venue, on 20 July 1902,[6] with Argentina beating Uruguay 6–0.[7] The Argentina line-up was: José Buruca Laforia; William Leslie, Walter Buchanan; Eduardo Duggan, Ernesto Brown, Carlos J. Buchanan; Juan O. Anderson, Edward O. Morgan, Carlos Edgar Dickinson, Juan José Moore (cap.), Jorge Brown. Players were from Alumni (5 players), Quilmes (2), Belgrano AC (2), Lomas (1) and Barracas AC (1).

Uruguay line-up was Enrique Sanderson; Carlos Carve Urioste, Germán Arímalo; Miguel Nebel (cap.), Alberto Peixoto, Luis Carbone; Bolívar Céspedes, Gonzalo Rincón, Juan Sanderson, Ernesto Boutón Reyes, Carlos Céspedes.[8] The squad was formed by eight players from Nacional and 3 from Albion. There were no players of CURCC in Uruguay due to the club refused to allow them to play.[9] The goals were scored by Dickinson, Arímalo, Morgan, Carve Urioste, Anderson and J. Brown.[8]

In 1905, the first edition of Copa Lipton was played between Argentina and Uruguay. The trophy had been donated by the Scottish tea magnate Thomas Lipton with the condition that the teams be made up of only native born players. The tournament was contested on an annual basis between 1905 and 1992. The decade of 1910 is considered "the golden age" of the competition, due to Argentina and Uruguay were the predominant teams in South America by then and the Copa Lipton was the most important competition for both sides, considering that CONMEBOL had not been established until 1916.

Match of Copa Newton played at Racing Club, 1912

Other notable competition for both sides was the Copa Newton, first held in 1906 and continued on an annual basis until 1930. It has only been played sporadically since, with the last edition being contested in 1976.[10]

Apart from Copa Lipton and Copa Newton, other two competitions were established, with the particularity of each one being hosted in each side of the Río del Plata. The Copa Premier Honor Argentino was held in Buenos Aires (it was played until 1920) while the Copa Premier Honor Uruguayo (1911-1924) was always held in Montevideo.

In 1910, the Copa Centenario Revolución de Mayo was played as part of the celebrations for the May Revolution in Argentina. The competition is notable for being the first international tournament of South America where more than two football nations participated.[11] The "Copa Centenario" is also considered a predecessor to Copa América.[12] Teams were Argentina (champion), Uruguay and Chile.

Because of having featured three of the subsequent four founding members of CONMEBOL, the Copa Centenario Revolución de Mayo was sometimes called "the first Copa América". However, CONMEBOL recognizes the 1916 South American Championship as the first edition of the competition.[13]

Argentina v. Uruguay at Estadio Nacional, Peru, during the 1927 Sudamericano

With CONMEBOL established as the sport governing body in South America, the confederation organised its first competition in 1916, the first edition of the "Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol" (South-American Football Championship), now known as the "Copa América". It was held in Argentina to commemorate the centenary of the Declaration of Independence.

The first Copa América match between Argentina and Uruguay was played at Racing Club on 17 July 1916. The game finished 0–0. Uruguay was the winner of the first continental trophy.

Despite Argentina and Uruguay's large history in the most important competition of South America, they have never played a final match facing each other.

The ball, shot by Cesáreo Onzari, scores a goal for Argentina against Uruguay in 1924. This was the first goal scored direct from a corner

In 1924, Argentina played a friendly match against Uruguay at Sportivo Barracas' stadium. When only 15 minutes had been played, winger Cesáreo Onzari scored from a corner kick, with no other player touching the ball before scoring. Due to the fact that Uruguay was the Olympic champion, this play was called "Gol Olímpico". This denomination still remains.[14]

The goal stood since FIFA had previously regulated goals scored directly from the corner kick, as Onzari did during that match. According to La Nación newspaper, 52,000 fans attended the game, an Argentina 2–1 win, where the Uruguayan team left the field with only four minutes to play. Argentine players later complained about the rough play of the Uruguayans during the match, while their rivals also complained about the aggressiveness of local spectators, who threw bottles at them at the end of the match.[15]

Uruguay-Argentina captains, referee Johannes Mutters and linesmen before the final match at the 1928 Summer Olympics

The 1928 Summer Olympics saw the first match of Argentina and Uruguay playing each other outside South America. In the final the Uruguayans played Argentina who had trounced Egypt who would now fold like a house of cards; clearly out of their depth against more sophisticated opposition, conceding 6 goals to Argentina and as many as eleven to Italy in the Bronze medal match.

Argentina came to the final after thrashing United States 11–2, Belgium 6–3 and Egypt 6–0, while Uruguay had defeated The Netherlands, Germany and Italy in previous rounds. The interest was immense, with The Dutch having received 250,000 requests for tickets from all over Europe.

The first game (attended by 28,253 spectators) finished 1-1. The tie went to a replay. With the winning goal by Héctor Scarone, Uruguay won the replay match, also achieving their second consecutive Gold Medal, with 28,113 spectators in the stadium.[16]

After the finals, players from both teams did not speak with each other. Tango singer Carlos Gardel invited Argentine and Uruguayan players to a show in the cabaret "El Garrón", in Paris. His efforts to achieve a reconciliation between both parts were not successful so Argentine and Uruguayan ended up in a fight during the show.[16]

(Carlos) Gardel knew I played the violin so he invited me to play with him on stage. When the song finished, players of both sides started to throw breadcrumbs at each other, then they started to throw breads and then, bottles of wine. The Rioplatense brotherhood went to hell. In the midst of chaos, I saw a black man coming over me, I'm not sure if he was Negro Andrade but I broke the Stradivarius on his head, just in case

— Argentine player Raimundo Orsi, speaking about the riot at the cabaret.[16]

Uruguay's fourth goal, scored by striker Héctor Castro at the 1930 Final

In 1930 Uruguay organised the first FIFA World Cup. As two years before at the Summer Olympics, Argentina and Uruguay played the final, held in the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo. Argentina had previously defeated France, Mexico, Chile and the United States, while Uruguay beat Peru, Romania and Yugoslavia. Both teams thrashed United States and Yugoslavia for the same score (6–1) at the semifinals.

Pasculli scoring v. Uruguay at the 1986 World Cup

The final ended 4–2 to Uruguay after they trailed 2–1 at half-time, adding the title of World Cup winners to their status as Olympic champions. Jules Rimet, president of FIFA, presented the Uruguayan team with the World Cup Trophy, which was later named after him. The following day was declared a national holiday in Uruguay;[17] in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires a mob threw stones at the Uruguayan consulate.[18]

The last living player from that final, Francisco Varallo (who played as a striker for Argentina), died on 30 August 2010 at the age of 100.[19]

The second time Argentina and Uruguay met in a World Cup was in 1986, when Argentina beat Uruguay 1–0 at round of 16, with goal by Pedro Pasculli. The squad managed by Carlos Bilardo eliminated the Uruguayan side, advancing to the next stage. Argentina would then win their second world title when they beat Germany 3–2 in the final.

• The olympic games in 1924 and 1928 were played by the senior teams before the creation of the FIFA World Cup

The table below compares titles won by Argentine and Uruguayan clubs since the first official competition in 1905:

Note: AFA / AUF competitions (such as Tie Cup, Copa de Honor Cousenier and Copa Aldao) are not included due to they were contested only by Argentine and Uruguayan clubs.