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Estudiantes de La Plata
Club Estudiantes de La Plata (usually simply Estudiantes) is a sports club in La Plata, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, with a history of achievement in professional football. They contest the La Plata derby with local rivals Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata
The current club badge has nine stars for its five international and four local titles. The last of these stars was earned on December 13, 2006, when Estudiantes won the Apertura tournament over Boca Juniors by 2-1 in a play-off match.
History
The club was founded on 4 August 1905 by university students who felt left out by the management of Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata, which favored indoor games over football. Its jersey had red and white vertical stripes honoring the Alumni team that dominated Argentine football in those years, with black pants and gray or black socks. In the early days, the team wore a blue blazer on top of the jersey when entering the pitch.
The stadium on 1st Avenue opened on 25 December 1907. Before the advent of professionalism, Estudiantes won the 1913 league title.
When professionalism was adopted in Argentina in 1931, Estudiantes had a famous offensive lineup: Lauri-Scopelli-Zozaya-Ferreyra-Guayta, known as Los Profesores (The Professors), and still regarded as one of Argentina's all-time finest. Guayta and Scopelli played for the Italy national team that conquered the 1934 World Cup. The Sbarra brothers (Raul and Roberto) and Armando Nery were feared defensive players. Alberto Zozaya scored the first goal of professional football in Argentina and was the top goalscorer of the first professional tournament.
In 1937, a pioneering lighting system was installed in the stadium, allowing night games.
The 1950s saw the rise of goalkeeper Ogando, Garceron, Bouche, Urriolabeitia, Infante, Antonio, and the last days of striker Manuel Pellegrina, who is the all-time top scorer with 221 goals. The team was relegated in 1953 but was promoted the following year.
In the 1960s, Miguel Ignomiriello coached the under-19 team known as La Tercera que Mata (The Killer Juveniles), which would evolve, together with a few acquisitions, into the team coached by Osvaldo Zubeldia that won the 1967 Metropolitano championship .
Thus Estudiantes became the first club outside of the "five greats" to obtain a professional title. This opened the gates for other "small" clubs (Velez Sarsfield in 1968 and Chacarita Juniors one year later).
Estudiantes went on to win the Copa Libertadores de America three years in a row (1968 to 1970), and the 1968 Intercontinental Cup against the powerful Manchester United. It lost the series against A.C. Milan (1969) and Feyenoord (1970). In 1969 the club also won the Interamerican Cup.
The last part of the Zubeldia era was marred by the antics of some players. Following a very violent Intercontinental match against Milan, the entire team was arrested on orders from Argentine President Juan Carlos Ongania; in an unprecedented step, goalkeeper Poletti was suspended for life (he was later pardoned) and did time in jail, together with teammates Aguirre Suarez and Madero. Because of several such events, it became a cliche to refer to Zubeldia's football as el antifutbol.
The Zubeldia team was maybe the only successful professional side ever to count two physicians among its stars: Carlos Salvador Bilardo and teammate Raul Madero graduated from the University of Buenos Aires Faculty of Medicine during their playing days.
Juan Ramon Veron was the most gifted player on that team. He profited from the no-nonsense playing of Conigliaro, Echecopar, and Madero, and the tactical guidance provided by Bilardo. Right-back Manera was a very talented player, but suffered from repeated injuries and did not realize his full potential.
During the 1970 season, Carlos Bilardo retired from play and got involved in his family's furniture business. Soon he started to coach, alternating between Estudiantes and Colombian teams. He coached Estudiantes in 1982, when the team won the Metropolitano championship. Under his successor Eduardo Lujan Manera, also a member of the Zubeldia team, Estudiantes won the 1983 Nacional tournament as well. Both wins were at the expense of a star-studded Independiente.
Those championship teams were anchored by a solid defense , and also had three creative mid-fielders and two top-notch strikers (Gottardi and Trama).
Bilardo went on to coach the Argentine national team that won the 1986 FIFA World Cup and reached the final of the 1990 event. Madero was team physician on both events.
Estudiantes was relegated in 1994 and returned to the first division the next season, which was the breakout season for Juan Sebastian Veron. In the following years, the club became known the breeding ground for strikers such as Martin Palermo, Luciano Galletti, Bernardo Romeo, Ernesto Farias and Mariano Pavone.
In 2004-2005, under coach Reinaldo Merlo, Estudiantes finished both the Apertura and the Clausura tournaments in the fourth place. Mariano Pavone was top goalscorer of the 2005 Clausura. On 17 April 2005, Estudiantes de La Plata became the sixth team in Argentina to win 1,000 professional games, coming from behind to defeat Newell's Old Boys 3-2.
Merlo resigned on August 2005, the day after the main event of the centennial celebrations, and was promptly replaced with Bilardo alum Jorge Burruchaga. The team made history when it came from behind (0-3 in midtime) to win 4-3 against Peru's Sporting Cristal in a Libertadores match played on 21 February, 2006.
On May 18, 2006, Burruchaga was replaced with another former Argentine great, Diego Simeone, who built the team around Veron, who returned to Estudiantes after 11 years. The Simeone team was eliminated by Sao Paulo in a penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals of the 2006 Copa Libertadores, but went on to an impressive string of victories in the local league.
Estudiantes defeated Gimnasia by an unprecedented 7-0 score in the derby played October 15 2006 as part of the Apertura tournament, as part of a string of 10 straight wins (tying the club record), and finished in first place tied with Boca Juniors .
The final was played on December 13, 2006; Estudiantes coming from behind to defeat Boca Juniors 2-1 and thus securing its first premiership title in 23 years. In this tournament, Estudiantes defeated all the "five greats", allowed the least goals, and had three of its players rank at the top of sports diary Ole's best player ranking Ole newspaper: Equipo embrujado.
Simeone left the team after the 2007 Apertura, in which the team suffered from a significant injury problem and the transfers of Sosa and Pavone. His tenure included one championship title and three wins over Gimnasia y Esgrima. Simeone's (and Veron's) former S.S. Lazio teammate Roberto Sensini was selected as new coach.
Titles
Amateur era
Campeonato de la Federacion Argentina de Football (1): 1913
Segunda Division Argentina (1): 1911
Copa Rio de La Plata (1): 1913
Professional era
National titles
Primera Division Argentina (4): Metropolitano 1967 and 1982, Nacional 1983, Apertura 2006
Segunda division argentina (2): Primera "B" 1954, Nacional "B" 1994/95.
International titles
Copa Libertadores (3): 1968, 1969, 1970
Copa Intercontinental: 1968
Copa Interamericana: 1969
Stadium and Training Grounds
Jorge Luis Hirschi Stadium is located on 1st Avenue, between 55th and 57th Streets, in central La Plata. In its previous incarnation, it had room for 23,000. The cheaper stands behind the goal-lines were standing-room only. The stands next to the avenue were sitting-room, and were separated from the avenue by a row of tile trees. The opposite side was roofed and had the best seating arrangements. The noisiest fans used to occupy the 55th Street popular, while visiting fans were welcome in the 57th St. popular, opposite a technical school (whose inconvenient location is often blamed for the small size of the pitch).
For international games, Estudiantes has traditionally used the Boca Juniors field (La Bombonera).
When a modern stadium was built for the city of La Plata in the 1990s, both Estudiantes and Gimnasia decided initially against relocating their home games. Estudiantes was denied permission for upgrading its stadium, which was closed down in September 2005 because of new safety regulations that forbid standing-only wooden stands. A restraining order exempted Estudiantes from the prohibition, but the city government refused to comply, straining the relations between the club and City Hall.
As a stopgap measure, for the 2005 Apertura Estudiantes played its home games in the nearby Gimnasia stadium, and after that in the Quilmes field. There, Estudiantes made history with a come-from-behind 4-3 win against Sporting Cristal.
On April 2006 a court decree allowed the re-opening of 1 y 57, but mayor Julio Alak intervened again to avoid this from happening. Ole newspaper: La cancha tuvo otro pinchazo . Estudiantes contemplated building a new stadium in the port town of Ensenada, a few kilometers east of La Plata, but this idea had a short life: in August 2006, an agreement was reached [*] to rebuild the stands to allow a capacity of 20,000, while the city stadium will be used for games exceeding that capacity. Renovation work on the stadium started in 2007, even though City Hall delayed the demolition from taking place.
The training grounds are in the Country Club premises in City Bell, north of La Plata. These facilities are among the most advanced in Argentina; some upgrades were financed through donations by Juan Sebastian Veron while he played in Europe. Veron, who was also instrumental in the new stadium agreement, has confirmed that he is considering a future bid for the club presidency La Nacion newspaper: La Plata hace su felicidad: "Veron, Veron... .
Fan Base
Following its international successes in the 1960s, Estudiantes gained more followers in all of Argentina. They have remained true to its colors in good times and bad, giving the club a country-wide fan base, widely known as one of the most loyal in Argentina.
Within the La Plata area, Estudiantes was regarded as the club of the middle class, while rival side Gimnasia y Esgrima was identified with the working class. Statistics are inconclusive as to which club has the larger following in the city.
For several periods in the club's history, a cadre of fans from Buenos Aires (los portenos) led the fan base. A noted fan since the 1970s is el pelapapas ("the potato peeler"), famous for lighting small bonfires during games.
In the 1983 presidential election, Estudiantes fans were, together with their peers from Velez Sarsfield, the first to voice their support for eventual winner Raul Alfonsin in his bid against the Peronistas. The friendship with Velez supporters has since vanished, especially after an Estudiantes win denied Velez the 2003 championship.
Estudiantes fans are on friendly terms with most clubs from the South side of Greater Buenos Aires who make it to the top divisions. This was especially true of Quilmes and Temperley.
Platense, from the North side of Greater Buenos Aires, held a special place in the hearts of Estudiantes fans, as it cemented Gimnasia's relegation in 1979. Platense has since been relegated and currently plays in the promotional divisions.
On an international note, Estudiantes is friendly with the Uruguayan fan base of Penarol.
Author Ernesto Sabato is an Estudiantes sympathizer. Even though his interest in football is limited, the club has honored Sabato with a ceremony in which he was given a No. 10 jersey.
Nicknames
The nickname pincharratas (rat-stabbers), often shortened to pinchas, is generally attributed to the laboratory work done by the many Medicine students among the club's early members. This nickname extends to the fans.
Another version maintains that the name comes from the nickname of one Felipe Montedonica, a bodyguard of the team in the 1910s, who was known as "el pincharratas".
A third version claims that the early training fields were infested with rats, and the players spent much time and effort chasing after them.
Fans also call the team el leon (the lion), orgullo de la ciudad (pride of the city), los capos de La Plata (the bosses of La Plata), and Tricampeon (three-time champion) because of its Libertadores three-peat.
List of Famous Players
This list follows a rough chronological sequence
see also
Current Squad
Correct as of February 11 2008
Top Goalscorers
Manuel Gregorio Pellegrina: 234 goals in 489 matches
Ricardo Roberto Infante: 180 goals in 328 matches
Alberto Maximo Zozaya: 144 goals in 181 matches
Hugo Ernesto Gottardi: 125 goals in 310 matches
External links
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Estudiantes de La Plata
