2023-09-10 08:13:45
Don’t come to me with Chocolate Baley, Tolo Gallego or Leo Astrada. Black, what is called black, authentic and genuine black, there was only one.
Because it is one thing to be called black, and quite another to be one. In the National Team, for example, many mulattoes played, kids with dark skin as a result of miscegenation who from the lower ranks and by inertia were baptized as “black” and could never get that nickname again. But black, what is called black, I insist, there was only one. And he was, according to what they say, an extraordinary scorer. It’s like this: Argentina has in its history more stars than black players.
If the only Afro-descendant who wore the light blue and white one wrote his bio on any social network, he should say: “My name is Alejandro Nicolás de los Santos/in 1925 I won the South American Championship with the National Team/I played with Chancha Seoane in El Porvenir and with Herminio Masantonio in Huracán/Carlos Gardel once praised me.”
De los Santos was the son of two Angolan slaves who at the beginning of the last century escaped from the colonial subjugation of Portugal and crossed the Atlantic by boat to settle in Entre Ríos. There, in Paraná, on May 17, 1902, the future star was born. When he was barely 6 years old, his parents died and he, along with his two older brothers, settled in Buenos Aires. They chose Boedo, the neighborhood where in those days Father Lorenzo Massa was busy founding a soccer club that the kids later named San Lorenzo de Almagro.
The young Negrito started playing for the Oriente del Sud club and shortly after moved to San Lorenzo. In Ciclón he debuted on May 22, 1921: they beat Banfield 2-0. After eight games with the Blaugrana he signed for Dock Sud, a club with which he was promoted to First Division. In the final they beat Liniers 3-0 and De los Santos scored the three goals. He played three years at Docke until he joined El Porvenir, which at that time was in First Division.
In Gerli’s club, Negro became a fearsome scorer. He shared the lead with Manuel Seoane and together they were called up for the National Team. In 1925 they were part of the team that played in the South American Championship, the predecessor of the Copa América, which Argentina won in a final against Brazil.
On the first date of the 1929 tournament, El Porvenir defeated Racing 1-0 and De los Santos was the star. Legend has it that Carlos Gardel went to watch the game and commented: “Who is this Negro? “They can’t stop it!”
After seven years at El Porve, he closed his career at Huracán, where he put together a formidable front line along with the famous Heminio Masantonio. But before, in 1930, Uruguay organized the first World Cup in history.
De los Santos was a candidate to be called up, but it did not happen. Some maintain that they discriminated against him. For black.
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#Ortiz #Clausen #black