Football Journey

Sunday, May 5, 2024

Uruguay I Division

First Division. 14 teams, one relegated and simple league formula without final stage or any other complications.

Huracan Buceo finished last with 10 points and was relegated. Standing from left: Jorge González, Blas A. Romero, Gerald Britos, Heber Pais, ?, Da Silva. First row: Julio Zoppi, Gustavo Badell, Oscar Quagliatta, ?, Washington Silva.

River Plate - 13^th with 19 points.

Cerro - 12^th with 21 points.

Progreso - 11^th with 22 points. The 1989 champions were now down the table... not unexpected, really. Perhaps playing on two fronts – domestic and Copa Libertadores – was too much for a modest team without stars.

Wanderers - 10^th with 23 points.

Rentistas - 9^th with 24 points. They were the team with most draws in the championship – 14 outs of 26 games played. Second row from left: José Rey, Enrique Debéllis, Julio Lancieri, Richard Acuña, Carlos Torales, Miguel Santos. Front: Víctor Rodríguez, José Chileli, Daniel Larumbe, Juan Lombardi, Alejandro Garay.

Defensor Sporting - 8^th with 27 points. Top row from left: Ruben Silva, Marcelo Tejera, Guillermo Almada, Claudio Arbiza, H. Silva Cantera, Mario Gastán. Crouching: José Chilelli, José González, Héctor Rodríguez, William Gutiérrez, Peter Méndez.

Liverpool - 7^th with 29 points.

Danubio - 6^th with 29 points.

Racing - 5^th with 29 points.

Central Espanol - 4^th with 29 points. Second row from left: Pablo Fuentes, Marcelo Paolino, Ruben Dos Santos, Andrés Silva, Fabián Tejera, Marcelo Fracchia. Front: Luis Chabat, Gustavo Ferreira, Gustavo Sarli, Enzo Azambuja, Alfredo Nocetti.

Penarol - 3^rd with 31 points.

Nacional - 2^nd with 32 points. Standing from left: Mozzo, Peña, Sere, Cardaccio, Milton Gomez, Carlos Favier Soca. First row: Tony Gomez, Julio Cesar Dely Valdez, Moran, W. Gutierrez, Venancio Ramos.

Bella Vista triumphed with the title after very strong season: 16 wins, 7 ties, 3 losses, 34-15 goal-difference and 39 points. They left Nacional 7 points behind! Excellent season and fantastic ending: Bella Vista not only never won a title before, but nobody ever expected them to win a title – they were modest club by all means, nothing in their tradition suggested such success. And with such a margin – beating occasionally Nacional and Penarol was rare achievement to brag about for years, but to leave them in the dust was fantastic. Well deserved victory, no doubt about it, and one more name was added to the short list of clubs having won the Uruguayan title. They also contributed to the great period of the small clubs: for a fourth year now the champion was neither Nacional, nor Penarol, the title going from smallish to smaller clubs, from Defensor Sporting in 1987 to Danubio the next year, to Progreso in 1989 and now to Bella Vista. As for the squad, the new champions were anonymous just like those before them – a nice success of determined team, but also betraying the general weakness of the big clubs: by now practically all good Uruguayan players played football abroad, even Nacional and Penarol had no worthy starts – just look at their squads: the only recognizable name was the import Dely Valdez, himself not from a country known for great football and players. Thus, the underdogs got their chance.

First time and rare one at that more than deserves a second photo: here they are the 1990 champions of Uruguay Bella Vista. Instant legend for the club's supporters, who knew quite well that a second title would be... impossible.