Mario Alberto
Kempes Chiodi
(Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmaɾjo alˈβerto ˈkempes ˈtʃjoði];
born 15 July 1954 in Bell Ville, Córdoba) is a retired Argentine footballer who
played as a striker. His father, Mario, also a footballer, inspired him to play
from a young age. At the age of seven he began playing with a junior team and
at fourteen, he joined the Talleres reserves. A prolific goalscorer, at club
level he is best known for playing for Valencia, finishing as La Liga's top
goalscorer twice, and amassing 116 goals in 184 league games for the club.
At
international level, Kempes was the focal point of Argentina's 1978 World Cup
win where he scored twice in the final, and received the Golden Boot as top
goalscorer. He also won the Golden Ball for the player of the tournament,
making him one of only three players to have won all three awards at a single
World Cup, along with Garrincha in 1962, and Paolo Rossi in 1982.
Kempes
won South American Footballer of the Year and World Cup Golden Ball in 1978. In
2004, he was named as one of the Top 125 greatest living footballers as part of
FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration.[1]
Club career
Kempes
was nicknamed El Toro and El Matador. During his first stint with Valencia, he
won two consecutive Pichichis, scoring 24 and 28 goals in 1976–77 and 1977–78.
His career started at local club Instituto, where he played alongside Osvaldo
Ardiles before quickly moving on to Rosario Central, where he scored 85 goals
in 105 matches and established himself as a notorious goalscorer, which
prompted a move to Valencia, where he would go on to win the Copa del Rey, the
European Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. Famous as a hard-working
forward, he used to strike from outside the penalty area with his surging runs
towards goal and was not the traditional center-forward operating solely inside
the box. Many defenders found difficulty handling his attacking style.
Before
the 1978 World Cup, Kempes was the only foreign based player on the list of
coach César Luis Menotti's national team in Argentina, he was at the time
playing for Spanish giants Valencia while the other squad members all played in
Argentina. The coach described him when announcing the squad he had selected
for the 1978 tournament, "He's strong, he's got skill, he creates spaces
and he shoots hard. He's a player who can make a difference, and he can play in
a centre-forward position."
Kempes
had been the top scorer in La Liga the previous two seasons and was determined
to show on home soil that he could deliver against the best on the sport's
greatest stage. However, in 1974, at the age of 20, he failed to get on the
score-sheet in West Germany and after the first round group stage in 1978, his
name was still missing among goal scorers in the tournament.
International career
During
his club career he won 43 caps for Argentina and scored 20 times.[4][5] He
represented his country in three World Cups in 1974, 1978 and 1982, winning the
competition in 1978. He was the leading goalscorer in the 1978 tournament,
scoring six goals in three braces: The first two in Argentina's first semifinal
group stage match against Poland, another two playing against Peru, and the
last two of these goals in the final against the Netherlands, which Argentina
won 3–1. His second goal, in the 105th minute, was the game winner in extra
time. More notoriously in the 1978 cup, Kempes stopped a goal with his hand in
a second round match against Poland.[2] This resulted in a penalty kick that
was promptly saved by Ubaldo Fillol.[3]
In
1978, he was named South American Football Player of the Year ("El
Mundo," Caracas, Venezuela). He was named by Pelé as one of the top 125
greatest living footballers in March 2004.
Managerial career
Kempes
made his full-time managing debut in Albania. His brief spell with Lushnja was
groundbreaking, as he became the first foreign manager who signed a foreign
player for the first time in Albanian football history. His career in Albania
came to a quick end in 1997. The following year, he landed a job with
Venezuelan side Mineros de Guayana. In 1999, Kempes moved to Bolivia and
managed The Strongest, before taking charge of Blooming in 2000. Previously, he
worked as assistant coach for Uruguayan manager Héctor Núñez in Valencia, and
as a player-manager of Indonesian League champions Pelita Jaya.
Commentary career
He
currently works as a football analyst and commentator in Spanish for ESPN
Deportes (ESPN's Spanish language version). Moreover, he as well as Fernando
Palomo and Ciro Procuna provide the commentary in the Latin American version of
the videogames FIFA 13, FIFA 14, FIFA 15, FIFA 16, FIFA 17 and FIFA 18.
Honours
Club
Valencia
·
Copa
del Rey: 1978–79
·
UEFA
Cup Winners' Cup: 1979–80
·
UEFA
Super Cup: 1980
River Plate
·
Primera
División: 1981 Nacional
International
Argentina
·
FIFA
World Cup: 1978
Individual
·
Argentine
Primera División top scorers: 1974 Nacional, 1976 Metropolitan
·
Pichichi
Trophy: 1977, 1978
·
FIFA
World Cup Golden Boot: 1978
·
FIFA
World Cup Golden Ball: 1978[6]
·
FIFA
World Cup All-Star Team: 1978
·
Onze
d'Or: 1978
·
Olimpia
de Plata: 1978
·
South
American Footballer of the Year: 1978
·
UEFA
Cup Winners' Cup top scorers: 1979–80
·
FIFA
100: 2004
·
South
American Player of the Century: Ranking Nº 23: 2006[7]
·
Golden
Foot: 2007, as football legend[8]
References
[3]FIFA.com 1978 World Cup Match Report – Argentina – Poland
[4]"Mario Kempes". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.
[5]"Research: Soccer Net USA". Soccer Net USA. Archived from the original on 16 November 2006. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
[6]"FIFA World Cup Golden Ball Awards". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 12
January 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
[7]South American – Player of the Century Retrieved on 8 January 2018
[8]"Golden Foot Award". Goldenfoot.com. Archived from the original on 10 February
2015. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
External links
·
Mario Kempes – FIFA competition record
·
Mario Kempes at National-Football-Teams.com Edit this at Wikidata
·
Observer Sport biography
·
Futbol Factory profile at the Wayback Machine (archived 20 October 2007) (in Spanish)
·
Mario Kempes at BDFutbol
