Antonio Sastre

Antonio Sastre
	Sastre while playing for Independiente in 1931
Personal information
Date of birth	27 April 1911
Place of birth	Lomas de Zamora, Argentina
Date of death	23 November 1987 (aged 76)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1921–1931	Progresista
Senior career*
Years	Team
1931–1942	Independiente
1942–1946	São Paulo
1946–1947	Gimnasia (LP)
Total
National team
1933–1941	Argentina
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of August 2008

Antonio Sastre (27 April 1911 – 23 November 1987) was an Argentine footballer who played most of his career for Club Atlético Independiente and São Paulo of Brazil. He is one of the 24 players inducted into the Argentine Football Association Hall of Fame. Sastre was an all-round midfielder who could play well almost anywhere on the pitch due to his intelligence and versatility.^[1] Sastre became famous as one of the most virtuoso players in history, playing in various sectors of the field, including as an improvised goalkeeper, and described as always performing great, no matter what position he played. He was effective on the wings, accurate as a striker, secure as a defender and always supportive of his teammates, being considered a modern player of the 1930s. Sastre is also known as one of the first true playmakers of the pre-war era and he is regarded as one of the best playmakers of all time.^[2] Sastre won 11 titles at club level, and 2 international championships with the Argentina national team.

Club career[change | change source]

Antonio Sastre, born in 1911 in Lomas de Zamora, in the province of Buenos Aires, began his football career in Avellaneda with CA Independiente. The midfielder made 1931 league appearances for Independiente between 1942 with 340 appearances, scoring 112 goals. Antonio Sastre was part of Independiente's team in the 1930s, with players such as Arsenio Erico and Vicente de la Mata, who won the club's first ever Argentine championship in 1938. In the Primera División, they were in first place at the end of all matchdays, two points ahead of defending champions River Plate. The following year, they were able to defend this title and once again move to the top of the table, this time with a six-point lead over River Plate and CA Huracán, who are level on points. After that, the first great years of Independiente Avellaneda were over for the time being, it took until 1948 before the club could win a league title again. At that point, however, Antonio Sastre had not been at the Estadio La doble Visera for a long time. The playmaker left the club in 1942 after eleven years and 340 games in the league.

Antonio Sastre's new employer was Brazilian club FC São Paulo. The midfielder was under contract in Brazil for four years from 1942 to 1946. During these four years, Sastre won the title of the State Championship of São Paulo three times with his club. In 1943, 1945 and 1946 they were victorious in this competition. However, since there was no uniform championship in Brazil at the time, Antonio Sastre did not have the opportunity to add a Brazilian championship to his Argentine championship title. In 1946, Sastre returned to São Paulo after making 129 appearances in the state championship, scoring a total of 58 goals.

He then returned to his native Argentina, where he played for Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata in the Primera B. With Gimnasia y Esgrima, Sastre finished his career in first place in the second division, which meant promotion to the Primera División. After the 1947 season in the second division, Antonio Sastre ended his football career at the age of 36.

International career[change | change source]

Between 1933 and 1941, Antonio Sastre won a total of 34 caps for the Argentine national football team. He scored six goals in the process. In his national team career, Sastre managed to win the Copa América twice. At the Campeonato Sudamericano 1937 on home soil, they won the decider against Brazil 2-0 after extra time, which earned them their first title in the competition in eight years. Antonio Sastre celebrated a second success in the Copa América in the 1941 edition, when they secured first place in Chile with a two-point lead over their eternal rivals of those years, Uruguay. After this South American Championship, Antonio Sastre's national team career ended after 34 appearances. Like many other players of his generation, however, he was denied participation in a World Cup. Argentina competed in Italy in 1934 with only amateurs, after which it took 24 years before they reached the World Cup again.