Greatest Guatemalan players of all-time

Discussion in 'Guatemala' started by ChaChaFut, Sep 15, 2011.

  1. BKR inC

    BKR inC Member+

    Feb 9, 2007
    Australia
    Thanks i thoguht so, i was just curious because i know when i tried making a similar list of el salvador and nicaragua greatest players, several players had became naturalised and naturally made huge impact i was just curious if the trend continued in the rest of central america....thanks for clearing this up :)
     
  2. lguti9

    lguti9 Member

    Aug 5, 2008
    virginia
    Club:
    CSD Comunicaciones
    Nat'l Team:
    Guatemala
    Well Chacha, unfortunally i couldnt cause he visited my father unexpectedly and i couldnt take a picture, but i did get him to sign me a shirt. He lives in New Jersey now and well told me a lot of stories about when he played. He said there hasnt been a team in Guatemala like the one in the 60's. Now he says most players dont play for the shirt, he also told me that he's still in contact with the Federation in Guate but not that deep. He plays once in a while with some of the other players that are in New Jersey that also played in Guate. To comment on the list, one of my all time greatest, Allan Kelly Belman, i saw him played when i was small, and dude he can play. He's by far one of the best Guatemalans play the game. But como muchos, el acohol los dano.
     
  3. ChaChaFut

    ChaChaFut Member

    Jun 30, 2005
    I was also very young when Allan Wellmann was around, but I remember he was a tough defender, and a staple of the NT. He is one of only two field players to be part of two Olympic squads for Guate along with Luis René Villavicencio (the only other two players were GK's Piccinini & 'Nixon' Garcia)
     
  4. ChaChaFut

    ChaChaFut Member

    Jun 30, 2005
    So, while searching the Internet for something else, I stumbled upon this: http://naslsoccer.blogspot.com/2010/09/ricardo-clark.html

    According to the blog, Ricardo Alexander Clark "El Negro" (#39 on the list), who is famous for having played in Huracán de Argentina, would have played for the Toronto Falcons of the defunct NASL, appearing in 7 matches and scoring one goal! first time I hear this, certainly not thanks to the Guatemalan media. If the information on this blog is accurate -- and why would someone make this up? --, it is indeed very interesting that we had a player in the NASL.

    I wanted to post this also in the appropriate NASL forum hoping someone can confirm it but I wouldn't even know where...:eek:
     
  5. edcalvi

    edcalvi Moderator
    Staff Member

    Olimpia
    Guatemala
    May 1, 2005
    US
    Interesting. Is he still alive?
     
  6. ChaChaFut

    ChaChaFut Member

    Jun 30, 2005
    Yes, as far as I know. Unfortunately, as with most legend of the past, official info is hard to come by. But you can read some bits about him online.
     
  7. Ishto

    Ishto Member

    Jul 21, 2010
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Guatemala
    Number 8 is my uncle! By Marriage lol

    Memin still plays on I think its Futeca... A league of old men, seven on seven on turf... When I saw him play a year ago, dude still had moves, good control and vision, I was disappointed to see him shaved, he had the best set of hair in the sele. He even scored a goal with dribbling the ball doing a 360 spin around the ball to fake the goalie... it was beautiful.

    And my dad played with El Gato when El Gato was 16 playing for a team in Monserrat II, Zona 19 Before Aurora got him. My dad tells me he was a beast, He had some pictures but IDK where are they.
     
  8. ChaChaFut

    ChaChaFut Member

    Jun 30, 2005
    Haha Memin must look so weird with no hair. But yeah he was awesome when pro so I'm not surprised he's still showin' em'.

    How about coaching? Is he still doing any?

    Gracias Ishto for the info. Try to find out the name of the team from Montserrat. Reps for life if you get us some pics.
     
  9. edcalvi

    edcalvi Moderator
    Staff Member

    Olimpia
    Guatemala
    May 1, 2005
    US
    Oh really Ishto? I remember when I went to see Guatemala vs. Club Morelia in LA. The game ended 1-0 and Funes scored the winning goal.
     
  10. Ishto

    Ishto Member

    Jul 21, 2010
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Guatemala

    Manchester
     
  11. ChaChaFut

    ChaChaFut Member

    Jun 30, 2005
    By the way, that team, that year, was coached by none other than the legendary Ladislao Kubala :eek:
     
  12. lguti9

    lguti9 Member

    Aug 5, 2008
    virginia
    Club:
    CSD Comunicaciones
    Nat'l Team:
    Guatemala
    Guillermo “La Pantera” Gamboa
    19.06.2008 | Por: David Rosales | Leido: 3032


    [​IMG]Guillermo Enríquez Gamboa dejó una huella imborrable cubriendo los tres palos de Comunicaciones y de la Selección Nacional , y gracias a su enorme destreza fue apodado La Pantera.
    De joven le fascinó el boxeo y la natación, pero el fútbol lo cautivó. A sus traviesos e inquietos nueve años se enroló con el equipo de la escuela Rafael Landívar, de Puerto Barrios como delantero. Luego llegaron otros conjuntos, como el Juventud Olímpica, Río Dulce y, desde la capital, recibió invitación para jugar con el Irca.
    Para burlar la vigilancia paterna se escabullía con sus implementos, y se iba a jugar a Livingston, Morales, Bananera, Gualán, y llegando hasta Zacapa. En una ocasión un amigo, de apellido Jáuregui, lo vió desenvolverse muy bien como delantero y como portero, y se lo trajo al Comunicaciones a una prueba de 15 días.
    Sus enormes cualidades le permitieron ganarse rápidamente un lugar en el cuadro albo, que lo impulsó a la liga mayor de forma rápida gracias a sus enormes cualidades.

    Sus logros
    La Pantera , ya como portero del conjunto crema, tuvo su mayor satisfacción a al haberse coronado como finalista centroamericano de la Concacaf, cuando disputó el título contra el Guadalajara de México.
    En 1959 debutó internacionalmente contra el Cúcuta, de Colombia. Recuerda, en sus memorias, que el delantero Etcheverri, del León de México, en 1961 le anotó un gran gol, desde unos 30 metros , y después del juego el mismo lo fue a felicitar.
    Entre sus compañeros porteros siempre le impresionó ver a Gabriel Urreola. No pudo estar en la selección preolímpica por haber sido catalogado como premundialista.
    Con el equipo nacional apenas jugó 13 partidos en las eliminatorias rumbo al Mundial de Chile, en 1962; en el X Centroamericano disputado en Costa Rica, en 1961; en la primera Copa de Naciones de El Salvador en 1963, y terminó su participación con el equipo en la tercera Copa de Naciones de 1967, donde se despidió con un triunfo chapín 2-1 contra Haití, el 6 de marzo de ese año.
    http://www.camerinocrema.com/portal/modules/wordpress/?p=15
     
  13. ChaChaFut

    ChaChaFut Member

    Jun 30, 2005
    As part of this whole project I've been researching Guatemala's international match data and putting together a statistical database of goals, line-ups, etc. I've been working on matches from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. For the period 1955-1980 I'm about 50% done logging match data (overall I'm at 11% of over 400 matches from 1935 to date), virtually all of what I've logged being competitive matches.

    The main sources I've used for collecting this data are FIFA, RSSSF, http://www.allworldcup.narod.ru/ , and the Google News Archive Search, where I've been able to find a good amount of information, particularly thanks to the chronicles and match reports published by La Nación of Costa Rica: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=BZGggv0hN9sC&dat=19731211 . Most of their coverage is extensive and unbiased. Very informative and a joy to read. It's been fun reading about the epic battles (football wise and literally) between Guatemala and Costa Rica, with the rivalry going as far back as the 1940s. I've been copying the direct links to match reports and commentary which I will reference when I post the match data (I plan to make a thread with all the data I can find on every international match played by Guatemala).

    This part of the research will be very important in rating and ranking individual players, and to compose their profiles. With regards to that, looking at the three decades mentioned, here are a few glaring omissions I made on my initial list. The following players made outstanding contributions to the national team back then:

    Anthony Ewing - D, M
    Ignacio Gonzalez Lam - GK
    Horacio Hasse Ovalle - D
    Tono Garcia - F, D
    Guayo de Leon - F
    Rolando Valdes - F
     
  14. lguti9

    lguti9 Member

    Aug 5, 2008
    virginia
    Club:
    CSD Comunicaciones
    Nat'l Team:
    Guatemala
    Great research bro, what a rivalry between Guate n Costa Rica since 1940's. Good stuff Cha :cool:
     
  15. ChaChaFut

    ChaChaFut Member

    Jun 30, 2005
    His Wikipedia article is now up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_Pérez

    [​IMG]

    It's a shame that there isn't much info to be found online about his club career, especially with regards to when he played for the different teams. I know he returned to Comunicaciones for part of the 1990s (I attended his "farewell match" at La Pedrera c. 1999 or 2000 -- i can't remember :( ), but not clear on the periods he played for the other two big clubs (Municipal & Aurora).
     
  16. edcalvi

    edcalvi Moderator
    Staff Member

    Olimpia
    Guatemala
    May 1, 2005
    US
    Awesome, good read.

    And does suck not to find any info. I think old sports journalists should start writing memoirs about the old timers.
     
  17. ChaChaFut

    ChaChaFut Member

    Jun 30, 2005
    Once national newspapwers start making pre-internet era issues available online, all the info will be there. They are behind in that department.
     
  18. ChaChaFut

    ChaChaFut Member

    Jun 30, 2005
    Selvin Pennant, prolific striker for Aurora and Aviación of Chile in the 1970s, now has his Wikipedia article as well:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selvin_Pennant

    [​IMG]

    You'd think Pezzarossi and Lopez Campollo are tearing it up in South America, but it will be a while before they can claim to be at the level of what this guy did back then.

    His only detriment might be his relative lack of titles (but he still won the league title with Aurora when tournaments were a lot longer than they are now). Nevertheless as a goal scorer his career was outstanding.
     
  19. ChaChaFut

    ChaChaFut Member

    Jun 30, 2005
    Oops, I stand corrected, I completely forgot about the 1976 Copa Fraternidad won by Aurora. Wiki updated.
     
  20. edcalvi

    edcalvi Moderator
    Staff Member

    Olimpia
    Guatemala
    May 1, 2005
    US
    Oh awesome!! Thanks for that much needed profile. Ahora sólo falta Ricardo Clark.
     
  21. ChaChaFut

    ChaChaFut Member

    Jun 30, 2005
    Haha, yeah, another legendary one. You mean the only one left among those who played abroad? There are a few left, including another huge omission on my part :)eek:): the legendary Gabriel Urriola, arguably the greatest goalkeeper of all, who also played in Chile for Magallanes and who got enormous praise from the press of the time, particularly after his performances at the 1953 CCCF championship.

    Working on Pepino Toledo now. At the same time working on gathering NT match data from his era, i.e. 1935-1950 (quite difficult task -- if anyone knows anything about the 1946 and 1950 Central American & Caribbean Games, please share... I only have the line-up against Colombia on 2 Feb 1950 [First ever match played at the Mateo Flores -- then called Estadio Olimpico]). 16% of all-time NT lineups logged now. BTW if anyone is interested in helping with this (primarily with more recent matches), please PM me.
     
  22. edcalvi

    edcalvi Moderator
    Staff Member

    Olimpia
    Guatemala
    May 1, 2005
    US
    Wow I didn't know we had so much history in Chile.
     
  23. ChaChaFut

    ChaChaFut Member

    Jun 30, 2005
    Another long overdue Wikipedia article: "Pepino" Toledo, the first great striker from Guatemala:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Humberto_Toledo
    [​IMG]

    Every source out there says he scored 129 official goals for Municipal, but it is not clear as to how many of those are league goals. I'm guessing 110-120. I also guesstimate that at most he played between 120 and 140 official matches so his goalscoring ratio is pretty good even for his era.
     
  24. ChaChaFut

    ChaChaFut Member

    Jun 30, 2005
  25. edcalvi

    edcalvi Moderator
    Staff Member

    Olimpia
    Guatemala
    May 1, 2005
    US
    Interesting read

    Porq ya no siguió como D.T?
     

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