I was having a debate with with some Spanish dude about him I saying that Alfredo was Arg as he was born in Arg and also won the copa America in 47 with Arg. The dude told me that Di played with Spain for longer and in more matches and he still lives in Spain. I DONT know why I said this but I also mentioned that Di Stefano also represented Arg in the early Pro Evo soccer games on PS2 and was in the classic Arg team. The dude then said then why was he taken out of the Arg team ?. I said cause we were too strong with him.
Yup,, flor de pelotudo... Actually i'd say he's Martian , cuz no one on earth has done what he's done...
Di Stéfano - as an all-round genius - is the ONY legend in the world ever who can possibly compete with Pelé. More than Zizinho, Puskas, Charlton, Beckenbauer, Crujff, Zico & Maradona - (although those are the men). In the midfield Di Stéfano can only be challenged by one player - Didi. Di Stéfano incarnates Argentinian football more than any other player. Live or dead.
I'd say he is Argentino. A similar debate can be said about Carlos Gardel. The Uruguayan's claim he is theirs but we ALL know he belongs to Argentina.
Gardel was french but he is an argentine icon. Same with Carmen Miranda she wasn't brazilian. DiStefano is argentine. He is very cool and pleasant man.
Let's put some things straight here. (And that's no populist discourse). It's not because some Spanish & Portuguese bastards came in the XVIth century to Southamerica & plundered all the gold, silver & precious stones of the continent that the gold, silver & precious stones became European. The more they are embedded in the Spanish, Portuguese, English, Swedish or Liechenstein's crowns they belong to the Southamerican soil as much as before. Di Stéfano, Altafini, Orsi, Sívori, Dino Sani, Júlio Botelho, Maradona, Kaká, Messi etc etc - ALL of them - just by chance & mere colonialist imposition have a few European names & traits. But their intrinsic nature as football players is totally Southamerican: that's where they derived their know-how & ability from - the slums, the beaches, the streets of the New World. And that's why they are new & their 'rich' contractors are old. When Di Stéfano seats in the garden of his house in Madrid in front of the statue of a ball and nostalgically says 'Gracias, Vieja' he couldn't be more gaucho. It's the reincarnation of Martín Fierro. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mart%C3%ADn_Fierro
Sometimes and only very rarely I must say bravo to you sir and right on, kudos for this excellent post.
Thanks, Matias. I just can't stand the airs of superiority of some Euros towards Southamerican football. Without which they'd be practically nothing. Quero ver gozar com o deles.
That may be but the name Di Stefano is Italian and he is of Italian descent and was probably raised in the Italian way of life just like I was even though I am 3rd generation Italian American. From his wikipedia bio: Born to a family of Italian immigrants from Nicolosi, in province of Catania
And - according to ArtemioD - if I were a pro football player in Brazil I should also play for the Ukranian NT (since my grandparents came from Kiev) & sing the 'Volga Boatmen' and 'Otchitchornia' every night before going to bed .
Yet in this very post you yourself have no qualms of showing "airs of SA superiority" regarding Europe with that ridiculous "Europe would be practically nothing without South American football" comment. This shows a level of ignorance regarding the wealth of European football talent not worthy of a poster of your knowledge.
OK, Gregoriak, It was an outburst (to a certain point justified, let's convene). It just reveals that if anybody has the right to be arrogant here is the SA's. (Although I concede that being arrogant is obnoxious). The view of Orsi, Di Stéfano, Sívori, Julinho, Altafini, Donato, Deco, Pepe, Liédson, Rink, Kuranyi, Camoranesi, Eduardo da Silva, Messi etc etc as genuine products of European football however sounds sometimes as an evident slap in our face. The contribution of these players & so many others (many not even so famous like those but equally important) – 99% of them fundamentally raised in SA football – was as essential for the development of European football in its pro era as European football was fundamental to the development of SA one in the amateur era. Nowadays (from 1958 on) SA football contributed tactically and individually a lot more to Euro one than the other way around. So if we sometimes have a reaction a little bit exaggerated don’t blame us so much – you Euros have some guilt in all that.
I often get to wondering, do you actually believe any of this? You believe that the contribution of S Americans to European football, was as great as the European influence on your football? We gave you the game in the first place. You don't think that puts any possible contribution you have made in the shade. If you seek to exagerrate your importance so much it is no wonder that Europeans can be dismissive. S America has an incredible history within the game, but to do down Europe only further exposes your clear agenda.
[FONT="]First of all you didn't [FONT="]give[/FONT] us the game (at least as we Brazilians are concerned).[/FONT] You're ill-informed: you gave us the...rules. Sure the 1st tactics were still imported from England & Scotland but the very different conditions we had in Brazil to practice the sport dictated different & original ones which would crystallize themselves in the 50’s (and that’s what certainly happened in the rest of SA’s countries with their own particularities). From the 50’s on we started giving the cards. This doesn’t mean ‘to do down Europe’ but putting Europe & SA in parity in world football. [FONT="]Something you simply don’t admit. [/FONT]
So a man called Charles William Miller, born to a British father, who learn the game in England, gave you the game and you think that means it didn't come from England? But your idea of restoring parity is almost exclusively to put down European football. Now that is arrogance.
Born & lived in Brazil - let's be more precise. He just spent 10 years of his adolescence in England. As I said, England gave us the rules (& the 1st rudimentary tactics of course). We (and others, of course) developed them. It's you who say that. If you feel that establishing (more than 'restoring') parity with our predecessors is downgrading to you - so you're right, I'm being arrogant.
I thought this thread was about whether or not Di Stefano is considered Argentine or Spanish not about Europe vs. South America? Let's keep it on topic please