Argentina Soccer Idol | Argentina Football Legend

Mario Kempes - Argentina Soccer Idol

Filed Under Classic Argentina Soccer Players, National Team |

Mario Kempes was born on the 15^th of July, 1954 in Cordoba, Argentina. Inspired at a young age by his dad (also called Mario) who was a footballer. He started playing for a junior team at 7 and by the time he was 14 he was playing for La Cuerta de Talleres.

His professional career started at local club Instituto Atletico Central Cordoba scoring 11 goals in 13 games. This good form earned him a move to Rosario Central where he scored 86 goals in only 107 matches and built up a reputation as a notorious goalscorer. His enthusiasm and motivation to score aided by a bizarre attacking style made him difficult to defend against. Known for his surging runs and shots from outside the area he was not your typical penalty box centre forward.

Unsurprisingly this goalscoring record brought scouts from all over the world and Kempes was soon snapped up by Valencia in the summer of 1976. He quickly received a nickname from the fans “El Matador” meaning the Bullfighter. In his first two seasons he won the Pichichi scoring 24 & 28 goals in 1976/77 & 1977/78.

“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”. Was Cesar Menotti’s (the coach of Argentina’s national team) assessment of Kempes when the squad was announced for the 1978 world cup finals in Argentina. As Kempes was playing for Valencia in Spain he was the only foreign based player in the squad. Maybe hard to imagine nowadays but at the time what he was doing was very rare. He had been away in Spain for two seasons and felt determined to prove the home fans that he was capable of scoring against the best in the world. Argentina went on to win the World Cup and Kempes was the leading scorer with 6 goals, grabbing 2 of those in their 3-1 final win. After these heroics he was named South American Football Player of the Year 1978 and in 2004 was named as one of the top 125 players of all time by Pele.

He remained at Valencia until 1981 and after 95 goals in 143 games he moved back to Argentina and played for River Plate. After a productive season with “Los Millonarios” scoring 15 in 29 games he returned to Valencia playing two more seasons scoring 21 in 42 games. In 1984 he left Valencia for the last time and played for a handful of clubs around the world like Hercules, Vienna FC, VSE Sankt Polten, Kremser SC, Fernandez Vial and eventually hanging up his boots at the age of 43 playing for Indonesian champions Pelita Jaya. This Argentina Soccer hero scored 291 goals in 538 games over a 26 year career. Also scoring 20 in 43 games for the Argentina national team.

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