Luis Monti

Luis Felipe Monti (15 May 1901 – 9 September 1983) was an Italian Argentine footballer who played as a midfielder and an Olympian. Monti has the distinction of having played in two FIFA World Cup final matches with two different national teams. He played the first of these finals with his native Argentina in 1930, which was lost to Uruguay; and the second with Italy as one of their Oriundi in 1934, thanks to his Romagnol descent.[1] This second time Monti was on the winning side in a 2–1 victory over Czechoslovakia.

Luis Monti
Monti covered on El Gráfico, 1934.
Personal information
Full name Luis Felipe Monti
Date of birth (1901-05-15)15 May 1901
Place of birth Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date of death 9 September 1983(1983-09-09) (aged 82)
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1921 Huracán 4 (0)
1922 Boca Juniors 0 (0)
1922–1930 San Lorenzo 215 (48)
1930–1939 Juventus 263 (23)
Total 482 (71)
National team
1924–1931 Argentina 16 (5)
1932–1936 Italy 18 (1)
Teams managed
1939–1940 Triestina
1942 Juventus
1942–1943 Varese
1944 Varese
1945–1947 Atalanta
1947 Vigevano
1947–1948 Huracán
1949–1950 Pisa
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Monti was a rugged, physical, and ruthless player, but had the technical skills to go with his stamina and strong tackling. He played as an attacking centre half in the old-fashioned Metodo system: a position roughly equivalent to the defensive central midfield position of today. As such he would mark the opposing centre forward when his team were defending, but would be the main midfield playmaker when his team were on the attack, due to his passing and creativity, which enabled him to start attacking plays after winning back the ball.[1][2][3] He was nicknamed doble ancho (double wide) due to his coverage of the pitch. Monti is considered as one of the best center-halves of his generation. [4]

Career

Argentina
Monti in 1925 while playing at San Lorenzo.

Monti started his career in 1921 with Huracán, where he won the first of his many championships. The following year he signed with Boca Juniors but left without playing a game. He joined San Lorenzo where he won a further three Argentine championships. All of Monti's honours in Argentina were recorded during the Amateur Era.

Monti was first called up to represent the Argentine national team in 1924. He won the 1927 South American Championship and the silver medal at the 1928 Summer Olympics.[5] With Monti as a key player, Argentina cruised to the World Cup final in 1930, defeating France, Mexico, Chile, and the United States. Monti scored two goals along the way, and injured opponents with his tackling. Some sources speculate that Monti was carrying an injury, but whatever the truth, and despite a death threat,[6] he had a quiet game as Uruguay triumphed 4–2.

Italy

In 1931 Monti was signed by the Italian club Juventus, as he had Italian citizenship. As he was overweight and out of condition, he had a month's solitary training. Monti was back to top form helping Juventus to four consecutive Serie A titles (1932 to 1935), also serving as the club's captain. Monti went on to play 263 matches and score 23 goals in Italy.

He was also called up, within a year, to play for the Italian national team as an oriundo. Hosts Italy won their way to the 1934 World Cup final and defeated Czechoslovakia 2–1.[3]

The Battle of Highbury

The Battle of Highbury is a match that took place between Italy and England on 14 November 1934 at Highbury, the home ground of Arsenal. Monti was playing centre half for Italy, but as early as the second minute he broke a bone in his foot after a clash with England centre forward Ted Drake. Down to 10 men, in the days before substitutes, Italy succumbed 2–3.[7] Monti was only to play twice more for Italy.

In total Monti won 16 caps (5 goals) for Argentina between 1924 and 1931, and 18 caps (1 goal) for Italy between 1932 and 1936.

After football

Monti became manager after retiring. He died in 1983 aged 82.

International goals

Argentina's goal tally first

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.31 August 1924Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay Uruguay3–03–2Friendly
2.13 June 1928Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam, Netherlands Uruguay1–11–21928 Summer Olympics
3.15 July 1930Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay France1–01–01930 FIFA World Cup
4.26 July 1930Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay United States1–06–11930 FIFA World Cup
5.4 July 1931Estadio Sportivo Barracas, Buenos Aires, Argentina Paraguay1–11–1Copa Rosa Cheva

Italia's goal tally first

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.3 December 1933Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence, Italy  Switzerland5–25–21933–35 Central European International Cup

Honours

Player

Club

Huracán
San Lorenzo
Juventus

International
Argentina national team
Italy national team

Individual

Manager

Club

Juventus

References
  1. "Azzurro oriundo, ma serve in un Mondiale?". gqitalia.it. GQ Italia. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  2. Blair Newman (24 April 2015). "The relationship between a player's age and their position on a football pitch". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  3. Molinaro, John F. (24 November 2009). "1934 World Cup: Italy wins for Il Duce". CBC Sports. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  4. Luis Monti Planet World Cup
  5. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Luis Monti". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18.
  6. Death threat Archived 2008-01-04 at the Wayback Machine, 1930 World Cup Final: World-Cup-Bets.com website. Retrieved on March 6, 2008.
  7. "From the Vault: England and Italy do battle at Highbury in 1934". The Guardian. London. 12 November 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  8. "FIFA World Cup Awards: All-Star Team". Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Virginio Rosetta		 Juventus F.C. captains
1935–1938		 Succeeded by
Mario Varglien Iº
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