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from the enormous paternity of San Lorenzo to the incredible record of Huracán

San Lorenzo was promoted to the First Division one year after Huracán, in 1914. In the first duel that would eventually become The World’s Largest Neighborhood Classic, the Boedo team began with what many of them interpret as a custom. In that opening event: San Lorenzo prevailed 3-1. The historic Negro José Laguna (player, coach and president of Huracán at various stages) converted for the Newbery Globe after 31 minutes. First cry in the history of this party towards its 110th anniversary. In the second half, San Lorenzo turned it around: with two from primer Perazzo (his name was Mariano; the one who would arrive in the 80s is called Walter) and one from Xarau.

There’s some logic to that. then triumphalist of the fans of San Lorenzo: has 39 games ahead since that 3-1 on October 24, 1915on the Ferro court (since the crows they did not have their stadium on Avenida La Plata) until 1-0 last year at the Nuevo Gasómetro.

Another detail that counts supremacy: since the inauguration of the Nuevo Gasómetro, in December 1993, Huracán could hardly get a win: 1-0 in 2001 against Manuel Pellegrini’s team that was preparing for the Mercosur Cup final against Flamengo at the Maracana.

Since its founding times, the classic between San Lorenzo and Huracán was a party of unrepeatable characters, of shared cracks, with tango as inevitable background music. It was (and is) the most Buenos Aires of all possible parties, a kind of separate championship between those two neighborhoods that divided the south of a Buenos Aires that was showing growth.

This Sunday, under the sky of Parque de los Patricios, the usual will be put into play: that big duel, with the aroma of the neighborhood.

those distant days

Neighbors were born, back in 1908. Brave neighborhoods, of workers, of rising cobblestones, of modest constructions, of stores that still trusted, of bars that sheltered disappointments. They grew up as such, very close, with intertwined stories, with the charm of rivalry without enemies. Avenida La Plata was the territory of emblematic stadiums of both. The distance did not exceed a handful of blocks, the borders were crossed walking without fear and without contempt.

Parenthood was like that from the start. Even in Huracán’s Golden Decade -his glorious 20s, in which he won four Leagues and three National Cups- he could not overcome his usual neighbors. In the Amateur Era there were five wins for the Catalans and two draws.

The debut of the professional era (driven above all by Pablo Bartolucci and Hugo Settis, who wanted footballers to be recognized as professionals and paid accordingly) San Lorenzo won the first match 3-0. Huracán’s first victory would come in 1932, 2-0, at home, already in Alcorta and Luna.

The paradox of the 40s

In the 40’s there is a paradox. San Lorenzo takes another five games aheadhe won the 1946 League (later he would go on an unforgettable tour of Europe; and a certain Jorge Bergoglio, today Pope Francisco became a fan of the Boedo team) and the Republic Cup.

However, Huracán achieves its biggest win against San Lorenzo, 5-1 in Parque de los Patricios and obtained three National Cups (in 1942 and 1943 the Adrián Escobar; and in 1944, the British Competition, a trophy delivered by the British ambassador in Buenos Aires on behalf of King George VI -the one in the film “The king’s speech”– and the FA. A detail: this last Olympic round until 1973, the burners They gave it at the Gasómetro on Avenida La Plata, after beating Boca 4-2.

The consolidation of leadership

In the following two decades they were a walk for those who were already installed in their emblematic Boedo stadium, Buenos Aires Wembley, as they told him. There were 13 wins against 4 and with several wins included (4-1 and 6-3 in 1959; 5-2 in 1961; 3-0 in 1964, 4-1 in 1966).

It was the great moment of San Lorenzo in the classic. He is also enshrined in two league championships: in 1959 and in the Metropolitan in 1968.



San Lorenzo from 1968, Los Matadores. A team without forgetting.

The golden days of the 70’s

San Lorenzo was twice champion in 1972 (he obtained the Metropolitan and the National). The following year came the wonders of the Dream Team led by Menotti and the Huracán title (the fifth in the League, the first in professionalism). In 1974, he returned to celebrate San Lorenzo.

As for the matches between the two, it was very even: 11 wins for each. With particularities: Huracán thrashed San Lorenzo, two-time champion of 1972, 3-0; and Those from Parque de los Patricios could not defeat San Lorenzo in 73.

But perhaps the most astonishing story of this duel that the walls of the southern neighborhoods tell on their murals took place in 1976. Come and see:

The incredible “Penta” hurricane

Neither before nor after nor ever nor anyone. Never in the history of any other Argentine soccer classic did what Huracán achieved against San Lorenzo in 1976 happen: it prevailed in the five games played in the season, between the two tournaments that took place. That team that was formed with the spirit of the 1973 champion and with some of its members and that was –after all– a winner without a crown, had that historic luxury that included three victories in the Metropolitan (two for the qualifying series and one for the final round) and two in the National.

Brindisi and Houseman, two stars from those days and from the history of Argentine soccer.


Brindisi and Houseman, two stars from those days and from the history of Argentine soccer.

First of this Hurricane Penta was played on March 1, in Parque de los Patricios, and it was 3-1. Omar Larrosa, Osvaldo Ardiles and Néstor Candedo scored the goals.

The secondin Boedo, was played two months later: on May 2, the result was repeated, this time with goals from Augusto Sánchez, Larrosa and Houseman.

The third, in La Boca, the victory was 4-2, with a remarkable collective demonstration. Houseman, two from Brindisi (one from a penalty) and Leone allowed another memorable joy, that July 14. That day, Huracán formed with: Baley (Jurkevicius); Cheves, Longo, Fanesi, Carrascosa; Brindisi, Ardiles, Leone, Larrosa; Houseman and Sanchez.

In that championship another unique event occurred in the history of professionalism: the runner-up scored more points than the champion. Huracán obtained nine points more than Boca de Lorenzo, who prevailed on a flooded, muddy, unplayable ground on the River field in the decisive match of the final round.

Already in the Nacional, Huracán –semifinalist of this contest– continued his immense streak. In the Gasómetro and in the Ducó it was imposed by the same result: 2-1.

Fourth: 10/24, with goals from Houseman and Leone.

The fifth: on 12/14, with goals from Cabrera and Cano).

A unique case in the great Argentine soccer classics and an almost universal brand. In the Miravé audience that now bears the name of Houseman, the most veterans who were lucky enough to live those days, usually remember details of those games. Even some that seem implausible.

The 80s and 90s: setbacks, declines and resurrections

In 1982, San Lorenzo was the first big and went to the Metropolitan B. That pain would soon touch Huracán, who in 1986 went to Nacional. A detail unites them both in these circumstances: the cursed penalties. In the case of San Lorenzo, the one that Alles stopped Delgado; In the case of Huracán, the definition in that way against Italian who had the goalkeeper Lanari as a great figure. But even more complex days came for the Globe: it fell three more times (in 1999, in 2003 and in 2011)..

José Marmol y Salcedo, the murals that tell of San Lorenzo and his desire to return to his stadium in Boedo.


José Marmol y Salcedo, the murals that tell of San Lorenzo and his desire to return to his stadium in Boedo.

In the classics, San Lorenzo between the two decades won 11 games and lost 7. four difference. But with a detail that seems to widen that advantage: the wins (3-0 and 5-0 in 1995; and 5-1 in 1997). Also in those not so happy times, the crows They were champions in 1995, after 21 years without conquests.

21st century: ups and downs, titles and decisive appointments

In this century, San Lorenzo won three League titles and a National Cup (the Argentine Super Cup in 2015, its last consecration, played in 2016) and fueled its international record: a Mercosur in 2001, a South American in 2002 (with their current coach, Rubén Insúa, in charge of the squad).

Hurricane also had its glorious spasm: went from last in Nacional to promotion (in a playoff against Atlético Tucumán) and win the Argentine Cup 2014. It was a unique case: he won an absolute title from the second category. The next year: won the Argentine Super Cup by beating River de Gallardo 1-0. That same year he was a finalist for the first time in a Conmebol competition, the South American that he lost on penalties to Independiente Santa Fe, in Bogotá.

Among them, in these 22 years, there were 10 victories for San Lorenzo and 8 for Huracán. The 4-0 double in the 2002/03 season remained a stigma for those closest to us. Above happened in a descent campaign for the Newbery Globe. But there were also other classics with influence in the definition of the tournaments: that of harming the rival by playing for almost nothing in the table.

There are included: the 1-1 of 2007 that prevented the departure of San Lorenzo de Ramón Díaz towards the two-time championship; the 1-0 of 2015 for Huracán to cut the chances of the hitherto pointer San Lorenzo; and the last duel won by Los Cuervos 1-0 against a Huracán that was looming to the title.

The essence of the classic in its purest form

It was written by Fabián Casas -poet, narrator, journalist and visceral Barça player- in an endearing exchange of letters with Viggo Mortensen, through the official site of San Lorenzo, a few years ago: “I confess something to you: when I saw how Huracán was going to B because of the succulent win that Independiente was applying to him, when I saw the scenes in which the Turk Mohamed grabbed his head on the bench, my eyes filled up of tears. I have great respect for the adversary. I wanted Cappa’s Hurricane to be champion and never, under any point of view, for the Globe to descend to B. For what? It seems to me that in our country there is no positive worship of the Adversary, something that even the Catholic Church has with the devil. Without the Adversary we are nothing. Adversity itself is what empowers us”.

Viggo -the same Hollywood star, the Aragorn of The Lord of the ringswhat forever adopted the streets of Boedo as his place in the world– also offered courtesies in the answer: “I think that the Huracán team that Cappa led in 2009 was the Argentine that most resembled Guardiola’s Barcelona in recent years. They played beautiful football and should have been the Clausura Tournament champion that year. Vélez was favored in the decisive match against Huracán for infamous refereeing. The Vélez players are not to blame for that, of course, but the best team did not win the match and the tournament that day. That’s the way things are sometimes in life. Excellence doesn’t always win creative. As Heidegger wrote, ‘The task remains to see the enigma’. It may sound strange that, as Cuervos, we talk so much and in such positive terms about Huracán. As you say, you have to respect your opponent. When he plays well, he deserves to be recognized “.

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