Many South American
goalkeepers have earned the nickname ‘El Loco’, as in madman, but Peruvian
goalie, Ramon Quiroga, certainly worked hard to make it his own. The 1978 tournament in Argentina was into its
Second Phase, another round of group matches.
Peru and Poland met in Mendoza having both lost their opening games in
Group B. Szarmach had put the Poles in
front midway through the second half Peru continued to push forward. As the game reached the final five minutes
Poland played the ball forward into the Peru half down the left hand side, when
suddenly Quiroga appeared from out of shot to tackle Deyna about 30 yards from
goal. He then calmly brought the ball
forward before playing it down the right wing.
In an era when keepers rarely ventured from their areas, this brought
delight from the crowd.
For English viewers,
commentator Gerry Harrison and his summariser, Ian St. John, had alerted the
audience to the keeper’s antics but the television director had yet to pick up
on it. Then with just a couple of
minutes to go and Poland camped in their own half, Gorgon desperately cleared
the ball from his own area to find Lato free on the right about 10 yards in his
own half. Suddenly there was Quiroga in
the opposition half to try and tackle the Polish striker. Lato knocked the ball round the keeper who
then rugby-tackled him. To great howls
of delight from St. John, English referee Pat Partridge had no option but to
book Quiroga, who duly clasped his hands behind his back bowing in
contrition. Argentinian born, Quiroga
had certainly endeared himself to the crowd.
He wasn’t just a clown,
he had pulled off some fine saves during the tournament although it ended in
controversy as Argentina, needing to win by 4 clear goals in their final Group
match to reach the Final, beat Peru 6-0.
But for El Loco he had won a place in many people’s hearts for his
antics.
Go to 1:33:58, this is where the fun starts
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