SASTRE REMINDS US OF ALL THE GREAT FOOTBALL STARS IN THE WORLD
— Ferraz Netto | 10/06/1943 —

Painting, sculpture, music, theater and cinema require a lot of skill from those who carry them out and this skill only the gods of the arts can give to a privileged few. Those privileged are the artists who do that with the necessary perfection and who hardly find anyone who can do the same. It's the art. And art is a sixth sense that very few men are endowed with. Will sports also have their artists? Is sport an art? Undoubtedly. It is not easy, for example, for any human being to become an expert in playing basketball or swimming with the necessary perfection. It is also not easy to practice athletics or boxing. It's not easy to do all this. Every sport requires capable people to practice it well and for such another word is not better suited to classify it than also to call it artists.

Football, like any other sport, or like any art, thus has its artists. Handling a ball on a lawn is not, as many people think, an easy task. It is necessary for this that its practitioner exercises since he was a boy, that he devotes to it the love that every art demands, that he strives to succeed in the career he intends to undertake.

Playing football is not easy, on the contrary it is very difficult. Anyone who has never stepped on a lawn to deal with a "N. 5", thinks that sending the ball to the nets is a simple thing. To find the way to the goal, which is the key to football victories, it is necessary to be expert in controlling the sphere. It is necessary to meet a number of requirements such as resistance, mobility, presence of mind, calmness, etc. Football has its "pros" and "cons" and it becomes, as we said, an authentic art.

The class of footballers varies like any other specialty. So there are good and bad players. There are the mediocre ones, the good ones, who already play football with better perfection. Next come the excellent ones, those with almost no flaws, who play with mastery, the true stars as they are called in the sports world, for their unusual virtues for the sport. On the world stage of football, I have become acquainted with aces who achieve a "star" as great as any other artist.

In Austria, for example, there was a name like Sindelar, undoubtedly an idol of his country and a symbol of footballing perfection. England showed us an Alec James that cost Arsenal, in London, no less than one million, two hundred thousand cruzeiros, in our currency. They had a Bastin and Drake, owner of a powerful shot. Spain had its footballing idol in Zamora, the greatest goalkeeper in the world, a player of exceptional qualities. Portugal also has its players of international fame like Pinga, Espirito Santo and Peyroteo, all authentic aces. Italy showed us, in the World Championship, Piola a great centre-forward, and Meazza and Ferrari two excellent insiders. France also had its great players. Hungary has the famous Dr. Sárosi.

In South America, where football has found an environment that is most conducive to its practice, big names have been. In our country we had notable players like Friedenreich, Néco, Rubens Sales, Formiga, Arnaldo, Fausto, Moderato, Nilo, Lagarto and others. Currently we have Domingos, the best defender on the continent, Leônidas, Brandão, Tim, Jurandir, Luizinho, Dino, Vevé and many others. And many others that it would be unnecessary to list here. Chile also has its names and we can highlight the great centre-forward Toro as one of its idols. Toro is very well known and an irreplaceable figure in the representative eleven of his homeland. Peru recently gave Argentina a gift of a player of unusual qualities, which is Honorés, a great goalkeeper. Honorés has a firm reputation in the international sports scene thanks to his qualities. In Uruguay we had Scarone, Cea, Andrade, Romano and many others. Argentina had the six Brown brothers, who formed the Alumny's very powerful staff, authentic aces, being English they were the pioneers of football in the brother country. They had Bidoglio as a great defender and considered one of the most perfect players in the world, in his position. More recently they had Orsi, Minella, Barnabé Ferreyra, as great players. Currently Argentina has produced names like Moreno, Pedernera, "chueco" García, Lazzati, Bello, Masantonio and Sastre. The latter is regarded as a major player across the continent. We are sure that anyone in South America who is connected to football does not at least know Antonio Sastre by name.

He is a man who was born to be a footballer. He has a sense of play that hardly anyone else will be able to surpass him. In his country, he was always considered an irreplaceable figure in the team he was part of, whether in the Argentine national team itself or in the Independiente team, where he played. He was always the main figure of the "eleven"; he played admirably and so his place was always assured. He also has the advantage of being a complete player, as he plays in any position that is necessary. It is said that on one occasion, the injured goalkeeper of his team, Independiente, Sastre changed his shirt and went to the goal, not allowing the score of the match against his team to be increased. Sastre is therefore a remarkable player and deserves the best applause that the public always reserves for him. He was at Independiente for a long time, and it was at this club that he became as famous as he is.

Today he is no longer in his home country. Brazil started to count on him coming to our country, hired by São Paulo F.C., whose team already includes famous "azes" such as Leônidas, Luizinho, Noronha, Florindo, Waldermar and others.

In São Paulo, Sastre starts a new life. There are those who say that he is no longer the one we saw during the "Copa Roca" of 1939 and 40, and not even the Sastre who showed off alongside Erico in the Independiente team.

His performance here, lately, against Fluminense, however, enables us to say that he is still a great player.

However, we feel that Sastre lacks only atmosphere and that he will soon find. When Waldemar de Brito returns to activity completely restored, the tricolor bandeirante will undoubtedly have the most perfect forward line in Brazil and perhaps the continent. With Luizinho on the right wing, Waldemar on the inside right, Leonidas in the centre, Sastre at his side on the inside left and Pardal on the left wing, it's hard to find such a perfect forward line, as they are all authentic superstars. Then Sastre will find the right way to continue in Brazil the trajectory of glory started in Argentina.

Of that we have not the slightest doubt. So let's hope.