PIENDIBENE, THE NAME THAT ALWAYS OCCUPIES THE FIRST PLACE IN THE HEARTS OF THE URUGUAIAN FANS.
— Olimpicus | 07/02/1956 —

On Calle Sierra there is a house called Golazo with three functions: Lottery, barbershop and bar. The lottery is owned by the old idol José Piendibene, a man already 64 years old. When this name is mentioned in Uruguay, when it comes to sport, hats of respect, pride and admiration are taken off. All countries have their sporting idols, but one is the one that remains most forever in history and nostalgia, this one does not fade in everyone's memory. Uruguay, a country of Olympic and world champions, famous names in the history of universal football, had and still has idols by the handful, but the greatest of all is Piendibene, El Maestro. And you know something? Piendi was never an Olympic or world champion, and he played little abroad, he was only South American champion two or three times, he never played in Brazil, he only played a lot in Argentina and a few times in Chile. This is the great contrast of Piendi's eternal celebrity. For several reasons, including the split at 24, he was not included in the Celeste, at 28, he was already a veteran and his lineup, without playing, was more symbolic; in 30; he had already retired, while Romano, at the same age, still took part. He was never in Brazil, by chance. He was supposed to come in 19 and 22, but he stayed. Despite this, Piendi occupies the number 1 position in the hearts of Uruguayans. The greatest of the greatest.

FRIED AND PIENDI.

By interesting coincidence, Piendibene has a lot in common with our greatest idol, Friedenreich, right down to his age. Both centre-forwards, both surpassed everything that the science and art of football demands. Both began their famous career in 1909. Only our El Tigre retired 6 years later. El Maestro hung up his boots in 1929. The Uruguayan hincha who saw him play can admit everything about his past and present stars, except that Piendibene was surpassed by another national or foreigner. But, as we said, Peñarol's famous centre-forward, abroad, did not achieve fame, he was never known as Andrade, Scarone, Petrone, Gradín, Varella, Obdulio, etc. were.

THE LAST GOAL "EL GOLAZO".

Piendi scored hundreds or thousands of goals in his 20 years as a star, but the one he most remembers is the one he scored in Zamora. Perhaps it is because it is the last in important games of his career. The Spanish club that visited Prata was coming off an excellent campaign. The match of honor of the season was played against Peñarol. Difficult match, Zamora saved everything. Here comes El Maestro's brilliant move, he dodges the defense, El Divino comes out to defend, but Piendi puts the ball where Zamora could no longer reach it!

The stadium comes down. To this day, this goal is still talked about, a goal in an inter-club friendly match, but it is the most remembered, fondly in a land whose history highlights golden goals, which won South American, Olympic and world titles! No, it is precisely the most missed goal, most praised by Uruguayans, that of Piendi, against Zamora!

DON JOSÉ PIENDIBENE.

We have been admirers of Piendibene since we heard about him, in 1916, when for the first and only time the Brazil and Uruguay teams played with Fried and Piendibene as a centre-forward. Fate did not allow them to meet again in the same match, due to various circumstances. In 1925, in South America, El Tigre was considered the best centre-forward in the championship by Argentine critics. If Uruguay had participated, Piendi would certainly have been on the field. El Maestro ended his career without having come to play in Brazil, which is why we don't know him. In the company of Julian Bertola we went on Saturday, the day of the quinielas game to see Piendi. Now he is Don José. A modest creature, he protested, even scandalized, when Bertola said he had been the greatest of the greatest. In quick words he recalled Fried, something from his fabulous life as a star. But why bother him with his past if we know it all? We went to El Golazo (the name of the house reminds us of the attempt made to Zamora), we just greeted him, met him personally, today he is 64 years old, we already knew that Piendi in the 1916 photos was no longer that one, we knew we would only meet an elderly man.

However, it was important for us to satisfy our curiosity and exchange a few words with him.

— We also bring you greetings from Frideric (as El Tigre was called here"), do you remember? 

Piendibene: Oh, yes, I remember Frideric, what a great player.

Piendi, who is also the administrator of the Peñarol stadium, was busy with the quinielas. Bertola did his little thing and we left the lottery house on Calle Sierra, with its busy hours of customers buying tickets and risking their guesses.