WHO WERE THE BEST HALF-BACKS OF THE OLYMPIC TOURNAMENT?
— Gabriel Hanot | 27/06/1928 —

In the goal of the ideal Olympic team: the Uruguayan Mazali; as full-backs, two more Uruguayans: Nasazzi and Arispe, the second playing only a complementary role.

If we continue in this vein, might as well take the Uruguay eleven as the ideal Olympic team? No; in the half-back line and especially in the forward line, the champions of the IX. Olympiad no longer imposes itself irresistibly.

Andrade saved, in Amsterdam, especially against Argentina, almost desperate situations. At the moment when the shooter had a clear field in front of him and he took his kick, a chest blocked the passage of the ball. It was Andrade's. But on the field itself and in the attacking game, the most popular footballer of the Paris Games no longer had Olympic class. His colored teammate, Píriz, was clearly superior to him both on the wing and in the center; likewise, the left half-back Gestido, who is said to be going to play in Paris, and more precisely at Red Star, during an internship as an artillery officer at the Fontainebleau Application School.

Argentinian wing half-backs Evaristo and Médici should be put on the same level as their Uruguayan rivals. But the European half-backs Tamanqueiro (Portugal), Boesman (Belgium), Pitto and Janni (Italy) are not inferior to them. Janni is even better than all of them, he is faster, sharper, more athletic, more durable. It ultimately seems to me that the two wing half-back positions should go to Janni and Pitto, who possesses, to a lesser degree, the wonderful qualities of his compatriot.

The centre-half? No name stands out strongly. We admired the flashes of genius of the Egyptian Fahmi el Hassani, the firm initiatives of the Portuguese Augusto da Silva; but these two representatives of the old world cannot bear comparison with the Argentinian Monti and the Uruguayan Fernández, who are not, however, phenomena. Fernández is more authoritarian than Monti; he is also heavier, tires more quickly and quickly loses all respect for the opponent. This is why ultimately my choice would fall on Monti, a makeshift centre-half who has acclimatized well to his new position and who plays with more calm and continuity than his rival on the other side of the Rio de la Plata.

And the ideal Olympic half-back line would thus be formed: Pitto (Italy), Monti (Argentina), Janni (Italy).