Copa Interamericana

 

Copa Interamericana 1971. This was the second issue of the ill-fated competition – the first was in 1969, then nothing... until 1972, when the 1971 Copa Interamericana was played. The idea was similar to the Intercontinental Cup – to be played in two legs between the current winners of Copa Libertadores and the CONCACAF Champions Cup: the best of Northern America vs the best of South America. No wonder the South American clubs were not very interested...

Played in 1972.
First Leg [Cd. de México, Jul 15, 1972]
Cruz Azul   1-1 Nacional  
  [Héctor Pulido 1; Juan Carlos Mamelli 29]

Second Leg [Montevideo, Nov 7, 1972]
Nacional   2-1 Cruz Azul           
  [Juan Carlos Mamelli 35, Braulio Castro 39; Fernando Bustos 22]  

Match Details

First Leg
Estadio Azteca, México DF.
Saturday July 15, 1972
Referee: Marco Antonio Regalado (GUA)
CDSC Cruz Azul 1 Club Nacional de Football 1
[Héctor Pulido 1; Juan Carlos Mamelli 29]
Line ups:
Cruz Azul: Miguel Marín, Marco Antonio Rodríguez, Javier Guzmán, Alberto Quintano,
 Javier Sánchez Galindo, Juan Manuel Alejandrez, (Juan de Jesús Prado), Cesareo
 Victorino, Héctor Pulido, Fernando Bustos, Octavio Muciño, Horacio López Salgado
Nacional: Airton Correa de Arruda "Manga", Ángel Brunnel, Juan Masnik, (Gerolani),
 Luis Ubina, Julio Montero Castillo, Canepa, Luis Cubilla, Walter Mantegazza, Aba,
 Juan Carlos Mamelli, Víctor Espárrago
Sent off: Víctor Espárrago (NAL) 85'
 
Second Leg
Estadio Centenario, Montevideo
Tuesday, November 7, 1972
Referee: Mario Camom (CHI)
Club Nacional de Football 2 CDSC Cruz Azul 1
[Juan Carlos Mamelli 35, Braulio Castro 39; Fernando Bustos 22]
Line ups:
Nacional: Airton Correa de Arruda "Manga", Luis Ubiña, Ángel Brunnel, Juan Masnik,
 Juan Carlos Blanco, Ildo Enrique Maneiro, Walter Mantegazza, Suárez, Braulio
 Castro, Juan Carlos Mamelli, Julio César Morales
Cruz Azul: Miguel Marín, Marco Antonio Rodríguez, Javier Guzmán, Alberto Quintano,
 Javier Sánchez Galindo, Héctor Pulido, Juan Manuel Alejandrez, Cesareo Victorino,
 Fernando Bustos, Horacio López Salgado, Eladio Vera
Cruz Azul (Mexico City) lost the trophy by single goal. The photo is not from the contest, but at least is from 1971-72 season. 
Nacional (Montevideo) prevailed with difficulty and won the trophy. Thus, 1971 was a great international success and in the same time not so great, for Copa Interamericana was played in 1972 – counting for 1971, but already the squad was slightly different than the one from the previous year. By default, Nacional was the 1971 king of South America, both Americas, and the world.