Antonio Roma (13 July 1932 – 20 February 2013) was an
Argentine football goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
.
Nicknamed ''
Tarzan
Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...
'' for the way of throwing himself for the ball, he started his professional career with
Ferrocarril Oeste in 1955, where he played until 1959. He was then transferred, together with teammate
, to
Boca Juniors, where he debuted in the victory of 3 April 1960 against
Estudiantes de La Plata.
Roma stayed with Boca until his retirement in 1972, becoming one of the biggest idols of the club, with total of 323 matches in all competitions. With the club Roma won the
Argentine League of 1962, 1964, 1965, and the ''Campeonato Nacional'' 1969 and 1970. In 1969, he kept his goal clear for 783 minutes.
Probably the most remembered save by Antonio Roma was the penalty executed by
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
ian River's player Delem, that he sent to the corner. With only two rounds before the end of the 1962 championship, Boca and its all-time derby
River Plate shared the first position at the local league. The decisive match was played at
La Bombonera
The Alberto José Armando Stadium is a football stadium located in La Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Widely known as La Bombonera (; en, The chocolate box) due to its shape, with a "flat" stand on one side of the pitch and three steep stands ro ...
, Boca Juniors home stadium. Boca was ahead 1:0 when referee Nai Foino conceded a penalty to River. After the save, the public invaded the field delaying the continuation of the match for 11 minutes. River was not able to change the score, and Boca finally won that championship after defeating Estudiantes de La Plata in the next round.
Roma also played with the
Argentina national football team, including at the
1962 FIFA World Cup
The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place be ...
and
1966 FIFA World Cup. He made a total of 42 appearances for his national team between 1956 and 1967.
Argentina record international footballers
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roma, Antonio
1932 births
2013 deaths
Argentine people of Italian descent
Argentine footballers
Argentina international footballers
Boca Juniors footballers
Argentine Primera División players
1962 FIFA World Cup players
1966 FIFA World Cup players
Association football goalkeepers
Footballers from Buenos Aires
Ferro Carril Oeste footballers