Carlos Adolfo "Lucho" Sosa (21 July 1919 – 2 March 2009) was an Argentine

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He spent most of his career in

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

, where he won six titles. With the Argentina national team he also won two

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

. Sosa is considered one of the best right halves in the history of Argentine football, apart from being an emblematic player of Boca Juniors during the 1940s.Falleció Lucho Sosa, un lateral con alma de puntero
''La Nación'', 3 March 2009

Playing career

Sosa started his career with

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, debuting in Primera División on 30 July 1939 v

Chacarita Juniors Club Atlético Chacarita Juniors (usually known simply as Chacarita) is an Argentine football club headquartered in Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, while the stadium is located in Villa Maipú, General San Martín Partido of Greater Buenos Aires. ...

. His initial position was left back. Sosa's good performances on the field sparkled interest in Boca Juniors, which finally acquired Sosa for $25,000 plus the transfers of players Vilana, Tenorio and Angeletti. Boca also gave Atlanta the ...... of a friendly match played in Ferro Carril Oeste stadium. His last match with Atlanta was on 22 December 1940 v Independiente,Carlos Adolfo Sosa
on Fútbol Factory (Archive 20 October 2007) playing a total of 40 games with the club. At his arrival to Boca Juniors, Sosa played several matches in lower divisions until he was promoted to the first squad in 1941, being part of a memorable midfield line along with

Ernesto Lazzatti Ernesto Lazzatti (25 September 1915 - 30 December 1988) was an Argentina, Argentine Association football, football midfielder and sports journalist. As a player, he won 10 titles with Boca Juniors, the only Argentine team where he played. Lazzat ...

and

Natalio Pescia Natalio Agustín Pescia (January 1, 1922 – November 11, 1989) was an Argentine football midfielder, born in Dock Sud district of Avellaneda Partido. He played his entire club career for Boca Juniors in Argentina. Pescia played a total of 364 g ...

. At the end of the year 1951, he left for France to play with

RC Paris Racing Club de France Football (, also known as Racing Paris, RCF Paris, Matra Racing, Racing Club, or Racing) is a French association football club based in Colombes, a suburb of Paris. Racing was founded in 1882 as a multi-discipline spor ...

and

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...

, where he ended his career in 1958. He played a total of 271 matches with Boca Juniors, also scoring 7 goals. With the ''Xeneize'' Sosa also won six titles, including two Primera División championships. Sosa left Boca Juniors after 10 years in the club, being replaced by Francisco Lombardo. Sosa continued his career in France when he joined Racing Club Paris. Sosa stayed here for seven years, playing as

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

and central midfielder.Mi amigo Lucho
interview by former teammate Ernesto Lazzatti on ''El Gráfico'', 1959

Managerial career

After retiring from football, he became manager, coaching

in 1960, but after matchday 10 of the championship in July – 4 wins, 5 draws, 1 defeat, 17–9 goals – he resigned because of the unsuccessful results. José D'Amico, who later coached the national team for several matches, followed him in the office. Sosa was also manager of

San Telmo San Telmo ("Saint Pedro González Telmo") is the oldest ''barrio'' (neighborhood) of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is a well-preserved area of the Argentine metropolis and is characterized by its colonial buildings. Cafes, tango parlors and antique ...

and Uruguayan club

Racing Club de Montevideo Racing Club de Montevideo is a football club from Montevideo in Uruguay. It currently participates in the Uruguayan Segunda División Profesional following their relegation at the end of the 2019 season. Racing CM is known as "La Escuelita" (Th ...

Playing style

Sosa was a skillful player with good ball control, which allowed him to advance to the rival goal in attacking positions. He also had a strong shot so he was in charge of the

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offence ...

s on the right side of the field. Despite his abilities, Argentina's coach,

Guillermo Stábile Guillermo Stábile (17 January 1905 – 26 December 1966) was an Argentine professional football player and manager who played as a centre forward. At club level, Stábile won two national championships with Huracán and played in Italy and Fran ...

, did not call him up for the national team. Some versions state that he considered Sosa "dribbled excessively", preferring more aggressive players for defensive positions, such as

Norberto Yácono Norberto Yácono (also ''Iacono'' / 8 January 1919 – November 1985) was an Argentine footballer defender who won six Argentine league championships with CA River Plate. He was born in Buenos Aires. Playing career "Pacho" Yácono was taken ...

or Juan Carlos Fonda.

In his own words

Honours

Boca Juniors *

Primera División Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

Copa Ibarguren The Copa Dr. Carlos Ibarguren, also called Campeonato Argentino
by Osvaldo Gorgazzi on the RSSSF or simply Copa Ibarguren was an offic ...

: 1944 *

Copa de Competencia Británica The Copa de Competencia Británica George VI was an official Argentine football cup competition, played from 1944 to 1948. It was contested by teams participating in Primera División. The format was a single-elimination tournament and the first ...

: 1946 *

Copa Escobar-Gerona The Copa de Confraternidad Rioplatense Escobar-Gerona was an official football competition organized by both bodies, the Argentine and Uruguayan football association, being first held in 1941. The Cup was played between the Primera División runne ...

: 1945, 1946 Argentina *

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

Individual

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

Argentina All Times Dream Team (Team B): 2021

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sosa, Carlos 1919 births 2009 deaths Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine men's footballers Argentina men's international footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Argentine Primera División players Club Atlético Atlanta footballers Boca Juniors footballers Racing Club de France Football players Red Star F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in France Argentine expatriate sportspeople in France Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Argentine football managers Boca Juniors managers Racing Club de Montevideo managers