Norberto Doroteo Méndez (January 5, 1923 – June 22, 1998), nicknamed ''Tucho'', was an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

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 ...

. Internationally, he played 33 games for the Argentina national team and won 3

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 ...

titles. He is most famous for being the all-time top scorer in the history of the tournament with 17 goals. In domestic football, Méndez's most notable tenures were on Huracán (where he won three National cups) and

Racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goa ...

, winning three Primera División championships.

Club career

He was born on January 5, 1923, in the city of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. Méndez started his playing career with Huracán in 1941. In 1947 he moved to Racing Club where he helped the team win three consecutive Primera División titles in

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

and

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

. In 1954 Méndez moved to Tigre, he returned to Huracán in 1956 and he retired from football in 1958 at the age of 35. Méndez once said that he had three great loves in his life: Huracán was his girlfriend,

his wife and the Argentina national team his passion.

International career

Méndez played for the Argentina national team between 1945 and 1956, he played 31 games and scored 19 goals. He is the equal 10th highest scoring player in the history of Argentine football. Méndez helped Argentina to win three

titles, he scored 17 goals in the competition, making him the highest scoring player in the history of the tournament.

Honours

Club

; Huracán *

Copa Adrián C. Escobar The Copa Adrián C. Escobar was an official List of Argentine football national cups, Argentine football cup competition contested by clubs of Argentina, organized by the Argentine Football Association (AFA) from 1939 to 1949. The trophy of the to ...

(2): 1942, 1943 *

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 ...

(1): 1944 ; Racing Club * Primera División (3):

International

;

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

(3):

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 ...

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

Copa Lipton The Copa Lipton or Copa de Caridad Lipton was a football friendly competition contested between Argentina and Uruguay national teams. The competition was held 29 times between 1905 and 1992. History The trophy was donated by the Scottish tea ...

(1): 1945 *

Copa Newton Copa Newton was a football friendly competition contested between Argentina and Uruguay. The trophy, donated by Nicanor Newton, was contested 27 times between 1906 and 1976. History Nicanor Newton, director of ''Sportsman'' magazine, donated t ...

(1): 1945

Individual

all-time top scorer: 17 goals *Copa América Golden Boot:

Scorer's list
on RSSSF.com *Copa América Silver Boot:

References

External links

Clarín ''Tucho'' Méndez obituary
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendez, Norberto Doroteo 1923 births 1998 deaths Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine footballers Association football forwards Argentina international footballers Club Atlético Huracán footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Club Atlético Tigre footballers Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery Copa América-winning players