Julio César "''El Pocho''" Cortés Lagos (born 29 March 1941) is an

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an football coach and former

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 ...

who participated in three

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

with the Uruguay national team. At the club level, Cortés was most successful during the time he played for Uruguayan club

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (; English: ''Peñarol Athletic Club'') —also known as ''Carboneros'', ''Aurinegros,'' and (familiarly) ''Manyas''— is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The name "Peñarol" comes from the Peñarol neigh ...

, winning two league titles and the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup in 1966. He has spent the majority of his coaching career in

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

, managing several clubs, and having two tenures as coach of the Guatemala national team, which he led to win the

2001 UNCAF Nations Cup The 2001 UNCAF Nations Cup was played in Honduras. Participating teams Squads Venues First round Group 1 ---- ---- Group 2 ---- ---- Final round ---- ---- Champions *''Guatemala, Costa Rica and El Salvador quali ...

tournament.

Playing career

Cortés began his career with Sud América, and in 1962 he joined C.A. Cerro. He left the club in 1965 to play in

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 ...

for

Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central () is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on December 24, 1889, by a group of railway workers, taking its name from the English- ...

Peñarol and international success

After one season with Rosario, Cortés returned to Uruguay to join

in 1966, and became part of a first team that included players like Pedro Rocha,

Alberto Spencer Alberto Pedro Spencer Herrera (6 December 1937 – 3 November 2006) was an Ecuadorian footballer who played as a forward, and is widely regarded as one of the best Ecuadorian footballers of all time He is probably best known for his still-standi ...

, Julio César Abbadie, and Omar Caetano. The team went on to win the Copa Libertadores in 1966, with Cortés scoring a decisive goal against arch-rivals Nacional in the semifinal playoff on April 23, 1966, which allowed the team to reach the final where they defeated Argentine's River Plate after three matches, obtaining their third Copa Libertadores. Later that year, Cortés helped Peñarol to defeat

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

champions Real Madrid to win the Intercontinental Cup title. While Cortés was playing for the club, Peñarol also won the domestic league championship in 1967 and 1968. Cortés joined Mexican Primera División side

Atlante F.C. Atlante Fútbol Club, is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. Founded in 1916, Atlante were original members of the Mexican Primera División when it began in 1943. Atlante has won three national league championships, t ...

in 1973.

Uruguay national team (1962–1970)

From 1962 to 1970, Cortés appeared in 30 international matches for Uruguay, scoring 3 goals. He made his international debut on 2 May 1962 in a 3–2 victory against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

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shortly before the

1962 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 bet ...

, at which he played in one match. He also appeared at the 1966 and

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

finals, being one of six Uruguayan players to be part of three World Cup squads. At the 1966 World Cup, Cortés scored the eventual match-winning goal against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, one of the two goals Uruguay scored in that match and in the entire tournament. Uruguay was eliminated in quarterfinals by

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. Four years later in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, he played all of Uruguay's six matches, as the team reached semifinals, where they lost to

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 ...

. With the

consolation match A third place match, game for third place, bronze medal game or consolation game is a single match that is included in many sporting knockout tournaments to decide which competitor or team will be credited with finishing third and fourth. The tea ...

against West Germany, Cortés reached an overall total of 11 World Cup matches played, Uruguay's second-highest mark behind goalkeeper and Peñarol teammate Ladislao Mazurkiewicz's 13. The match against the Germans was also his last international match.

Coaching career

After having played in Costa Rica in the late 1970s, Cortés became a coach, and has spent since almost three decades managing several clubs in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and El Salvador. In 1983, Cortés led Deportivo Suchitepéquez to their only national title to date. Other Guatemalan clubs he coached in the 1980s and 1990s are

Juventud Retalteca Club Social y Deportivo Juventud Retalteca was a Guatemalan professional football club based in Retalhuleu and who competed in the '' Liga Nacional'', the nation's top footballing division. History Nicknamed ''Los Algodoneros'' (the Cotton ...

CSD Comunicaciones Comunicaciones Fútbol Club S.A., better known as Comunicaciones F.C. or Comunicaciones, are a football club based in Guatemala City. They compete in the Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football. The most popular and successful footba ...

, Xelajú MC, and Aurora F.C. In Costa Rica, he coached ''Turrialba F.C'' and

Deportivo Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. The team's signature colours are purple ...

in the 1990s, and in the 2000s, he has coached C.D. Águila of El Salvador, Deportivo Jalapa of Guatemala, and

A.D. San Carlos Asociación Deportiva San Carlos is a Costa Rican football team based in Ciudad Quesada, the capital of San Carlos, Alajuela. They currently play in the Costa Rican First Division. Their home stadium is Estadio Carlos Ugalde Álvarez. History ...

of Costa Rica (2007)He is currently coaching football classes on the "San Jose Indoor Club" Costa Rica .

Guatemala national team (1987–88 and 2000–03)

In 1987, Cortés was named head coach of the Guatemala national team, managing it at that year's Pan American Games. This tenure lasted just over one year until he was replaced by

Jorge Roldán Jorge Roldán Popol (16 November 1940 – 8 June 2023), known popularly as ''El Grillo'' ("cricket"), was a Guatemalan football coach and player. A midfielder, Roldán played almost his entire career for the local team Aurora F.C., being perha ...

in April 1988. Cortés' second period as Guatemala's manager began in June 2000, and ended three years later, in what is one of the longest uninterrupted tenures for a coach of the Guatemalan team. During that time, Guatemala failed to qualify to the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

, but won the

– its first international title in 34 years – and finished runner up of that tournaments two years later. Dispute with the Guatemalan Federation After being removed from the charge of national coach in April 2003, Cortés sued the Guatemalan football federation (FEDEFUT) for breach of contract, demanding payment of part of his remuneration as national team coach. The coach took the case before FIFA, whom in 2006 ruled that the FEDEFUT pay him part of what he demanded. In September 2006, the FEDEFUT reacted against the coach, accusing him of fraud before a local

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

, whom dictated that Cortés – who was at the time living in Costa Rica and was at the moment in Guatemala – remained in the country.

Honours

Player * Copa Libertadores winner: 1966 * Uruguayan ''Primera División'' winner: 1967, 1968 *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

fourth place: 1970 Manager * Guatemalan ''Liga Mayor'' winner: 1983 (with Suchitepéquez) *Guatemalan domestic cup winner: 1984–85 (with

) and 2005 (with Jalapa) *

winner (with the Guatemala national team)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cortes, Julio Cesar 1941 births Living people Footballers from Montevideo Uruguayan footballers Uruguay international footballers 1962 FIFA World Cup players 1966 FIFA World Cup players 1970 FIFA World Cup players Uruguayan Primera División players Argentine Primera División players Liga MX players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata footballers Rosario Central footballers Sud América players Centro Atlético Fénix players C.A. Cerro players Peñarol players Atlante F.C. footballers Club Universidad Nacional footballers C.S.D. Municipal players Alianza F.C. footballers Los Angeles Aztecs players Uruguayan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in El Salvador Expatriate soccer players in the United States Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in El Salvador Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Guatemala Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Uruguayan football managers C.D. Suchitepéquez managers Expatriate football managers in Costa Rica Deportivo Saprissa managers Expatriate football managers in El Salvador Expatriate football managers in Guatemala Guatemala national football team managers Comunicaciones F.C. managers C.D. Águila managers Association football midfielders