Horacio Casarín Garcilazo (25 May 1918 – 10 April 2005) was a Mexican professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and coach who established himself as one of his country's most popular sports figures in the 1940s and 1950s. A symbol for Atlante, the team Casarín served for the majority of his career, the skilled forward also played for

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...

, León, Asturias, Club América, Real España,

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

and Zacatepec in his country, as well as

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

in Spain and the Mexico national team.

Club career

At age 17, Casarín debuted for Necaxa. Over the course of his career in Mexico, Casarín scored 236 goals at the amateur and professional levels (the Mexican League was founded in the early 1940s) and represented his country at the

1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the 4th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. It was the first Wo ...

held in Brazil and scored a goal during the run of the tournament. A well-known anecdote involving Casarín takes place during a 1939 game between Casarin's Necaxa, and Asturias. After scoring a goal in the first few minutes of the game, defenders sought out Casarín and fouled him mercilessly, until the goalscorer was forced to abandon the pitch after only twenty minutes had gone by. The game ended in a 2–2 draw, but outraged Necaxa fans expressed their ire by burning Asturia's wooden stadium. With Atlante, Casarín scored 95 goals and helped the ''Potros'' win the 1946–47 season championship, while cementing his popularity by acting in the football-themed movie, "The sons of Don Venacio". Word of Casarín's role in the film spread, and the movie became a box-office success in Mexico. Casarín played his last game as a professional on 18 November 1956, scoring a goal for CF Monterrey. He scored 174 goals in the Primera División during his career.

International career

Casarín scored 15 goals for the Mexico national team between 1937 and 1956.Appearances for Mexico National Team
- RSSSF

Managerial career

As a coach, Casarín's biggest achievement was coaching the Mexican U-20 national football team to a second-place finish in the inaugural

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

in Tunisia in 1977. Casarín's squad lost the final game 9–8 in penalty kicks against the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. He also coached Atlante and Tecos UAG.

Death

Casarín's failing health finally gave out on 10 April 2005, only a few months after his wife, Maria Elena King, had died. He died of complications arising from Alzheimer's disease.

References

External links

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Profile
at MedioTiempo {{DEFAULTSORT:Casarin, Horacio 1918 births 2005 deaths Footballers from Mexico City Mexican people of Italian descent Mexican people of Spanish descent Men's association football forwards Mexico men's international footballers 1950 FIFA World Cup players Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Mexico Competitors at the 1938 Central American and Caribbean Games Club Necaxa footballers Atlante F.C. footballers FC Barcelona players Real Club España footballers C.D. Veracruz footballers Zacatepec F.C. players Club América footballers C.F. Monterrey players Liga MX players La Liga players Mexican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Spain Mexican football managers Tecos F.C. managers Atlante F.C. managers Mexico national football team managers Deaths from dementia in Mexico Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in football Mexican men's footballers 20th-century Mexican sportsmen