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

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and former midfielder who participated in three World Cups with the Uruguay national team. At the club level, Cortés was most successful during the time he played for Uruguayan club Peñarol, winning two league titles and the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

and the Intercontinental Cup in 1966. He has spent the majority of his coaching career in Central America, 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 national football team, Guatemala ...

tournament.

Playing career

Cortés began his career with

Sud América Institución Atlética Sud América, usually known as Sud América or just IASA, is a football club from Montevideo. They currently play in the Uruguayan Segunda Division. History Sud América has won the Uruguayan 2nd Division on 7 occasion ...

, and in 1962 he joined C.A. Cerro. He left the club in 1965 to play in Argentina for Rosario Central.

Peñarol and international success

After one season with Rosario, Cortés returned to Uruguay to join Peñarol in 1966, and became part of a

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

that included players like Pedro Rocha, Alberto Spencer, Julio César Abbadie, and Omar Caetano. The team went on to win the

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 champions

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

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 The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in al ...

side Atlante F.C. 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 in Glasgow 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 be ...

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

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

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 scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

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, one of the two goals Uruguay scored in that match and in the entire tournament. Uruguay was eliminated in quarterfinals by West Germany. Four years later in Mexico, he played all of Uruguay's six matches, as the team reached semifinals, where they lost to Brazil. With the consolation match 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 Ladislao Mazurkiewicz Iglesias (; 14 February 1945 – 2 January 2013) was a Uruguayan footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Career Mazurkiewicz helped the Uruguay national team qualify for the semifinals of the 1970 World Cup, where the ''ch ...

'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 Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

, and

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

. In 1983, Cortés led

Deportivo Suchitepéquez ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable), an aerial lift station in Ecatepec, Mexico * Deport ...

to their only national title to date. Other Guatemalan clubs he coached in the 1980s and 1990s are Juventud Retalteca, CSD Comunicaciones,

Xelajú MC Quetzaltenango (, also known by its Maya name Xelajú or Xela ) is both the seat of the namesake Department and municipality, in Guatemala. The city is located in a mountain valley at an elevation of above sea level at its lowest part. It may ...

, and Aurora F.C. In Costa Rica, he coached ''Turrialba F.C'' and Deportivo Saprissa in the 1990s, and in the 2000s, he has coached

C.D. Águila Club Deportivo Águila, commonly known as Águila, is a Salvadoran football club based in San Miguel, El Salvador. The club currently plays in the Primera División, the top tier of the El Salvador football league system. Águila is one of ...

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 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 Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, 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 Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party ...

, demanding payment of part of his remuneration as national team coach. The coach took the case before

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

, 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, 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 *

winner: 1966 * Uruguayan ''Primera División'' winner: 1967, 1968 * FIFA World Cup fourth place: 1970 Manager * Guatemalan ''Liga Mayor'' winner: 1983 (with Suchitepéquez) *Guatemalan domestic cup winner: 1984–85 (with Juventud Retalteca) and 2005 (with

Jalapa Xalapa or Jalapa (, ), officially Xalapa-Enríquez (), is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which ...

) *

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