Raúl Belén

Raúl Belén

Raúl Oscar Belén ( born July 1, 1931 in Santa Fe, † August 22, 2010 in Rosario ) is a former Argentine footballer. With the national team of his native country, he participated in the Football World Cup 1962.

Career

Club career

Raúl Belén began his footballing career in 1951 at CA Newell 's Old Boys in his hometown of Rosario, the third largest city of Argentina. For the association, which was at that time to find División rather the bottom of the Primera, Belén completed a total of 113 games in which he reach 27 goals, but also his new time is included in the Association 1965-1966. So after he played until the year 1956 in Rosario, he moved in the latter year to the Racing Club Avellaneda after, an industrial suburb of Argentina's capital Buenos Aires. The Racing Club, where he played, among others, along with other Argentine football greats of that time like Roberto Perfumo Pedro Manfredini and Humberto Maschio, Belém succeeded in 1958 for the first time in his career, winning the Argentine Football Championship. The Racing Club finished second in the final table first place with three points ahead of second-placed Boca Juniors. Three years later scored a second title win for Belén and the Racing Club. In the season 1961, took first place with seven points against San Lorenzo de Almagro. This title eligible to participate in the Copa Libertadores of the following year, where, however, already eliminated in the first round in a group with Nacional Montevideo and Sporting Cristal second behind the Uruguayans, while FC Santos of Brazil won the main competition for club teams in South America. In 1967 the Racing Club won for the first and to date only time in the Copa Libertadores, but at the moment Raúl Belén had already ended his active career. After 1965 he was changed back to Newell 's Old Boys, he finished his career with his hometown club in 1966.

National

In the Argentine national football team Raúl Belén was used 1959-1963 31 times. In these 31 games the attacker reach nine goals. From Argentina coach Juan Carlos Lorenzo he was appointed to the South American squad for the FIFA World Cup 1962 in Chile. In the tournament in which Argentina already failed in the first round, he came in two of the three games used. Both 1-0 in their opening group game in Rancagua against Bulgaria (1-0 ) and in the second group match against England (1:3 ), he was employed in the last match of Argentina against Hungary (0-0 ) was not taken into account Belén. In the year after the World Cup, he still came to some missions, before he ended his international career in 1963. Three years earlier he had taken part in the Copa América. The Copa América 1959, where all the games in the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires took place, won by Argentina. Raúl Belén thereby pass three gates, one in a 6-1 against Chile and a 4-1 win against Uruguay.