Natalio Agustín Pescia (January 1, 1922 – November 11, 1989) was an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

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 ...

midfielder, born in

Dock Sud Dock Sud is a town of Avellaneda Partido in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It forms part of the urban agglomeration of Greater Buenos Aires. The area is characterized by its predominantly working-class background, with many of its inhabitant ...

district of

Avellaneda Partido Avellaneda is a partido in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It has an area of and a population of 663,953 in 2001. Its administrative seat is the city of Avellaneda. The partido is located in the Greater Buenos Aires urban area, separated fro ...

. He played his entire club career for

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

in Argentina. Pescia played a total of 364 games for Boca in all competitions scoring 7 goals for the club. He also won 7 championships with the club, 3 domestic leagues, 2 national cups and 2 international cups. He was part of a historic midfield line, along with Carlos Sosa and

Ernesto Lazzatti Ernesto Lazzatti (25 September 1915 – 30 December 1988) was an Argentine football midfielder and sports journalist. As a player, he won 10 titles with Boca Juniors, the only Argentine team where he played. Lazzatti's position on the field was ...

Biography

Pescia was selected by Boca Juniors at 12 years old, starting at the 7th. division. He debuted in the senior squad on August 30, 1942, when Boca was beat by

Chacarita Juniors Club Atlético Chacarita Juniors (usually known simply as Chacarita) is an Argentine association football, football club headquartered in Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, while the stadium is located in Villa Maipú, General San Martín Partido of Gre ...

by 2–1. The next season, Pescia was part of one of the most remembered midfield lines in the history of the club, along with Carlos Sosa and

between 1943 and 1947 when Boca Juniors won the

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

and

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

domestic leagues, apart from one

Copa Ibarguren The Copa Dr. Carlos Ibarguren, also called Campeonato Argentino
by Osvaldo Gorgazzi on the RSSSF or simply Copa Ibarguren was an offi ...

, one

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 ...

and two

Copa Escobar-Gerona The Copa de Confraternidad Rioplatense Escobar-Gerona was an official football competition organized by both bodies, the Argentine and Uruguayan football association, being first held in 1941. The Cup was played between the Primera División runne ...

. In

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

Boca Juniors won a local tournament after 10 years without titles, with Pescia as captain and former teammate Ernesto Lazzatti as coach. Sosa played a total of 15 seasons for Boca Juniors, being its last official match the 4–1 victory over

Huracán Huracán (; ; , "one legged"), often referred to as ''U Kʼux Kaj'', the "Heart of Sky", is a Kʼicheʼ Maya god of wind, storm, fire and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating humanity. He also caused th ...

, on December 2, 1956. Despite its professional retirement, Pescia played some friendly matches with the team. In 1957 he and other players representing Boca Juniors played a match v.

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

an team Olimpia in

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

. Pescia played 12 games for the Argentina national team, being called up for the first time in

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...

to play the

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

, although he did not play any match. The next year Pescia was called up again for the

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

tournament, debuting v.

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

in a smashing victory by 7–1. In the

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 i ...

edition Pescia played 6 games for the national side and Argentina won its third consecutive title. Pescia's last games with Argentina was in 1954 when the squad defeated

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

by 3–1. After retiring from football, Pescia was candidate to president of Boca Juniors, being defeated by Alberto J. Armando. Pescia died in Avellaneda at 67 years old, on November 11, 1989. The club honored him naming "Tribuna Natalio Pescia" to one of ''

La Bombonera La Bombonera (; , named after its resemblance to a chocolate box, per Viktor Sulčič), officially known as Alberto José Armando Stadium (, ; named after Alberto Armando), is an association football stadium located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ...

'' grandstands.

Titles

Boca Juniors * Primera División (3):

Copa Ibarguren The Copa Dr. Carlos Ibarguren, also called Campeonato Argentino
by Osvaldo Gorgazzi on the RSSSF or simply Copa Ibarguren was an offi ...

(1): 1944 *

(1): 1946 *

(2): 1945, 1946 Argentina *

References

External links

AFA player profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pescia, Natalio 1922 births 1989 deaths Footballers from Avellaneda Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Argentine men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Argentine Primera División players Boca Juniors footballers Argentina men's international footballers Copa América–winning players 20th-century Argentine sportsmen