Winning The League In Another Country, Part Two

Alan Ball (Vancouver Whitecaps),
chased by Johan Neeskens ( New York Cosmos)

For lots of different reasons a soccer club can seek refuge outside their own country. In this article Vancouver Whitecaps was in a way an American franchise in Canada, while the sporting life in Northern –Ireland was made impossible for Derry City. And Perth Kangaroos were disregarded in Australia and set their eyes on Singapore, while the Singaporean youth team LionsXII took up an invitation from Malaysia.

Vancouver Whitecaps (Canada) champions of the USA, 1979

In 1979 the North American Soccer League (NASL) was packed with big soccer stars, although most of them were past their prime. For this season Franz Beckenbauer, George Best and Carlos Alberto got company from stars like Johan Cruyff, Johan Neeskens, Gerd Müller, Francisco Marinho, Björn Nordquist and Teofilo Cubillas. North of the border in Vancouver, the big names were not that big. The Whitecaps had a mixture of Canadian and English players, with good old Alan Ball (world champion in 1966), Trevor Whymark and Kevin Hector as their main assets. Behind regular goalkeeper Phil Parkes, a unknown Bruce Grobbelaar just managed to play in one match.

During the season Vancouver first won the Western Division of the National Conference ahead of Los Angeles Aztecs, and easily qualified for the play-offs. In which they first beat Dallas Tornados 3-2 and 1-0. After that, they needed a mini-game (30 minutes of extra play, starting with 0-0) and a Kevin Hector-goal to beat the Los Angeles Aztecs in the quarterfinals. Then they clashed with big favorite New York Cosmos in a nerve wracking semi-final. Both teams won their home-match: Vancouver 2-0, goals by Trevor Whymark, and Willy Johnston. Cosmos won 3-2, with Cosmos-goals from Giorgio Chinaglia (2), and Vancouver-goals from John Craven and again Johnston bringing it to another shoot-out, which Cosmos won. So another mini-game was needed, and after that another shoot-out. At the end, Cosmos-player Nelsi Morais was beaten by the clock – it took him longer than five seconds to score – and Vancouver were in the final, in New York.

Trevor Whymark during the final against Tampa Bay

Trevor Whymark scored both goals in a 2-1 win against Tampa Bay Rowdies. This made Vancouver Whitecaps the only Canadian team ever to win the NASL. Alan Ball was voted the play-offs MVP,  Phil Parkes was best goalkeeper of the year and the only Whitecap selected for the All Star Team – with New York Cosmos providing no less than five players.

Vancouver didn’t mind, as more than 150,000 fans – the largest public demonstration in Vancouver history – gave the team a warm welcome as they arrived back home from the USA.

Derry City (N-Ireland), champions in the Irish Republic, 1988-89

Derry City were a big (catholic) club in Northern Ireland, especially back in the fifties and sixties, winning the league in 1964-65. In 1972, with tension rising between catholics and protestants, some clubs refused to play in (London)derry and as a result Derry City was expelled from the league. Thirteen years later, the club was elected to the newly formed second division in the Irish Republic. With the help of league top goalscorer (18 goals) Yugoslav Alex Krstic, South African Owen Da Gama (10 goals) and 35-year old Alan Sunderland (ex-Arsenal), Derry City won promotion to the First Division in 1987.

Two years later they were crowned champions of the Republic of Ireland. The players mentioned above were all gone, Derry City had a young team with mostly 22, 23-year old players. They also had money to spent, and they made an excellent choice in the summer of 1988 with the Shamrock Rovers-duo Paul Doolin and Mick Neville.

Felix Healy

The all-important match was a 2-0 victory over biggest rival Dundalk (goals by Liam Coyle and Jonathan Speak). Coyle was perhaps the most talented Derry-player, who was still among the Derry City ranks fifteen years later. Together with Paul Curran and Paul Hegarty from the 1989 team, Coyle won a second championship with Derry in 1997. Club topscorer of the 1988-89 season was Jonathan (Johnny) Speak, who scored 12 league-goals, only half of his total from the season before. Experience that year came from two oldies, Noel Larkin and Felix Healy. Both 34 years old and big names in the Republic (Larkin) and Northern Ireland (Healy). 

Derry did not only win the league that season,  they also won the League of Ireland Cup (4-0 against Dundalk) and the F.A.I. Cup. In the final they beat Cork City 1-0 (goal scored by Healy) in what was Noel Larkins last match before immigrating to Australia.

Perth Kangaroos (Australia), champions of Singapore, 1994

Scene from Perth Kangaroos - Geylang (4-1)

Soccer in the Australia Soccer League (starting in 1977) was dominated by clubs from Sydney and Melbourne. Perth, situated on the other side of Australia (the west coast), was denied access to the league for several years. While looking at the enormous distance between Perth and those two cities, that seems nearly logical. From a sporting viewpoint, it was a pity. Disappointed people in West Australia sought first class soccer elsewhere, and found it in Singapore. After some hassle about finding enough players for the team that was called Perth Kangaroos, they entered the league. From the city of Darwin, another Australian club, Darwin Cubs, did the same. 

It soon became clear that Perth Kangaroos was in a league of their own in Singapore. Not surprisingly, as the best clubs and players in Singapore were competing in the Malaysian league. Perth Kangaroos won their first sixteen matches in a row and were already champions when Singapore Air Force SA managed a 1-1 draw. Exactly two months earlier the Air Force team had suffered a humiliating 10-1 defeat against the Australians. For Jurong FC it got even worse, losing 11-0. In all, Perth Kangaroos scored 75 goals in 18 matches, with Paul Strudwick (16) and Gary Lees (15) topping the scoring charts. Gareth Naven was voted best player.

Financially this adventure was a catastrophy for the club. As Perth Kangaroos was winning the league effortlessly, attendances experienced a dramatic drop. And although the club signed a three year contract, the Kangaroos withdrew from the league after one year. Darwin Cub, who finished second in 1994, stayed for another season, but eventually quit the league before the end of that 1995 season.

Perth finally made its debut in the Australian Soccer league in 1997, as Perth Glory. Quite a few players (Vladimir Beretovac, Vince Matassa, McVittie, Gareth Naven and his twin brother Craig, Strudwick, Dale Wingell) from this Asian enterprise continued to play for Glory, with Scott Miller even earning two caps for Australia. Perth Glory became Australian champions in 2003 and 2004.

LionsXII (Singapore), champions of Malaysia, 2013

While Singapore FA won the Malaysian league back in 1985 and 1994, it was not a regular club team. The league at that time consisted only of representative teams from regional football associations. So I skipped that, although certainly the team in 1994 (with star strikers Abbas Saad and Singapore’s best ever player Fandi Ahmed) was legendary. It is only since 2002 that clubs from Singapore play in the Malaysian league, but didn't win it, until one month ago this season. In their second year LionsXII finished on top, just ahead of Selangor. To be precise, LionsXII also isn’t a real club team, but it is presented as such. In fact, its the Singaporean national Under-23 selection. 

The main goal for LionsXII this season was finishing in the top five, and preparing for the 2013 Southeast Asian Games. They were allowed to include four overage players, to give this Under-23 team some experience on the field. Three of them, Shahril Ishak, Isa Halim and Baihakki Khaizan did a tremendous job. Especially 29-year old captain Shahril Ishak was great. His skills are wellknown in this part of Asia, as he was voted ASEAN Footballer of the Year in 2012.

Furthermore, the team was tactically very strong and had a great defense, led by goalkeeper Izwan Mahmud, Safuwan Bahruddin and towering defender Baihakki Khaizan, conceiding only fifteen goals. Upfront, Shahril Ishak (8), Shaifq Ghani (5) and Baihakki Khaizan (5) also did quite well. But they were no match for league top goalscorer, Marlon James from St. Vincent, who scored 16 for his team ATM.

While other teams spent lots of money on big stars who not always lived up to expectations, LionsXII’s coach V. Sundramoorthy concentrated on teambuilding. No one in his club got overpaid. Of course the famous Singapore striker from the nineties was voted Coach of the Year for his attribution.

Winning the League In Another Country, Part One

AS Monaco, champions of France in 1961

Only a very select group of club teams have ever won a league title (or more) in a different country than their own. The reason for competing in that other country can be divers, from strange to obvoius.

In two articles I portrait nine of those league winning teams, in chronological order. If a club wins such a title more than once, I concentrate on the first one. Now: Part One, 1924 until 1961.

Cardiff City (Wales), (unofficial) champions of England 1923-24

Officially Huddersfield Town was crowned English league that year, Welsh club Cardiff City finished second. Both had 57 points and the same goal record of +27 (Huddersfield Town 60-33, Cardiff City 61-34). In those days they let the goal average decide the title, and so Huddersfield Town (1.818 goals per game) won over Cardiff City (1.794 goals per game). Nowadays Cardiff City would have won because they scored more goals.

Len Davies

Anyway, Cardiff City had a great team in those days, with not only players from Wales. Bill Hardy, Jimmy Gill (15 league-goals during the season) and Joe Clennell (11 goals) were from England, old Jimmy Blair (35 years at the time) and Jimmy Nelson were Scottish internationals and goalkeeper Tom Farquharson hailed from the Irish Republic. Captain Fred Keenor and inside-left Len Davies were the Welsh players that impressed.

The battle for the title was close during the whole season. With just one match left to play, Cardiff City were one point ahead. As Huddersfield Town won their last league match, Cardiff City also needed a win against Birmingham City to clinch the title. Considering the mathematics of those days, any draw with more than 2 goals (2-2, 3-3, et cetera) would also be sufficient. It ended 0-0. The best opportunity of the afternoon was a penalty. As nobody dared to take it, Len Davies, top scorer of the team with 23 league-goals, reluctantly walked towards the penalty-spot. He missed.

Note: Cardiff City did win the FA cup three years later (1-0 against Arsenal), to this day the only non-English club to do so.

Malaya Command (Singapore), champions in the Philippines 1935

Amazingly, looking at their recent track record, the Philippines were one of the first soccer playing countries in the Far East. Their league started as early as 1911.

Once in a while,  before World War Two, the Philippinian FA sent invitations to British army teams and visiting ships based in the region to take part in their National League. In 1935 they even sent two invitations: one to the British military team Malaya Command, that was based in Singapore  and one to the N.I.V.B., the soccer federation of Dutch India, that responded with a team from Soerabaja. As the city  federations from Western and Central Java had just left the central federation recently, the N.I.V.B.-team wasn’t as strong as expected.

The championship was held in February and March 1935, and consisted of seven clubs.

Malaya Command had no problem winning all matches, with the N.I.V.B.-team finishing second with eight points, before two local teams with seven points each. These were the  matches that Malaya Command played:

February ??	American/European YMCA – Malaya Command	0-8
February 17	University of the Philippines – Malaya Command	1-6
February 23	De La Salle College – Malaya Command	1-5
March 2	University of Santo Tomás – Malaya Command	2-4
March 6	Malaya Command – N.I.V.B.	2-1
March 8	Casino Espanol – Malaya Command	2-6

The league-winning players may represent Singapore, they do sound British:

Coleman (GK)

Nicholson           Nutland

Maris       Astle      Griffith

Smith    Noble    Rees    Baker   Wheatley

Rapid Wien (Austria), champions of Germany 1940-41

Rapid Wien back home with the German trophy

By easily winning the Austrian title (the German occupation called it the Gauliga Ostmark), Rapid Wien qualified for the finals of the German championship. At first they played in a group of four, with Stuttgarter Kickers (champions Gauliga Württemberg), Vfl Neckerau (champions Gauliga Baden) and TSV 1860 Müchen (champions Gauliga Bayern). Rapid Wien played 1-1 at home against Stuttgarter Kickers and lost 2-0 to 1860 München. They won the other four matches, included the last and all important one, 2-0 at home against rival 1860 München. Of course Franz ‘Bimbo’ Binder scored a goal, as did Hermann Dvoracek.

With this result, Rapid Wien entered the semi-final, where Dresdner SC was the opponent. The game was played in Beuth, on June 8, 1941. Dresdner SC had a formidable attack, with Horst Schade and Helmut Schön, the later famous national coach of Germany. Again Franz Binder showed his talent, scoring both goals in a 2-1 win.

Franz Binder, three goals against Schalke 04

Two weeks later, Rapid Wien faced Schalke 04 at the final in Berlin. Ninety-five thousand spectators saw an exciting game in which, for the first hour, Schalke 04 was superior. Goals by Eppenhof (2) and Hinz resulted in a 3-0 lead. Then Binder took his team by the hand. Rapids famous  ‘fifteen minutes-rage’ started – they tended to have fifteen minutes every match in which they trashed their opponent. This day they only needed ten minutes. First Georg Schors scored 3-1 (60th minute). Then Binder scored a freekick (62th minute) and a penalty (63th minute). From a corner Binder also scored 4-3 with a thundering shot. After that, Schalke started a furious attack on the Rapid-goal I which goalkeeper Rudolf Raftl, the other Rapid-star next to Binder – was unbeatable. Herbert Burdenksi came close, but his shot only hit the bar.

Rapid Wien became the only foreign club ever to win the German championship with these eleven players:

Rudolf Ratl (8 matches/ 0 goals during the finals) - Stefan Wagner (7/0), Heribert Spener (8/0) – Franz Wagner (8/0), Leopold Gernhardt (5/0), Stefan Skoumal (8/0) – Wilhelm Fitz (8/1), Georg Schors (7/8), Franz Binder (8/11), Hermann Dvoracek (5/3), Johann Pesser (2/0).

Nagyváradi AC (Rumania), champions in Hungary 1943-44

Gyula Lorant

During World War Two, Hungary annexed a few regions that were once (before the First World War) part of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy. From one of those regions, Erdély or Transsylvania, Nagyváradi AC entered the Hungarian league at the start of the 1940-41 season. Other ‘foreign’ clubs in those years include Kolozsvár AC from Cluj, Rumania and Ujvidéki AC from Novi Sad, Yugoslavia.

Gyula Bodola

Nagyváradi AC already came close to the title in 1942-43, trailing just three points behind champions Csepel WMFC. A year later Nagyváradi won the Hungarian league by a landslide, finishing on 49 points from 30 matches. Second placed Ferencvaros could only manage 36 points.

Goalkeeper Adolf Vécsey, defender Ferenc Mészáros and attackers Ferenc Sárvári, Gyula Bodola and Mátyás Toth III were ever-present during the campaign, Andor Onody I and Rudolf Deményi only missed one match.

Upfront Sárvári (23 goals), Bodola (15 goals), Tóth III (14 goals) and Gyula Lorant (11 goals in 25 matches and later in life a famous coach in Germany), scored most of the goals.

Nagyváradi couldn’t repeat their success in Hungary, as the next season was abandoned after just three matches. After the war, the club ‘travelled’ back to Rumania, and won the Rumanian league as IC Oradea in the 1948-49 season.

AS Monaco (Monaco), champions of France 1960-61

Of course, Monaco is too small (2,2 square kilometres) for its own league. So soccer club AS Monaco was keen on playing in neighboring France. In 1953, the club was promoted to the highest level for the first time. AS Monaco soon established itself as a major force, and in 1961 took the French title for the first time. It was the first season they played in the famous diagonal red and white shirts, that was designed by Princess Grace (Kelly).

After winning their first seven matches of the season, AS Monaco began spilling points, with Racing Paris getting ahead of them. After Round 36, the two teams were level, with Racing Paris in the lead on having a better goal difference  (90-54 compared to Monaco’s 75-41).  Both teams only managed a 1-1 draw in Round 37, so round 38 proved to be decisive. While Racing Paris only managed a 1-1 draw against Stade Reims, AS Monaco won 1-0 at home to Valenciennes and took the title.

The AS Monaco-team of that year: goalie Yvan Garofalo (31 matches/0 goals), defenders Marcel Nowak (34/0), Raymond Kaelbel (26/4) and Francois Ludo (37/0), midfielders Henri Biancheri (37/2), Michel Hidalgo (33/5, and for the third time this article another great coach to be) and Théodore Szkudlapski) (37/8). Attackers were: André Hess (27/10), Serge Roy (32/12), Luc Cossou (24/18), Djibrill Karimou (27/8, from Togo) and Bert Carlier (33/8, from the Netherlands).

Back row: Bessero (soigneur), Kaelbel, Nowak, Hernandez, Casolari, Biancheri, Garofalo, Thomas, Ludo, Leduc (coach).
Fronrt row: Djibrill, Cossou, Hess, Roy, Hidalgo, Theo, Carlier.

After this second success (the club had already won the French Cup a year earlier), the club collected another six French championships (1963, 1978, 1982, 1988, 1997, 2000) and five Coupe de France.

Vasco da Gama, the first champions of South America

South America’s Club Championship 1948

In 1948 Brazilian club Vasco da Gama was crowned first South American Club Champion ever. In a tournament with most reigning champions of South American countries taking part, it was the first real continental championship for clubs ever, beating the European Cup by seven years. Staged in Santiago, Chile, this tournament although never repeated, was looked upon as a major trophy. So it was no surprise that Vasco da Gama received a hero’s welcome back in soocercrazy Brazil.

During the years clubs and associations had organized many small friendly tournaments with invited clubs from all over the world. The Mitropa Cup (‘Mit’ deriving from Mittel, meaning central) was a bit more serious, bringing the best clubs together from seven European countries (Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Italy, Yugoslavia, and occasionally Switserland and Rumania) for a prestigious yearly tournament from 1927 until 1940. In South America summer tournaments were common during the forties, and now Colo Colo’s president Robinson Alvarez was the driving force behind the 1948 South American Club Championship, the first tournament that covered the best teams of a whole continent.

Champions of 1947

Seven clubs got an invitation to play for the first South American Club Championship in Santiago, Chile. Most of them were crowned league champions of 1947, just a few weeks earlier. These were the lucky ones:

Club	Country	Reason for invitation	Honours in last 10 years
River Plate	Argentina	National champions	Champions 1941, 1942, 1945 and 1947
CD Litoral	Bolivia	Top team in Bolivia	No national league
Vasco da Gama	Brazil	Rio-state champions 1947	State champions 1945 and 1947
Colo Colo	Chile	National champions	Champions 1939, 1941, 1944 and 1947
Emelec	Ecuador	Top team in Ecuador	No national league
Deportivo Municipal	Peru	Number 2 in 1947, champions Atletico Chalaco declined	Champions 1938, 1940, 1943
Nacional Montevideo	Uruguay	National champions	Champions 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946, 1947

Ecuadors best team, Emelec

No invitation was sent to Colombia, where the first professional league started later in 1948, while for Paraguay the Civil War might be the reason for not participating. Although Paraguay did have a professional league that year, won by Olimpia Asuncion. Lowly rated Venezuela wasn’t considered, because the country played its soccer mainly in Central America. Venezuela didn't join the South American Football Federation Conmebol until 1952.

Favorites

Upfront, especially River Plate and also Nacional Montevideo were the big favorites. In those days Argentina and Uruguay were the leading force in South America, Brazil only being a sleeping giant with lots of potential, but hardly any silverware to show for.

River Plate,
from left: Lousteau, Labruna, Di Stefano, Moreno and Reyes

River Plater had a wonderful team, with a very profilic attacking force. In the national campaign of 1947, all five forwards scored ten or more league goals: Alfredo di Stefano made 27 (which crowned him topscorer) Angel Labruna 16, Felix Lousteau 13, Juan Manuel Moreno 10 and Hugo Reyes also 10.

Nacional Montevideo won Uruguayan titles back to back in the forties, with Argentinian Atilio Garcia almost always claiming the topscorer-title - eight times since 1938. With Eusebio Tejera, Schubert Gambetta , Anibal Paz en Rodolfo Pini Nacional had four players that would become World Champion in 1950. And they had 21-year old Walter Gomez, who a few years later signed for River Plate and therefore missed out on the World Cup, as Uruguay ruled not to include players from abroad in their squad.

Outsiders

Host of the tournament, Colo Colo

Vasco da Gama was one of the leading teams in the Rio-state, together with Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo. Their best players at the time were goalkeeper Moacyr Barbosa, defender Wilson, midfielder Lele, playmaker Danilo and forwards Chico, Maneca, Friaca and certainly Ademir Menezes. Except for Wilson and Lele, these players were the core of the Brazilian team that lost the World Cup two and a half years later. They won the 1947 state championship unbeaten (17 victories in 20 matches), which earned them the nickname The Victory Express (O Exprresso da Victória).

Colo Colo thought they might have a chance, having one of their best squads ever. So they scheduled their match against favorite River Plate as the last match of the tournament, hoping it would be the final. Legend coach Enrique Sorrel  could count Jorge Penaloza (14 league goals in 1947) , Pedro Hugo Lopez (11), Juan Aranda (8) and club-icon Alfonso Domniguez (6) for scoring goals. Colo Colo also brought in four guest players to strengthen the team, among them Audax Italiano’s Carlos Varela. Twenty-year old Raimundo Infante (Un. Catolica) also played one game during this tournament.

The tournament

Alfonso Dominguez,
who played his last match for Colo Colo
 during this tournament

The schedule for the round-robin tournament was a bit off. It was decided to play two matches every three or four days. In total, the tournament took five weeks (February 11 until March 17) to complete. Colo Colo’s ambition collapsed at the first day of competition, as minors Emelec held on to a draw after even leading 2-0 early in the match.

The big match in the first stage of the tournament was Vasco da Gama against Nacional Montevideo. Both had won their first game. Nacional proved to be no match for the Brazilians, who won easily 4-1. Unfortunately, for Vasco’s star striker Ademir Menezes it was his last match of the tournament, due to injury.

looking at the first eleven matches, there was only one other real surprise, Deportivo Municipal beating Colo Colo 3-1. The overall standings halfway through (eleven matches played) the tournament were as follows:

Club	Games	Won	Draw	Lost	Points	Goals
Vasco da Gama	4	4	0	0	8	11-2
River Plate	2	2	0	0	4	6-0
Nacional	3	2	0	1	4	7-7
Colo Colo	3	1	1	1	3	7-7
Dep. Municipal	4	1	0	3	2	5-10
Emelec	3	0	1	2	1	2-7
Litoral	3	0	0	3	0	4-9

Legendary striker Atilio Garcia (Nacional)

The next big match was matchnumber 14 on March 3: Nacional Montevideo against River Plate. Without Alfredo di Stefano, River Plate was no match for Nacional, who fought for their last chance. Goals by Atilio Garcia, Luis Ernesto Castro and Juan Ramon Orlandi gave Nacional a comfortable 3-0 win and temporarely second place in the tournament. Meanwhile, Vasco da Gama could only manage a 1-1 against Colo Colo in their fifth match. Two days later, Nacional waisted their chances losing 3-2 to Colo Colo.

Clash of the titans

So it all came down to the Vasco da Gama against River Plate match. For the Brazilians, it was their last  match and a draw would be enough to secure the title. Still, the Argentinians were the big favorite, with Alfredo di Stefano playing his second match of the tournament – he had just scored three in his first match, against Litoral.  It proved to be a nerve wrecking match with lots of brilliant saves from both Barbosa and River Plate’s Hector Grisetti. Defender Wilson played a great game against Di Stefano. Angel Labruna waisted the biggest chance of the first half, as Barbosa denied his penalty.

Scene from the decisive match Vasco - River

The spectators were in for another treat during the second 45 minutes. Both Maneca and Wilson had to be substituted, while Rivers Hugo Reyes and Vasco’s Chico were sent off for bad behaviour. The last five minutes were perhaps the best five minutes in the entire career of Vasco’s goalie Moacyr Barbosa. With superb reflexes he saved the point for his team, and by doing so singlehandedly won the cup for his club Vasco da Gama. 

Vasco da Gama’s starting line-up that day:

Barbosa; Augusto, Wilson; Eli, Danilo, Jorge; Djalma, Maneca, Friaca, Ismael, Chico.

The Final Standings:

Club	Games	Won	Draw	Lost	Points	Goals
Vasco da Gama	6	4	2	0	10	12-3
River Plate	6	4	1	1	9	12-4
Nacional	6	4	0	2	8	16-11
Dep. Municipal	6	3	0	3	6	12-11
Colo Colo	6	2	2	2	6	11-11
Litoral	6	1	0	5	2	9-18
Emelec	6	0	1	5	1	4-18

The Vasco da Gama-team that beat Emelec 1-0

Unfortunately, this tournament proved to be a one-time affair, as it took twelve years until its successor, the Copa Libertadores, got on its way in 1960.

It produced a famous winner though, Vasco da Gama surely was one of the best teams in South America those days, and probably in the world.

On a personal level, Vasco da Gama’s goalkeeper Moacyr Barbosa was definitely the best player in Santiago those five weeks. But many great strikers also showed their talent, as no less than 76 goals were scored in 21 matches.

Four goals were scored by some famous players: Pedro Hugo Lopez (Colo Colo), Alfredo di Stefano and Felix Lousteau (both River Plate), Friaca (Vasco da Gama), Maximo Mosquera (Dep. Municipal) and Walter Gomez (Nacional). His clubmate Atilio Garcia topped that with five goals. 

But the tournaments topscorer was a fairly unknown player from Bolivians Litoral: Argentinian-born Roberto Capparelli (26 years old) scored seven of his clubs nine goals. Not much is known of this player, although he did compete (with most of his teammates at Litoral) at the World Cup 1950, losing the one match against Uruguay 8-0. 

The 21 matches of this tournament, with their goalscorers:

Colo Colo - Emelec	2-2	Aranda (1), Varela (1); Jiménez (1), Alcívar (1)
Vasco da Gama – Litoral	2-1	Lelé (2); Sandoval (1)
Nacional – Dep. Municipal	3-2	W. Gomez (2), J. Garcia (1); Cabada (1), Guzmán (1)
River Plate – Emelec	4-0	Martínez (2), Lousteau (2)
Vasco da Gama – Nacional	4-1	Ademir (1), Maneca (1), Danilo (1), Friaca (1); W. Gomez (1)
River Plate – Dep. Municipal	2-0	Lousteau (1), Labruna (1)
Colo Colo - Litoral	4-2	López (3), Saenz (1); Capparelli (2)
Nacional - Litoral	3-1	Atilio Garcia (2), Orlandi (1); Rodríguez (1)
Vasco da Gama – Dep. Municipal	4-0	Friaca (2), Lelé (1), Ismael (1)
Vasco da Gama - Emelec	1-0	Ismael (1)
Dep. Municipal – Colo Colo	3-1	Mosquera (2), Torres (1); Varela (1)
Litoral – Emelec	3-1	Capparelli (3); Mendoza (1)
Nacional – River Plate	3-0	Atilio Garcia (1), Castro (1), Orlandi (1)
Dep. Municipal – Emelec	4-0	Mosquera (2), Drago (1), C. Perales (1)
Colo Colo – Vasco da Gama	1-1	Farías (1); Friaca (1)
River Plate - Litoral	5-1	Di Stefano (3), Moreno (1), Lousteau (1); Capparelli (1)
Colo Colo – Nacional	3-2	Lorca (1), López (1), Penaloza (1); A. Garcia (1), W. Gomez (1)
Nacional – Emelec	4-1	Gambetta (2), A. Garcia (1), Orlandi (1); Fernández (1)
Vasco da Gama – River Plate	0-0
Dep. Municipal – Litoral	3-1	López (2), Torres (1); Capparelli (1)
River Plate – Colo Colo	1-0	Di Stefano (1)