Alfio "Coco" Basile[1] (born 1 November 1943) is an Argentinefootball manager and former player. He played forRacing Club de Avellaneda andHuracán before becoming a manager. He coached many teams during his career, being most notableRacing Club de Avellaneda (where he won theSupercopa Libertadores, the first international title for the club since 1967), theArgentina national team (with 4 titles won) andBoca Juniors, where he won five titles in two years.
Basile holds the distinction of being the only manager to coach bothDiego Maradona andLionel Messi internationally, having called both up to the national team during his two separate tenures as Argentina's manager. The last team managed by Basile wasRacing Club de Avellaneda, which he left in 2012.
Born inBahía Blanca, Basile started his playing career atClub Bella Vista in his home city. From 1964 to 1970 he played forRacing Club, where he played as midfielder until the arrival of coachJuan José Pizutti, who moved him to the defensive line to play ascentre-back. In that position, Basile formed a remembered defensive pair withRoberto Perfumo, winning three titles with the club, which reached its peak with theIntercontinental Cup won in1967 toCeltic FC, the first intercontinental title for an Argentine team.
Basile totalized 186 matches with Racing Club before moving toHuracán, where he was a mainstay of the1973 Metropolitano champions under coachCésar Luis Menotti. He also played for theArgentina national team. Basile retired as a player in 1975.[2]
A Racing Club member took me to the club to try there.Carlos Peucelle was the coach by then. (After passing the test) I started to play at the 7th division, then promoted to higher ones, always playing as "number 5" (central midfielder). Last year, Dellatorre hanging me debut inPrimera División, in the last round of the championship v.Huracán. I played as "number 6" (centre-back)
— Basile in an interview withEl Gráfico, 1965[2]
After retirement as a player, Basile coached a number of Argentine teams, most notablyRosario Central, Racing Club, Huracán,Vélez Sársfield, UruguayanNacional, andAtlético Madrid.
His career as a coach reached its first peak in the early 1990s, when he led theArgentina national football team to win twoCopa América, oneFIFA Confederations Cup and oneCONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions victories. The run-up to the1994 FIFA World Cup looked smooth until a 5–0 defeat at home toColombia. Following that traumatic event,Diego Maradona was brought back from retirement to take part in the play-off againstAustralia.
In the World Cup itself, Argentina opened with two impressive victories overGreece andNigeria. However, controversy was soon to appear. Maradona was tested for doping after the Nigeria match, and was suspended afterephedrine was found in his sample. Argentina still progressed to the last 16 despite a 2–0 defeat byBulgaria, but morale was shattered and the team was eliminated after losing toRomania.
After resigning over the World Cup disappointment,[3] Basile went on to coachSan Lorenzo de Almagro,Club América of México andColón de Santa Fe with varying degrees of success. In July 2005 he assumed the post of coach atBoca Juniors, winning theRecopa Sudamericana 2005 just a month later. He then won his firstArgentine league title in the2005 Apertura tournament. Four days later, Boca won theCopa Sudamericana 2005 againstUNAM Pumas ofMexico.
In July 2006, he was once again offered the position ofArgentina national football team coach and accepted the job taking over fromJosé Pekerman. Before starting his new job, Basile stayed withBoca Juniors until 14 September 2006, when the team won a second consecutiveRecopa Sudamericana 2006 with a victory overSão Paulo FC of Brazil.
Vocal about his preference for the ItalianSerie A and the SpanishLa Liga over the English league, he made waves in England when he called forCarlos Tevez andJavier Mascherano to transfer to Italy, claiming the switch would be better for the latter "even if he would have to play in the second division" withJuventus.[4]
Basile led Argentina through the2007 Copa América, which would beLionel Messi's debut in the tournament. Argentina won all three games in the group stage, beating theUnited States,Colombia andParaguay. After convincing victories overPeru andMexico in the quarter-final and semi-final, respectively, they were favorites to beatBrazil in thefinal, but were defeated 3–0.
On 16 October 2008, amidst the controversy over the historic defeat thatArgentina suffered againstChile in theWorld Cup qualifiers, the first time they had lost to Chile in 35 years, Basile tendered his resignation.[5] This eventually paved the road to the appointment ofDiego Maradona as national team coach.[6]As a coach, Basile had in total two tenures at the helm of theArgentina national football team, 1991–1994 and 2006–2008.
On 1 July 2009, Basile returned to Boca Juniors after three years, replacingCarlos Ischia.[7] But after a series of bad results, especially the failure to qualify for theCopa Libertadores 2010 and a crushing 3–1 defeat to archrivalsRiver Plate during a summer tournament atMar del Plata, he resigned on 21 January 2010.[8]
On 26 December 2011, Basile returned to Racing Club for his fourth spell as their coach, taking over fromDiego Simeone.[9] One year later, he resigned after a confusing incident in theEstadio Libertadores de América's change room, with Racing forwardTeo Gutiérrez being accused of pointing a gun at a teammate.[10]
Since his departure from Racing, Basile has not managed any team, stating he is "retired" from the activity.[11] Basile has occasionally appeared in some interviews and the TV showBuenos Muchachos (Good Guys) where he participated along with fellowHéctor Veira and singerCacho Castaña.[12]
In 2019, Basile offered to manageFlat Earth FC, a Spanish amateur team based around theidea that the Earth is flat. He said that he agreed with club presidentJavi Poves's views on the subject.[13][14]
Racing Club
Huracán
Racing Club
Racing de Córdoba
Vélez Sarsfield
Club América
Boca Juniors
Argentina
Argentina squads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
