Eusebio Tejera

Eusebio Tejera
	Tejera in 1948
Personal information
Full name	Eusebio Ramón Tejera Kirkerup
Date of birth	January 6, 1922
Place of birth	Montevideo, Uruguay
Date of death	November 9, 2002 (aged 80)
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
1933–1942	Bella Vista
Senior career*
Years	Team
1942–1943	Bella Vista
1943–1945	River Plate Montevideo
1945–1950	Nacional
1950–1951	Cúcuta Deportivo
1951–1955	Defensor Sporting
Total
National team
1945–1954	Uruguay
Honours
Representing Uruguay
FIFA World Cup
Copa América
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Eusebio Ramón Tejera Kirkerup ("León del Maracaná") (6 January 1922 – 9 November 2002) was a Uruguayan footballer. From 1945 to 1950 he played for Club Nacional de Football, winning the Uruguayan championship in 1946, 47 and 50. He also earned 31 caps for the Uruguay national football team from 1945 to 1954. He was part of Uruguay's team championship at the 1950 FIFA World Cup, and also participated in the 1954 FIFA World Cup. He was big and tough defender, tireless fighter, physically strong and indomitable perseverance. From the beginning he had a special features: grit, toughness, sharpness and courage, virtues that were quickly brought him to fame. Versatile player of high quality. Popular "El Cato" launched a style of play "fly backs," also emphasized the long and accurate passing. Widely regarded as one of Uruguay's greatest defenders of his era.

Club career

The 1.80-metre-tall defender, known as El Cato, who was mainly used as a left-back or centre-back, began his football career at Bella Vista. From 1943 and 1945 he played for River Plate Montevideo. From 1945 to 1950 he found the sporting highlight of his career with the Montevideo club Nacional, with whom he became Uruguayan national champion in 1946, 1947 and 1950. He played 155 games for the Bolsos, in which he also scored one goal. He then played for Cúcuta Deportivo and finished his career with Uruguayan club Defensor.

International career

Tejera debuted for the Uruguayan national team on January 24, 1945, when he faced Ecuador in that year's Copa América at the National Stadium in Santiago. He was still a player for Uruguayan River Plate. The team was only in fourth place. As a Nacional player, he was in two more editions of the Copa América, in 1946 and 1947, with Celeste finishing fourth and third respectively. In 1949 the entire national team was disbanded, being represented by a youth team in the face of the long strike that had broken out the previous year.

Tejera was a starter at the 1950 FIFA World Cup even eight pounds above ideal, with photographs from the time recording a protruding muscles. The summons did not cease to be widely criticized by the press of his country. Tejera was paired with Matías González from the first match, 8-0 on Bolivia. But the lack of form hampered him in the following matches. Against Spain, Uruguay started out winning, but the score was reversed to 2-1 after Tejera could not keep up with the speed of opposing winger Estanislao Basora. The South Americans got the draw thanks to an individual move by Obdulio Varela.

Against Sweden, the unfolding was similar: the Uruguayans started winning and suffered a partial upset of 2-1. Tejera was the only lineman to remain on the back foot while the rest of his teammates advanced to avoid defeat, a tactic rewarded with another turnaround, now favorable, with Celeste winning 3-2 thanks to two goals in the final fifteen minutes. On the day of the Maracanaço, Tejera and the other Uruguayans looked relaxed when they were profiled in the pre-match ceremonies against Brazil. When the two teams posed for photographs, the bulk of the reporters positioned themselves to record the Brazilians. Tejera then went on to exclaim: Come here, the champion is here

In the match, Tejera was in charge of marking Zizinho, being assisted in the task by the right midfielder Juan Alberto Schiaffino, who retreated with the other midfielder, Julio Pérez, to reinforce the marking in order to avoid the exchanges of passes between Zizinho, Ademir and Jair, plays that had made Brazil thrash their previous opponents. Tejera also occasionally assisted Matías González in marking on Ademir. The tactic took effect in the first half, which ended at 0-0 and with the most dangerous shots being created by the visitors. In the second half, he was not to blame for Friaça's Brazilian goal.

After the World Cup, Tejera went to play in the Colombian team of Cúcuta, which earned him a few years of absence in the national team, which only in the 1970s began to admit the convocation of those who played abroad. He returned to Uruguay to play for Defensor, in time to be called up to the 1954 FIFA World Cup. However, he did not play any matches, with the celestial defense being composed of José Santamaría, William Martínez and Víctor Rodríguez Andrade. Tejera's last match for Uruguay took place on 5 June of that year, the date of the last match before the World Cup, in which the defunct Saarland team was thrashed 7-1 in Saarbrücken.

Honours

Club

Primera División Uruguaya Winner: 1946, 1947, 1950
Primera División Uruguaya Runner up: 1945, 1949, 1951
Torneo de Honor Winner: 1946, 1948
Torneo Competencia Winner: 1945, 1948
Copa Aldao (Copa Río de la Plata) Winner: 1946.
Copa de Confraternidad Escobar - Gerona Winner: 1945.

International

Copa Rio Branco Winner versus Brazil: 1946 and 1948.
Copa Rio Branco Runner-up: 1947, 1950
Copa Escobar Gerona Winner: 1945
South American Championship Fourth Place: 1945, 1946
South American Championship Third Place: 1947
1950 FIFA World Cup: Winner

Individual

1950 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team

Other websites

Profile (in Spanish) Archived 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine