Teófilo Juan Cubillas Arizaga (Spanish pronunciation:[teˈofilokuˈβiʎas]; born 8 March 1949) is a Peruvian former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He was selected as Peru's greatest ever player in an IFFHS poll, in which he was also included in the world's Top 50.[1] He was renowned for his technique, shooting ability and free kick ability.[2]
In 2004, Pelé selected Cubillas as one of the FIFA 100, a list of 125 footballing greats.[6] In February 2008, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Brazilian World Cup victory, he was selected in the All-Star First Team of South America of the past 50 years.[7] Cubillas is one of only three players to score five or more goals in two different World Cups, the other two being Miroslav Klose and Thomas Müller.[8]
Club career
Early career
Combined team Alianza Municipal in 1971
Nicknamed "Nene" (the kid) for his boyish looks, Cubillas began his career with Alianza Lima at the age of 16 in 1966.[9] While at Alianza, he was top scorer in the Peruvian Primera División in 1966 and 1970.[10]
Cubillas won the youth tournaments of 1965 and 1966. He made his debut at the age of 17 in the Peruvian Primera División with Alianza Lima. In his first season, he was the tournament's top scorer with 19 goals. In the summer of 1967, Cubillas, aged 18, made his international debut in a friendly match and scored a double in a 6-1 win over Independiente of Argentina.
In the 70s, directors of Deportivo Municipal and Alianza Lima formed a team in 1971 to play a series of friendly matches with the aim of bringing together Teófilo Cubillas with Hugo Sotil, another great star of his time, in the remembered Golden Pair, which left indelible memories for the Peruvian fans, such as the victory over Benfica or the 4-1 thrashing of Bayern Munich, remembered not only for the tremendous superiority shown over the European champion, but for the great number of exquisite plays (wall passes, nutmegs, dribbles and goals) that Cubillas and Sotil lavished. That night Cubillas scored a double.
In the summer of 1973, Cubillas transferred to Swiss football club FC Basel under head coach Helmut Benthaus. The Basler entrepreneur and transport company owner Ruedi Reisdorfer paid the transfer fee of £97,000.[12][13] After playing in four Cup of the Alps games, Cubillas played his domestic league debut for his new club on 18 August in the away game against Chênois. He scored his first goal for the club in the same game as Basel won 1–0.[14] Cubillas scored two goals for Basel in the 1973–74 European Cup, the first of which in the 1st leg against Fram on 19 September 1973 and the second in the return leg on 20 September.[15] He only remained at the club for six months, which was not long enough for him to show the extent of his talent. In these six months Cubillas played a total of 21 games for Basel scoring a total of eight goals.10 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, two in the Swiss Cup, four in the European Cup, four in the Cup of the Alps and one was a friendly game. He scored three goals in the league, two in the domestic cup, two in the European Cup and the other one was scored in the Cup of the Alps.[16]
FC Porto, Sporting CP, FC Barcelona, AC Milan and Real Madrid took interest in Cubillas. But Reisdorf was not willing to let the footballer go so soon. A few days before his wedding, in December 1973, the Portuguese from Porto announced that they could raise enough money for the transfer, a commercial strategy that would be the last chance for Cubillas. Finally, Basel and Reisdorf accepted and Cubillas was able to transfer to Portuguese club FC Porto for a fee of £200,000.[13]
Cubilla arrived at Porto wearing the number 10 shirt and enjoying his best years as a player. Despite not winning the league, his genius was evident and he won the captain's armband, becoming the true idol, top scorer and captain of the Dragons' fans. He scored 66 goals in 110 games and won the Taça de Portugal and two league runner-up finishes.
Cubillas was the scorer of great goals that, even today, are remembered by fans who had the privilege of seeing him play; fans who consider him the best foreign player to have played for FC Porto. Nene himself remembers that "He was the highest paid player in the country, even ahead of Eusébio, a legend of Benfica and world football."
After his outstanding time in Portugal in 1977, Cubillas returned to Peru to play again for Alianza Lima.[16] Cubillas, along with many other players such as Hugo Sotil, César Cueto, José Velásquez and other, formed one of the best Alianza Lima sides in their history.
The 1977 Torneo Descentralizado tournament was between Alianza Lima and Melgar, both teams with the only chances of lifting the championship trophy. For Melgar, the objective was to defeat Sporting Cristal and hope that Alianza Lima did not score any points against Universitario. Sporting Cristal came out defeating Melgar and Alianza Lima defeated Universitario at home 4-3 winning the 1977 tournament with Cubillas scoring two of the goals. Cubillas would win the national championship again with Alianza in 1978.
Fort Lauderdale Strikers
In 1979, Cubillas joined the NASL, signing for Fort Lauderdale Strikers, where he spent five seasons, scoring 59 league goals, including three goals in seven minutes against the Los Angeles Aztecs in 1981.[17]
Following the December 1987 Alianza Lima air crash Cubillas returned from his Miami home to play for free for Alianza, who lost most of their players in the crash.[21] He also managed the club for a period in 1988.[22]
Miami Sharks
In March 1989, he signed with the Miami Sharks but was released on 3 July after scoring only one goal in eight games.[23] That same year Cubillas retired at the age of 40. In June 1991 he was playing and coaching at Miramar Illusiones of the Gold Coast Soccer League in Florida.[24]
International career
After standing out notably in local football, he was called up to the Peru national team by head coach Didi for 1968 for the qualifiers for the 1970 FIFA World Cup held in Mexico. Peru had to face Argentina in the qualifiers in the last round of qualifiers. In a match that will be difficult to forget for both Peruvians and Argentines, led by Cubillas, Peru started a heroic draw in 2 to 2 that took them to the World Cup and that eliminated the Argentine national team. Cubillas would play in three World Cups between 1970 and 1982.[25]
Cubillas helped the Peru national team advance to the quarter-finals of the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. He scored in all of Peru's four matches: once against Bulgaria, twice against Morocco, and once against West Germany, all in the first round. Cubillas then scored another goal in the quarter-final loss against eventual champions Brazil, and he thus finished as the third highest goal scorer in the tournament.[4]
The Peru national team did not qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany, but a year later, Cubillas helped Peru win its second South American title, the Copa América 1975. Cubillas scored against Brazil in the semi-final, and then played in the play-off match in the final.[3]
1978 World Cup
In the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina, Cubillas scored five goals for Peru, finishing co-second highest goal scorer after Mario Kempes. Peru advanced to the second phase of the tournament thanks to goals from Cubillas: he scored two goals in the opening match against Scotland (one of which was an excellent free-kick),[27] and he then scored a hat-trick in the game against Iran, including two penalties.[5]
However, Peru subsequently lost to Brazil, Poland and Argentina, although Cubillas played in all six Peru matches in the tournament. [citation needed]
1982 World Cup
Cubillas was also in the Peru national team for 1982 FIFA World Cup. He played in all three group games but did not score any goals.[25]
Career statistics
Club
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
^David Litterer. "Part 1: Player Biographies, A-H". TOP INTERNATIONAL STARS IN THE NASL, 1967–1984. American Soccer History Archives. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
^"Teofilo Cubillas". North American Soccer League Players. Nasljerseys.com. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
^"Ft. Lauderdale Strikers". American Soccer League 1988 Season. A-League Archives. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
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