Jorge "Lobo (wolf)" Carrascosa passed on glory. He was the man destined to raise the World Cup that eventually rose into the hands of Daniel Passarella. He was the captain of the team that César Luis Menotti commanded and one of the coach's favorite, with whom he had a fluid relationship on and off the field. They say that the night before delivering the final list, Menotti called Carrascosa to see if something had changed his mind back to joining the team. A calm voice returned the same "no, thank you".
Jorge Carrascosa was 31 years old and still had two more contracts with Huracán Football Club when he decided to leave football. His last game was on December 2, 1979 and at that time, for several years he thought about leaving the game because he did not have the same love for it. So much so that it had made him renounce the 1978 World Cup, in which Argentina won its first title.
The left-footed who shined in Banfield (debuted in 1967 and played three years), in Rosario Central (won the National 1971) and in Huracan (champion in the remembered team of 1973) had already played the World Cup in Germany in 1974. It was there that the possibility of hanging up his boots began to run through his head.
In the last match of the first phase, Argentina –captained by Vladislao Cap– needed to beat Haiti by three goals and hope that Poland beat Italy. They executed on their end with a comfortable victory over Haiti, 4-1. With a $25,000 incentive from the Argentines, Poland executed on their end as well and defeated Italy 2-1.
Carrascosa reflected after the 1974 World Cup . He differed from his colleagues and repudiated what happened. "I must do my best without you giving me anything in return, the only thing that it does is distort the essence of the sport. One must distinguish between things that are good and things that are wrong” he said later.
For Carrascosa, shortcuts should not exist in sports and the actions of the 1974 team did not sit well.
It was also a culmination of other unsportsmanlike activities that made Carrascosa consider resigning. The use of performance enhancing drugs, bribes to referees and match arrangements made the defender born on August 8, 1948 in Banfield, begin to see that he no longer wanted to be associated with the game he once loved.
At the time, the military dictatorship that ran Argentina dominated political and social life, which included football. This may be one of the reasons he resigned as well.
“The world of football, where I was, was not the best of all worlds. I started to feel bad in the middle. When I saw the issue of the incentive, the drug ... It happens that you are in a society where you are worth what you earn and not for what you really are. And outside of soccer the thing is equal, superficial ...” says Carrascosa
Over time, he was responsible for not leaving strong titles about his resignation. He left the noise and chose not to enter again. He will never say that the dictatorship was the reason he decided to not participate in the 1978 World Cup. He won´t deny it either.