Isidro Lángara

Football player infobox2
playername = Isidro Lángara


fullname = Isidro Lángara Galarraga
height =
nickname =
dateofbirth = May 25, 1912
dateofdeath = death date and age|1992|08|21|1912|05|25
cityofbirth = Pasaia
countryofbirth = Spain
position = Striker (deceased)
clubnumber =
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1930–1936
1938–1939
1939–1943
1943–1946
1946–1948
clubs = Real Oviedo
Club Deportivo Euzkadi
San Lorenzo de Almagro
Deportivo Veracruz [Cite url|url=http://www.tiburones-rojos.com/tiburones-rojos/?Sec=1raEtapa|title=Deportivo Veracruz History (Spanish)]
Real Oviedo
caps(goals) =
nationalyears = 1932–1936
nationalteam = Spain
nationalcaps(goals) = 012 0(17)

Isidro Lángara Galarraga (May 25, 1912 — August 21, 1992) was a Spanish footballer. He played 12 times for Spain, scoring 17 goals. He was born in Pasaia, Guipúzcoa and died in Andoain.

Biography

He played for a number of clubs, including Real Oviedo, Mexican sides Asturias and Espana and Argentinian side San Lorenzo.

He was signed by Oviedo in 1930 and remained with the club until July 1936 when the civil war led to the league being suspended. At Oviedo he was the figurehead of the celebrated "Delanteros Electricas" a forward line of lightning quick youthful talent that steam-rolled teams with high tempo highly skilled play, but for onset of war the team would have surely improved opon the two 3rd places in the seasons that preceded the war.

He was the winner of the Pichichi Trophy, awarded to the top scorer in the Spanish League, in the three seasons before the Spanish Civil War, with 27 goals in 1933-34, 26 goals in 1934-35 and 27 goals in 1935-36.

With the onset of war he emigrated to Mexico (aged 24) never to add to the 17 goals in 12 matches for Spain. (Overseas players weren't considered for selection, even so currently he is in 9th place of Spanish international goalscorers)

Playing for Espana de Mexico he was top scorer in successive seasons in Mexico with 27 and 38 goals respectively.

His debut for San Lorenzo in 1939 was against perennial league champions River Plate and he scored 4 goals in a 4-2 victory, after arriving to Argentina in the morning of the same day.

In 1940 Langara was the joint top scorer in the Argentine Primera with 33 goals in 34 games. (his record in Argentina playing for San Lorenzo - 113 goals in 121 matches) He also holds the record of scoring most goals in a match in Argentina - 7 - that still stands today.

With Langara San Lorenzo broke the River Plate monopoly and won the Argentinian league title; the team then went on to a tour of Spain and Portugal that was one of the highlights of the club's history. After losing to Real Madrid, it went on to defeat Barcelona and both the Spanish and Portuguese national teams; the Spanish press acclaimed San Lorenzo as "the best team in the world". Langara was San Lorenzos' star player alongside René Pontoni (courted by Barcelona but remained in Argentina) and Reinaldo Martino (who would later become a star with Juventus).

He is the only player to be top scorer in major leagues on three different continents, only the great Alfredo Di Stefano and Romário have matched the feat of being top scorer in 3 separate countries.

He was again top scorer in Mexico in 1943 and 1945 after rejoining Espana with 34 and 40 goals.

In 1946 he was awarded CONCACAF player of the year - the top player in all the northern and central American leagues. His record In Mexico with Espana (2 + 4 seasons) and Asturias (1 season) was 282 goals in 210 matches.

Langara was offered the chance of returning to Spain to play for Real Oviedo, again. The following season, 1946-47 and back in Spain, he scored a respectable 18 goals for the team. This tally left him fourth, behind Zarra, Pruden and Calvo for the Pichichi Trophy, proving that at 34 years of age he could still perform at the highest level. At the end of the season Langara stunned Oviedo by announcing his retirement and emigrating back to live in Mexico.

Retirement

Post retirement he spent the majority of his years in South America returning to his home region in Spain in his late seventies where he died in 1992.

His managerial career is sketchy but his achievements are as follows;

He managed Club de Deportes Unión Española in 1951 winning the Chilean league title.

He managed Puebla FC in 1952-53 winning the Mexican Cup Final.

References