Alberto Spencer
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Alberto Pedro Spencer Herrera (December 6, 1937 – November 3, 2006) was an Ecuadorian football (soccer) player, regarded as one of the best of his country. He is probably best known for his still-standing record for scoring the most goals in Copa Libertadores de América, the most important club tournament in South America.
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[edit] Biography
Born in Ancón, Guayas Province, Spencer, who was also known as "Cabeza Mágica" (Spanish: magic head) was the son of a Jamaican of British origins.
He was an ambidextrous striker with a lethal pace, off-the-ball, heading and balance skills, and excellent finishing, that tore defenses to shreds for over a decade. Since his retirement in 1973, he lived in Montevideo, Uruguay. In 1982, he was appointed consul of Ecuador in Uruguay.
Spencer suffered a heart attack on September 14, 2006 during a routine checkup with his cardiologist. He died on November 3, 2006 in a clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.
[edit] Career
Alberto Spencer began his career at 15 playing for Everest. His jump to fame would occur when was scouted while playing on loan for Barcelona SC against Penarol in July 1959. Penarol's manager, Hugo Bagnulo, asked his scout 'Pibe' Ortega to get him from the bleachers after the game was over. He was soon transferred to Penarol where he amassed 3 Libertadores Cups, Two Intercontinental Cups, as well as several Uruguayan league titles. After his second Intercontinental Cup, he was twice tapped by Inter Milan, but ultimately Penarol's board would not sell him [1].
On the international front, Spencer holds the unique distinction of being the only goalscorer, capped by two different countries simultaneously: Ecuador, and Uruguay. He 'switched' shirts no less than four times. Incredibly, because of his last name (British ancestry from his father's side) and brilliant football skills, he was nearly capped by the English national team before their run into their 1966 World Cup. He played for Uruguay against England (2-1) in a friendly match at the legendary Wembley and scored, making him the first Uruguayan (actually he was not, since he refused to apply for citizenship) to score in that stadium.
His name was omitted from FIFA's, and Brazilian Pelé's list of 100 greatest living players. This caused outrage among many South American journalists who despised the idea of forgetting some of the greats, like Spencer and Garrincha, in favor of commercialism. David Mellor of the Evening Standard made news with his blasting of FIFA in this respect. He was a hat-trick scorer in Peñarol's 5-0 drubbing of Pelé's Santos in 1963.
Although widely considered one of the best South American players of all time, he still remains largely an unknown figure in Europe. This is presumably due to his having never participated in a World Cup. Similar fates awaited other greats such as Alfredo Di Stéfano and George Best -the latter still an obscure figure outside of Great Britain.
[edit] Achievements
Spencer still maintains the South American club record in Copa Libertadores, with his tally of 54 goals between 1960 and 1972, playing for Everest of Guayaquil, Barcelona of Guayaquil, and Peñarol (Uruguay). During that period, he walked away as winner of the competition three times (1960, 1961, 1966) and was winner of the Intercontinental Cup twice, beating Eusebio's Benfica and Real Madrid, and was runner-up once. In fact, his Intercontinental goal tally is only one goal behind the all-time record of his more famous contemporary, Pelé.
Spencer was also four times the leading scorer of Uruguay's League, helping them to win the Uruguayan championship eight times during his 12-year stay. Throughout his professional career, he scored a grand total of 510 goals, surpassing 600, if friendlies were taken into account.
[edit] Trivia
In one of the exhibition tours that Penarol did in Colombia, one of the Millonarios players, “Flaco” Nestor Rossi, launched a horror-tackle on Spencer that went unpunished. Soon afterward, one of Spencer's friends in Penarol, Pepe Sasía, ran after him, grabbed his neck and said "The next time you hit the 'blackie' i will kill you, because he is the one that feeds us"
In 1963, Penarol was beating Pele's Santos 5-0, when Pele said “Spencer tell your boys to that they have to stop this now”. Later on, Spencer would only smile when Pele told a journalist he did not remember saying such thing during the game.
"Someone that headed better than me was Spencer. I was good (in heading), but he was spectacular heading the ball. In general, he would do it with a burst, but without actually sprinting" -Pele, in an interview with Pablo Forlan S.
He was red carded for the only time in his career at a league match defending Peñarol.Three days later the team had to travel for a libertadores match,but Spencer didn't go.He told he was ashamed for the sent-off of the weekend.
His debut at Peñarol was in a friendly against argentine team Atlanta (striped blue and yellow) where Peñarol wore for first and last time a plain red jersey (one of the colours of the long hated arch-rival Nacional).Peñarol won 6-2 and Spencer did a hat-trick.
[edit] Breakdown
Peñarol (Uruguay) 326
Everest (Ecuador) 101
Copa Libertadores 54
Barcelona (Ecuador) 18
Copa Intercontinental 6
Ecuador 4
Uruguay 1
TOTAL 510
