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Sports News
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by_emR3 SaVSaK.CoM
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Posted online: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 at 3:13:50 PM
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La Plata (Argentina), Aug 3 (DPA) Ninety-five years old, in robust physical health and with a mental faculty that rarely throws him a bad trick. 'He' is Francisco "Pancho" Varallo, the last man still alive from the group who played that historic 1930 World Cup final, 75 years ago, on July 30.
Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 in the final - the first in World Cup history - in a game at Montevideo's mythical Centenario Stadium.
"In my head, I'm fine but after five minutes I begin forgetting things," a chuckling Varallo admitted in an interview.
"The other day I went to a party and two kids of 14 and 18 came up to my table to see me. I said to them: 'Now, how do you two possibly know me? Where have you seen me before? They replied, 'My dad told me how you used to play, how you used to whack the ball.'
"I welled up because that was a beautiful thing. It seems made up, but ... well, how wonderful football is. One played the game with such affection, such enthusiasm."
Varallo lives in La Plata, capital of Argentina's largest province of Buenos Aires.
He has little contact with the press and is cared for by his daughter Maria Teresa.
"Don Pancho" spends a lot of time at the family stall where they sell lottery tickets and other games of chance. On the front of the kiosk, a plaque hangs in Varallo's honour, put there by some old friends.
The plaque is one of the few marks of recognition attesting to the role of the former player in the first ever World Cup final.
"I'm very fond of the Uruguayans. I wish them the best and ... what can I do about it anyway?" he laments when he reflects back on Argentina's defeat.
Varallo, a devotee of Argentine clubs Boca Juniors and local side Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata, recalls some of the topsy-turvy emotions of those long-gone days.
"When I came back from Montevideo, I was cursing the Uruguayans. I was angry because we had lost. But it was our fault we lost that match."
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