BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — César Luis Menotti, the charismatic coach who led Argentina to its first World Cup title in 1978, has died, the Argentine Football Association said Sunday. He was 85.
“Goodbye, dear Flaco!” the association's statement added, using Menotti’s nickname which means “the thin one.”
The association did not give a cause of death. Local media reports said Menotti was admitted to a clinic in March with severe anemia. He reportedly underwent surgery for phlebitis in April and subsequently returned home.
Passion for soccer and a sharp ability to explain its mechanics were Menotti's hallmark characteristics as a trainer, and he was considered one of the most emblematic and influential coaches in Argentine soccer.
Menotti was a political activist and an affiliate member of the Argentine Communist Party, a boxing fan and an admirer of the works of Latin American writers Mario Benedetti, Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luis Borges, Mario Sábato and Joan Manuel Serrat, among others.
“Once I was interviewed by Borges, and when I asked him if it bothered him that I smoked, he told me: ‘What intoxicates me is not the cigarette, but the stupid conversations,’” Menotti recalled in one of his last interviews.
“So, I asked about everything ... but not about soccer, because I know about soccer!” he added.
He launched his career as a player for Rosario Central (1960-1963 and 1967), then went to Racing Club (1964) and Boca Juniors (1965-1966), all Argentine clubs. Menotti played for the New York Generals in the U.S. (1967), followed by Brazil’s Santos (1968) and Italy’s Juventus (1969-1970).
At Santos, he played alongside Pelé, whom he never hesitated to qualify as the best player among legends.
Menotti coached Argentina's national team between 1974 and 1983. He was convinced the side did not get the recognition it deserved when it won the World Cup in 1978 because the country was ruled by a military junta responsible for widespread human rights violations. His detractors would often recall a photo in which Menotti, after the World Cup victory, shook hands with Jorge Rafael Videla, head of the military junta.
On the eve of the World Cup, Menotti left a 17-year-old Maradona off the squad — a decision the coach later said soured their relations for years.
Menotti coached Mexico’s national team in 1991-1992. He also led Barcelona (1983-1984), where he had Maradona on his squad; Atletico Madrid (1987-88); Uruguay’s Penarol (1990-91); Italy’s Sampdoria (1997) and Mexico’s Tecos (2007) — his last coaching job.
For years, Menotti often had a cigarette hanging between his lips, but he mostly quit the habit in 2011 following a three-day hospitalization stemming from his tobacco addiction.
He also was known for wearing hair long but neat. He said he didn't rely on hairdressers. “I cut my own hair. I take the scissors, I cut the ends.”
Menotti began leaving his hair long in the early 1970s. “One day I said to myself: ‘I won’t cut my hair until we lose’. And we went 10 games undefeated, so it all started as a joke,” he said.
In his later years, Menotti said he didn't fear death. “It’s the only thing I’m sure of. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t died at some point,” he said in 2014.
FILE - Argentinean coach Cesar Luis Menotti , right, holds up a Tecos jersey to the media during his official presentation as its new head-coach in Guadalajara, Mexico, Wednesday Aug. 29, 2007. Menotti, the charismatic coach who led Argentina to its first World Cup title in 1978, has died, the Argentine Football Association said Sunday, May 5, 2024. He was 85. (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias, File)
FILE - Cesar Luis Menotti, of Argentina, is seen after his presentation as new head-coach of the soccer team Tecos in Guadalajara, Mexico, Wednesday Aug. 29, 2007. Menotti, the charismatic coach who led Argentina to its first World Cup title in 1978, has died, the Argentine Football Association said Sunday, May 5, 2024. He was 85. (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias, File)
FILE - Soccer coach Cesar Luis Menotti, from Argentina, shouts instructions during a Mexico Soccer League match against Jaguares in Guadalajara, Mexico, Friday, Sept. 7, 2007. Menotti, the charismatic coach who led Argentina to its first World Cup title in 1978, has died, the Argentine Football Association said Sunday, May 5, 2024. He was 85. (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias, File)
FILE - Cesar Luis Menotti, of Argentina, listens to a reporter's question during a news conference after his official presentation as Tecos' new coach in Guadalajara, Mexico, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007. Menotti, the charismatic coach who led Argentina to its first World Cup title in 1978, has died, the Argentine Football Association said Sunday, May 5, 2024. He was 85. (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias, File)
DALLAS (AP) — Former President Donald Trump urged gun owners to vote in the 2024 election as he addressed thousands of members of the National Rifle Association, which officially endorsed him just before Trump took the stage at their annual meeting in Texas on Saturday.
“We’ve got to get gun owners to vote," Trump said. “I think you’re a rebellious bunch. But let’s be rebellious and vote this time."
Trump, in his speech, said the Second Amendment “is very much on the ballot" in November, alleging that, if Democratic President Joe Biden “gets four more years they are coming for your guns, 100% certain. Crooked Joe has a 40-year-record of trying to rip firearms out of the hands of law-abiding citizens.”
The Biden administration has taken a number of steps to try to combat gun violence, including a new rule that aims to close a loophole that has allowed tens of thousands of guns to be sold every year by unlicensed dealers who do not perform background checks.
Trump has pledged to continue to defend the Second Amendment, which he claims is “under siege," and has called himself “the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House” as the United States faces record numbers of deaths due to mass shootings. Last year ended with 42 mass killings and 217 deaths, making it one of the deadliest years on record.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has been criticized by Biden, specifically for remarks that Trump made this year after a school shooting in Iowa. Trump called the incident “very terrible” only to later say that “we have to get over it. We have to move forward.”
Trump, during his speech, also laced into independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., calling him “radical left" and “a disaster,” and noting that Kennedy had once called the NRA a ”terror group."
“Don’t think about it. Don’t waste your vote,” he said. “He calls you a terrorist group, and I call you the backbone of America.” (Kennedy later said in a Fox News interview that he didn’t remember his 2018 tweet. “I don’t consider them a terror group, and I support the Second Amendment," he said.)
Trump noted he will be speaking next week at the Libertarian Party's convention and said he will urge its members to vote for him.
“We have to join with them," he said. “We have to get that 3% because we can’t take a chance on Joe Biden winning."
Earlier Saturday, Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee announced the creation of a new “Gun Owners for Trump" coalition that includes gun rights activists and those who work in the firearms industry.
Biden has made curtailing gun violence a major part of his administration and reelection campaign, creating the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris. Biden also has urged Congress to ban so-called assault weapons — something Democrats shied from even just a few years ago.
“Tonight, Donald Trump confirmed that he will do exactly what the NRA tells him to do — even if it means more death, more shootings, and more suffering," said Biden spokesman Ammar Moussa.
When Trump was president, there were moments when he pledged to strengthen gun laws. After a high school mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people and wounded 17 others, Trump told survivors and family members that he would be “very strong on background checks.” He claimed he would stand up to the NRA but later he backpedaled, saying there was “not much political support.”
On Saturday, Trump also brought up the criminal cases against him as his hush money trial heads into the final stretch next week and accused Democrats of being behind these cases because he is Biden's opponent.
“Never forget our enemies want to take away my freedom because I will never let them take away your freedom,” he said.
Trump criticized Biden's border policies, repeating his pledge that he will order the largest domestic deportation operation. He spoke about abortion and warned Republicans not to be so extreme on abortion to remain electable.
“In my opinion, Republicans have not been talking about it intelligently. They haven’t been talking about it with knowledge," he said. “Remember, speak from your heart. But you also have to get elected again.”
Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report. Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
FILE - Former President Donald Trump speaks during the National Rifle Association Convention, April 14, 2023, in Indianapolis. Trump is expected to address thousands of members of the NRA in Texas Saturday, May 18, 2024, a day after campaigning in Minnesota in the midst of his hush money trial. Trump has pledged to continue to defend the Second Amendment and has called himself "the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House." (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the Minnesota Republican Lincoln Reagan Dinner Friday, May 17, 2024, at the Saint Paul RiverCentre in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
