Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: Did Enzo Francescoli Uriarte set any records?
The next year, Francescoli retired from the Celeste to devote himself entirely to River Plate at club level, recapturing his best form, scoring 19 goals in total. The 1996 season was his most important as Francescoli led a young, talented, yet inexperienced team that included Ariel Ortega, Matías Almeyda, Juan Pablo Sorín, Hernán Crespo and Marcelo Gallardo to win the 1996 Copa Libertadores title, and his second league title, briefly tying the record of 15 titles set by rivals Boca Juniors.[3]
Francescoli became a team idol and in 1987 was elected the best foreign player in France. For the 1987–88 season, Portuguese coach Artur Jorge, who had previously won the European Cup, was brought to the team. Francescoli would later describe Artur Jorge as the best coach he had worked with throughout his career. Matra Racing had been struggling to reach the top of the table, alternating between third and second place from the second half of the season onwards. However, after a series of matches, the team stood 11 points behind Monaco. Francescoli scored eight times in the league, finishing once again as the club's top scorer. During this period, he received an offer from Juventus due to the untimely retirement of its captain and star player Michel Platini in 1987, although Francescoli refused the offer. Francescoli finished the 1988–89 championship as the club's top scorer for the third consecutive season, and avoiding relegation.[13]
Enzo Francescoli Uriarte (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈenso fɾansesˈkoli uˈɾjaɾte]; Italian:[ˈɛntso frantʃeˈskɔːli]; born 12 November 1961) is a former Uruguayan football player. Due to his elegant style of play, Francescoli was nicknamed "El Príncipe" ("The Prince" in Spanish, or "Le Prince" in French), and "El Flaco" due to his slender frame. A former attacking midfielder, he was considered an elite playmaker in a decadent period for the Uruguay national team. He played 73 times for the Celeste between 1982 and his retirement in 1997, making him the most capped outfield player in Uruguayan international football at the time.[1] He represented his nation at two FIFA World Cups, in 1986 and 1990, also winning the Copa América in 1983, 1987 and 1995.
The 1995 Copa América on home soil under Uruguay's new head coach, Héctor Núñez, was a breath of fresh air for Francescoli. After not featuring in the previous two editions of the tournament (although he was named to the squad in 1993, he did not play a single match), Francescoli carried his team to the Copa América final against Brazil, at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo. Uruguay won a hard-fought final 5–3 on penalties, after a 1–1 draw, with Francescoli converting his team's first penalty, as he lifted the title for the last time.[30] As a result, Uruguay equalled Argentina as the South American national team with the most Copa América titles (14). Uruguay later broke the record in 2011, with the victory of their 15th Copa América title. Francescoli was once again named player of the tournament, and was also elected the best player in South America, at age 34, 11 years after first receiving the honour.[31] In the tournament, he also scored his final goal for the national team, which came in the group stage in a 1–0 win against Paraguay.[32] In total, Francescoli made 16 appearances over four editions of the Copa América, scoring five goals, and reaching the final on all four occasions in which he played.[33]
Since leaving television, Francescoli was asked several times to coach River Plate, but he never accepted, stating instead that if asked to be manager of the club, he might accept, since he could employ the lessons that had learned as an entrepreneur.
at RSSSF at Tenfield (in Spanish) Enzo Francescoli listed in the top 10 – FIFA competition record
In his second World Cup, Francescoli did not perform much better than in the previous tournament. Although many analysts regarded him as one of the potential stars of the tournament due to his talent and ability to be decisive for his team, Uruguay again did not fare very well, earning only one win in a 1–0 group stage victory over South Korea, once again advancing to the second round as one of the best third-placed teams. The team were eliminated in the round of 16, suffering a 2–0 defeat against hosts Italy, on this occasion, who went on to finish the tournament in third place. This was Francescoli's final World Cup. In total, he made eight World Cup appearances, scoring once and appearing in each of Uruguay's matches in both the 1986 and 1990 tournaments.[22] Altogether, he played in eight World Cup matches, losing four, tying three and winning one.[23][25][26][27][28]
Francescoli was made the Uruguayan ambassador for UNICEF after Diego Forlán in 2002.
In 1993, Francescoli accepted an offer from Turin side Torino, the most recent winner of the Coppa Italia.[16]
Another player to have been named after him is Argentine international and current River Plate midfielder Enzo Pérez. Argentine striker Diego Milito has also been given the nickname "Il Principe" during Milito's tenure with Internazionale due to his elegant style of play and physical resemblance to Francescoli.[40] Francescoli has joked saying that neither of his sons resemble him as much as Milito, both in physical appearance and in their walk. Further, Argentine attacking midfielder Javier Pastore, who was also a fan of Francescoli as a youngster, was given the Uruguayan's nickname "El Flaco" because of their similar style of play as well as their slender build.[41]
Another River Plate legend from Uruguay, Walter Gómez, kicked off. When approaching the day of his retirement, Argentine composer Ignacio Copani dedicated his song "Inmenzo" (a pun on "Enzo") to Francescoli, ending with the crowd requesting an encore.
Francescoli went to live with his family in Miami, where he would create TV station GOL TV with former manager Paco Casal. Francescoli returned to Buenos Aires five years later, although he still travelled monthly to the United States because of his activities there. For the 2010 World Cup, he led the team of Channel 7 Argentina, Argentina's state broadcaster.
After the 1990 World Cup, national team coach Óscar Tabárez was replaced by Luis Cubilla, who had trained the under-used Francescoli at River Plate, when Francescoli had first arrived at the club years before. Cubilla brought a strong feeling of nationalism among Uruguayan fans at the time, specifically of resentment against the country's athletes who played in Europe, and even hinted that Francescoli, and also Rubén Sosa, Carlos Aguilera and Oscar Herrera, were "dinheiristas" ("mercenaries"). Appalled, they refused to play if Cubilla did not recant his comments and these players were left out of the 1991 Copa América. Without the "European" stars, Uruguay collapsed in the first round. By the time the 1993 tournament came around, the players had already been called back to the team. Although he had been called up by Cubilla, Francescoli was benched throughout the tournament, and Uruguay once again disappointed, suffering a quarter-final elimination. In a friendly match later that year, Francescoli made his first appearance for the Celeste in many years. Meanwhile, South American rivals Argentina won both the 1991 and 1993 editions of the tournament, overtaking Uruguay as the team with the most Copa América titles (14).
The 1993 Supercoppa Italiana final was the closest Francescoli ever came to winning a trophy during his time in Italy, as Torino ultimately lost the title to Milan. With Francescoli, Torino came close to defending the title the following season, but the club was defeated by Ancona in a semi-final upset. However, the club's Serie A campaign was more heavily contested. After initially fighting against relegation, Torino climbed the table to clinch a spot in the next season's UEFA Cup, earning four points more than the required amount to qualify for the tournament. In the European Cup Winners' Cup, for which they had qualified the previous season as the 1993 Italian Cup champions, Torino reached the quarter-finals, only to be eliminated by eventual champions Arsenal.[16] Despite a successful season for the team, Francescoli did not perform as well as in previous seasons, from an individual standpoint, as he only scored 3 goals in 24 appearances, his lowest tally during his four seasons in the Italian league.[18]
After Francescoli won the 1983 Copa América with Uruguay, River Plate signed him later that year for $310,000.[8] The following year, Francescoli was unable to show his potential, splitting time with other players. He saw more playing time towards the end of the season when the team reached the Argentine final, but was defeated 3–0 by Ferro Carril Oeste.[9] Nevertheless, Francescoli, was voted the best South American footballer of 1984 for his performances for River Plate and the Uruguay national team, featuring alongside players such as Nelson Gutiérrez and Antonio Alzamendi, among others. Eager to excel with River Plate, Enzo rejected an offer from América de Cali (later found to be funded by the Cali Cartel) which was doing well that year and would go on to become the Copa Libertadores runners-up between 1985 and 1987.[3]
In July 2012, in Ariel Ortega's testimonial, Francescoli scored four goals at the age of 50, the last of which was a bicycle kick in the penalty area.[36]
He is the oldest son of Zinedine Zidane and Véronique Fernández, and is known as Enzo Fernández. Enzo is named after former Uruguayan star Enzo Francescoli, who was his father Zinedine's football idol.
A quick, elegant, creative and technically-gifted attacking midfielder who was also capable of playing in the centre as a second striker, Francescoli was noted in particular for his control, grace, fluidity, dribbling skills and ability on the ball, despite his lack of notable pace.[37][38] A two-footed playmaker with excellent vision, passing ability, and an eye for goal from midfield, he was also known for his ability from set-pieces, and also had a penchant for scoring acrobatic goals from overhead kicks.[38][39] These qualities would later influence the style of French creative offensive midfielder Zinedine Zidane, who has stated that, along with compatriot Michel Platini, Francescoli was one of his favourite players as a young boy, and that he would often watch him train with Marseille. Zidane even named one of his sons, Enzo, in homage to him.[37] Francescoli learned of this fact just before the Intercontinental Cup final match of 1996, and so the two players swapped jerseys at the end of the match. The piece became a favourite of Zidane's to wear. Subsequently, the two presented television show Football Cracks, a reality show that sought new football talent in Spain. Francescoli's admiration for Zidane extended to other French players and he has stated he felt more respect from French fans then than he had while playing there.
The disappointment was assuaged the next year with the victory of the 1987 Copa América as defending champions. Francescoli shone for Uruguay in the semi-final against hosts and defending World Cup champions Argentina in the Estadio Monumental de Núñez (the stadium of his former club, River Plate). A win against Chile in the final of the tournament followed, and the victory gave Uruguay their record 13th continental title.
Uruguay qualified for the 1986 World Cup after a close match against Chile, in a qualifying group that also included Peru. Francescoli's ability was questioned by critics. However, Uruguayan coach Omar Borrás said, "Everyone talks about Platini, Maradona, of Elkjær ... but our Francescoli has everything to be the highlight of the World Cup."[23]
In recognition of his talent, Francescoli was the only Uruguayan footballer to be named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.[42]
Since his retirement, Francescoli has only returned to the pitch for festive games, such as those commemorating the retirement of Juan Pablo Sorín, Víctor Aristizábal and Diego Maradona, considered by him to be the greatest player he has seen, and other friends. Maradona almost did not participate in the match since the River Plate fans were strongly opposed to it. "There was no problem for me. There are three things I do not discuss nor with my best friends: Religion, politics and football...things in that person, mistaken or not, advocates a cause," Francescoli said. He added, "[Y]ou'll never hear me saying 'I live and die for River Plate', though I may be much more of a fan than others." After Maradona, the second greatest player he stated he had seen was Zinedine Zidane, an opinion he admits was heavily influenced by emotional reasons, as Zidane was a big fan of Francescoli.
As a young fan of Peñarol, Francescoli passed a try-out but did not join unimpressed by the lack of playing time.[5] Despite another successful try-out with South American powerhouse River Plate, which he would later join in 1983, he chose to stay at his high school football team while completing his studies, winning five championships.[3]
Francescoli finished his season with River Plate with a defeat in the 1996 Intercontinental Cup final against Italian side Juventus.[21] River Plate had the chance to equal Boca Juniors with two Intercontinental Cup titles, but ultimately lost to the Italian side for which a fan of Francescoli played. Zinedine Zidane said, "when I saw Francescoli play, he was the player I wanted to be. He was the player that I saw and admired at Olympique de Marseille, my idol when I played against him when I was at Juventus... Enzo is like a god." At the end of the year, Francescoli decided to come out of international retirement in order to aid Uruguay in qualifying for the upcoming World Cup in France.
Francescoli announced his retirement from international football after winning the Copa América for the third time. However, he briefly came out of international retirement during Uruguay's qualifying campaign for the 1998 World Cup, after his teammates had persuaded him to return, with President of Uruguay Julio María Sanguinetti also asking him personally. In October 1996, Francescoli returned to play for the national team, although he did not take part in the 1997 Copa América. He played in eight matches in June of that year,[22] after the continental tournament. His last two matches with the Celeste came in July and August 1997. The Uruguayans still had three World Cup South American qualifying matches remaining, but reached the last match with no mathematical chance of qualifying for the tournament and finishing seventh in their group.