Historically and culturally, one of the standout players of all time. Footballally, one of the very greatest ever.
Not that everyone knows it. Even people who maybe should.
A few years ago, I'd just written an article for an American football mag. They asked for a follow-up, and I suggested this one, on Andrade. The editor's response raised eyebrows in my house. Something along the lines of Andrade being a good player but Oreste Corbatta being a true great. I don't know why Corbatta came up. Maybe they'd done an article on him. They didn't do the one on Andrade.
The idea that Corbatta was the better player is something I never thought I'd hear. People can have opinions, of course - but Corbatta was never a world star. It's true that by contemporary accounts he was a very good winger. Skills, acceleration, knowing when to move in from the touchline. His biggest success was in 1957, when he helped Argentina score 25 goals in six matches on the way to winning the Copa América.
But Argentina had their great inside-forward trio - Maschio, Angelillo, Sívori - and you and I would've done alright outside those three. When they were snapped up by Italian clubs, Argentina struggled at the next World Cup.
Corbatta had his moments in that, especially at the start of it. After only three minutes of the opening game against defending champions West Germany, he ran onto a long ball up the right and smashed it high inside the near post. But for the rest of the match he was overshadowed by a genuinely great outside-right. Helmut Rahn carried on from the 1954 Final by scoring twice, with his left foot from 25 yards and his right foot from 20.
Next up, Corbatta helped Argentina beat Northern Ireland. He converted a penalty, and his shot-cum-cross was headed in. But he sank with the rest of them in the 6-1 defeat by Czechoslovakia. He scored from another penalty (he was good at those), and he was highly respected in South America - but if he's an all-time great, you'll need a different category for other talented wingers who did better at World Cups. Not just Rahn and Garrincha but Zagalo, Borges, Abbadíe, Czibor, Hamrin, Skoglund, Schäfer, and Jean Vincent. And that's just from his generation.
Corbatta owes some of his fame to alcohol. It can make you a tragic hero. But he wasn't alone in that. It destroyed other iconic wingers like Garrincha, Skoglund, and George Best. And José Luis Andrade, so there.
Even if you call Corbatta a great player, Andrade was on a different plane, the very best at what he did. You could say he literally embodied the three main South American football countries: he was born in Uruguay to a Brazilian dad and an Argentinian mum. He was the first black footballer to become an international celebrity. And he was the first player to star on more than one continent.
Actually these are no more than accidents of history. Someone has to be a first; it doesn't necessarily mean you're much good.
But Andrade was. Very much good. But good at what? What kind of player was he? A lot of people still don't get him. Even people who imply they've done the research.