Carlos Mac Allister with his sons: Kevin, Alexis ans Francis (Photo by splendidam990.com)
It was 50 years ago, but for Carlos Javier Mac Allister, it may as well have been yesterday. The day that his father taught him how much a dollar really costs.
His father, Carlos José, served as an important official in the government’s agrarian affairs program in the province of La Pampa and helped establish a new political party – Movimiento Federalista Pampeano. An agricultural engineer, he owned a 200-hectare farm and operated his own seed business, and every night, he would wake up at the crack of dawn and supervise his workers in the field. One day, he invited his seven-year-old son to work with him in the fields with the promise of a monthly salary of 50,000 pesos ley. However, when it came time to collect, Carlos Javier only received 30,000. The other 20,000 would be deducted from his account in order to factor in his food and shelter.
“I learned at a very young age that everything has its own value and that you have to earn it yourself,” said Carlos in an exclusive RG interview. “These are important lessons for kids so that they understand that their parents work hard and strive to give them the best possible conditions and educate them. Obviously, you don’t want a kid to be working at 7 years old, but it’s important for them to understand the worth of each thing. Whenever there is a right, there is also an obligation. You have the right to receive a salary and an obligation to pay for a house to live in and pay for the food to eat.”
Dealing with Early Heartbreak
Mac Allister enjoyed a happy childhood…until he didn’t. One night, when Carlos Javier was just eight years old, his father suffered a heart attack and died. Suddenly, the pressure was all on his mother Veronica to provide for her four children and put food on the table. Whilst the children studied hard at school, they would also do odd jobs in order to have their own money for their own indulgences, such as a school trip or new clothes.
“It’s always hard for anyone to grow up without their father, but that’s part of life.
You have to be able to overcome the adversity that life puts in your path, whether that’s poverty, illness, or a lack of education. Things got more complicated, but my mother started working for the city government to give us the best things. My mom wasn’t there to wake us up and take us to school anymore… We had to immediately grow up and be responsible for ourselves. We studied and worked so that we could also have our own indulgences. I used my own money for things that nowadays, teenagers use their parents’ money for.”
Mac Allister kept his head down and applied himself in his academic studies and footballing career, playing in the local leagues before eventually earning the interest of various top-flight clubs. At the age of 18, he left his hometown of Santa Rosa and headed 600 kilometers to Buenos Aires, joining Argentinos Juniors. Over the next six years, he emerged as a key figure at the left back position and made 117 league appearances before eventually departing El Semillero del Mundo in 1992. Just like a certain Diego Maradona one decade prior, Mac Allister would start his career at Argentinos Juniors before taking the second step by joining Boca Juniors.
Returning Boca to the Promised Land
Boasting 35 championships, 17 domestic cups, and 6 Copa Libertadores trophies, Boca Juniors are known as one of the most successful clubs in world football. But when Mac Allister arrived, they were going on 11 years since their last league title. He swiftly emerged as a vital cog in defense and a fan favorite at La Bombonera, and within just five months of his arrival, he helped Boca return to the apex of Argentine football after a decade-long wait.
“For a massive club like Liverpool, Barcelona, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Inter, Milan or Boca, going 11 years without a title is a lot of time. You start to feel the uncertainty and the fans start to get anxious and protest all the time, so it was wonderful to win the championship in such a short time, it was something I’ll never forget.”
Seven months after winning the Apertura title, Mac Allister participated in Copa de Oro Nicolás Leoz, which lasted between 1993 and 1996 and was disputed between the champions of South America’s various international competitions: São Paulo, winners of the 1992 Copa Libertadores, Cruzeiro, winners of the 1992 Supercopa Libertadores, Atlético Mineiro, winners of the 1992 Copa CONMEBOL, and Boca Juniors, winners of the 1992 Copa Master de Supercopa. Boca beat São Paulo 2-1 across two legs before facing off against Atlético Mineiro in the finals, drawing 0-0 in the first leg in Belo Horizonte. They returned to Buenos Aires for the decisive second leg, where Mac Allister scored the winning goal after halftime to secure a 1-0 victory at the Bombonera.
Albiceleste Debut and Facing Ronaldo
Mac Allister’s superb performances in Boca drew the attention of Argentina manager Alfio Basile, who handed him his maiden call-up. The stakes could not be higher: the winner of the two-legged tie would go to the 1994 FIFA World Cup, whilst the loser would go home empty-handed. He played the entirety of the first match, a 1-1 draw in Sydney vs. Mark Bosnich’s Australia, before playing the full 90 in a 1-0 victory against Australia in Buenos Aires to book their ticket for the tournament, as well as a friendly vs. Germany the following month. However, just when it seemed that he was going to be taking part in the biggest tournament in sports, Mac Allister was left off Argentina’s World Cup squad. After just three appearances, Mac Allister’s Albiceleste career was over.
“It was a massive blow for me. I think I deserved to go to the World Cup.
But I understand that you have to respect the decisions of a coach who was impeccable as a person. I’ve even spoken to Basile about it on multiple occasions, always with a ton of respect, because I appreciate people like him who tell you the truth to your face and don’t lie to you. Basile has been a great manager for Argentina and a great person.”
That same year, Mac Allister faced off against the toughest opponent in his entire career – a 17-year-old Brazilian striker by the name of Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima. Boca needed to win in order to reach the Copa Libertadores Round of 16, and with Sergio Martínez opening the scoring early on, they were on track to do so. However, Ronaldo would quickly take the match by the scruff of his neck and eventually score the winning goal to seal the comeback victory.
“I was marking Ronaldo, and after 10 minutes, he asked to exchange jerseys with me at the end of the game. I said ‘yes.’ He asked again after 30 minutes, I said yes. Then, he started to play and dribble past us, turning us inside and out…He danced around the entire defense. We had been eliminated from the Copa Libertadores, and he comes to me after the match asking to exchange shirts. I told him, “get out of here or I’ll kill you.’ The truth is, even at 17, he was a genius. An extraordinary player, a fast, agile, technically gifted player. I’m glad that whenever I see him, he’s happy and having a good time. I always see him with a smile on his face.”
Playing with Maradona
Whilst Ronaldo was an unused squad member in Brazil’s title-winning 1994 World Cup squad, Argentina fared drastically worse. Maradona was sent home after two games after he tested positive for ephedrine, ending his international career in disgrace. Argentina, having reached the last two finals of the World Cup, were sent packing in the Round of 16 by Romania. Desperate for a fresh, new opportunity, Maradona joined Boca in 1995, where he would spend the next two years before finally hanging up his boots.
After retiring, Maradona would organize indoor football matches known as ‘Showbol’ where, in contrast to regular football, there were no stoppages: the ball would bounce off the wall and the players kept on playing. One time, Maradona’s Argentina were playing a Showbol match, with 15,000 people cheering for the hosts Brazil. Brazil had just made it 4-0 on the cusp of halftime, but Maradona pleaded with the ref, arguing that the half had already ended, and successfully got him to change the score to 3-0.
“During the halftime team talk, he came forward and started saying ‘come on guys, we’re going to come back and win.’ We entered the second half and ended up winning 5-4. That was the mentality that Maradona radiated with his teammates…he was a winner. He always believed he could win…he never surrendered.”
Post-playing Career
Mac Allister left Boca in 1996 and joined Racing Club, where he spent two years before eventually making the move to Ferro Carril Oeste. He played one season with ‘Verdolaga’ before retiring at the age of 30. Just as he was preparing to hang up his boots, he decided to establish the “Club Deportivo Mac Allister” alongside his brother Patricio. Together, they acquired a four-hectare piece of land outside of their hometown of Santa Rosa and built a youth development center which has helped churn out thousands of talented footballers. In 2005, Argentina President Nestor Kirchner recognized Club Mac Allister as one of the 15 outstanding, innovative youth projects in the country.
Over the past quarter-century, Mac Allister has not only built his own football club from the ground up, but he’s also raised four children. His daughter currently works as a lawyer, whilst his three sons are currently professional footballers. Francis (29) is playing in Argentina’s top-flight with Instituto, and Kevin (27) is playing in Belgium’s top-flight as well as the UEFA Europa League with Union Saint-Gilloise. His youngest son, Alexis (26), has emerged as a vital cog in midfield for a Liverpool side that finds itself atop the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions League standings.
“We realized early on that all three of them had the potential to become professional footballers, but perhaps Alexis had the most chances to reach the top level.
When he was at Brighton, they put him in a more central position… I was telling them that he wouldn’t thrive on the flanks but instead, in midfield. He has a good passing ability, he recovers a lot of balls, he understands the game. He started to grow and develop, and today, he’s in an elite group of footballers. It is very tough to find players who attack and defend… in this facet, he’s a very complete player.”
Mac Allister hasn’t just taken an active role as a parent but as a politician as well. He was elected to the National Chamber of Deputies as part of the Republican Proposal party in 2013, representing his native province of La Pampa. He left this role in 2015 to enter into the cabinet of President Mauricio Macri, serving as the Secretary of Sports until 2018. He’s served his country as a footballer, a coach, an entrepreneur, and a political representative, and every step of the way, he’s carried the advice that his father gave him when he was still a young pipsqueak: when there’s a right, there’s an obligation.
Read more about Carlos’ life in part two.
Zach Lowy is a freelance football journalist who has written for leading outlets like FotMob, BetUS, Apuestas Deportivas, and who has appeared as a radio and television guest for BBC, SiriusXMFC, and various other platforms. After pursuing a global sports journalism degree at George Washington University, Zach has been able to tap into his multilingual background and interview major footballing figures in Spanish and Portuguese as well as operate the weekly podcast 'Zach Lowy's European Football Show' on BET Central.
