José Daniel Valencia


José Daniel Valencia is a retired Argentine footballer, who played as an attacking midfielder. He is perhaps most famous for having been part of the 1978 World Cup winning squad.

Club career

Valencia started his club career at Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy, but soon earned a transfer to Talleres de Córdoba, the club at which he would play most of his career.
At Talleres Valencia suffered the disappointment of finishing runners up in Nacional 1977, finishing 3rd in Metropolitano 1980, and being losing semi-finalists on 4 occasions.
In 1986, he made had a spell in Ecuadorian football with Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito, but he only stayed 1 year before returning to Talleres for a further 2 seasons.
In 1988, he left Talleres to play for 3rd division Guaraní Antonio Franco in Misiones, after a short spell in the lower leagues he made a brief return to the Primera with Rosario Central in 1989 before moving to Bolivia where he played for Club Jorge Wilstermann and then Club San José.
At San José he again experienced the disappointment of being a losing finalist on 2 occasions, in the 1991 Clausura and the 1992 season. He also got his first taste of Copa Libertadores football, but with very little success, San José finished bottom of their group in both 1992 and 1993.
Valencia retired from club football in 1993 at the age of 37.

International career

The indisputable highlight of his footballing career came in 1978 when he was selected to represent Argentina at the Argentina 78 tournament. Although he featured in the first game, he was dropped due to a tactical reshuffle by manager César Luis Menotti. He was unlucky to miss out on the World Cup final in the Monumental, but he did play a part in helping Argentina win their first World Cup.
Valencia was selected to play for Argentina at Spain 82, but the albicelestes had a disappointing campaign, eliminated in the 2nd group phase. He retired from international football at the end of the tournament, having represented his country 41 times, scoring 5 goals

Honours

Club

Talleres de Córdoba
Argentina