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It was a common sight in Brazil’s dugout in the 90s and 2000s. Short and with the appearance of a wise old man with golden glasses and a shiny head, he stands on the touchline as if discovering a hidden lock that will unlock another dimension of the game. It involved jumping up and down, bending down and kneeling. He returned to the dugout with a grin on his face, whispered something into his assistant’s ear, and repeated the circle. He was Mario Zagallo, Brazil’s first World Cup player, who passed away last Friday.
He would have wanted his death date to be January 5, 2024, but it was only one day later that his family announced his death. The sum of the numbers is 13 (5 + 2 + 2 + 4), which is his favorite number. Wearing the superstitious No. 13 jersey, he made his most famous assist – dribbling past five defenders to set up Vaba – with 13 minutes remaining in the 1962 semi-final against Chile. “It started with my wife. She’s a St. Anthony parishioner and her birthday is June 13,” he explained.
I got married on the 13th, and I also loved athletes and 13-letter words.
His quirks and idiosyncrasies are part of what made him a beloved figure in Brazil. There is no brighter figure than Zagallo, not only in Brazilian football but also in world football. He was manager in 1998 and 2006, and also won twice as a player and from the touchline (1970 as manager and 1994 as assistant manager). World Cup. He has played alongside some of Brazil’s best players. He has also done some of the best coaching. With his death, Brazil lost an intergenerational connection.
His influence as a player in World Cup victories is often underestimated. A hard-working leftist, he deliberately chose to be pragmatic so that the true romantics around him could spread their colorful wings. He was a craftsman second only to an artist. When his vaunted forwards became overloaded, he quietly dropped back and joined a thin midfield to screen the backline.
Therefore, he was given the name Little Ant. His position choice was also pragmatic. “He thought it would be difficult for him to wear the number 10 shirt and break into the Brazilian side because there were so many great players in that position,” he once told FIFA.com. “So I moved from left midfield to left wing.”
His soccer career was also a coincidence. He wanted to become a pilot, but failed the exam due to his poor eyesight. He took a course in accounting and took up soccer in his spare time. His ambition to represent his country was born in the 1950 World Cup match between Brazil and Uruguay, the turning point in Maracanço. He was a soldier in the stadium, saw defeat and cried out to take back his homeland. Throughout his career, even through changes in government, he remained committed to the cause of his home country’s football. “I was a soldier and always will be a soldier,” he once said.
He had a great way with words and his famous quotes will live on forever. After defying the odds and winning the 1997 COPA, he said: “You’re going to have to put up with me.” These are the words some politicians in this country have repeated for years after winning upset victories. He also said a line expressing the burden of being a Brazilian coach. “His country had a population of 150 million people, so there were 150 million people who thought of themselves as national team soccer coaches.” Or, “Brazil is a factory that consistently produces better players than any other country. I like to joke that the only countries that produce so many players are Brazilian men and Brazilian women.” Because he’s really good at it.”
His patriotism passed its first test when he was called up to coach the team just eight weeks before the 1970 World Cup, after incumbent João Saldaña was dismissed for being deemed too leftist for Brazil’s military regime. did. Coach Saldaña also seemed to want Pele on the bench, and there were rumors of the team splitting up. Zagallo’s appointment drew criticism, but even more so when he replaced the legendary all-attacking 4-2-4 with a less magical 4-5-1. “There was no way we could win with that explosive style. We were too open with the country,” he later reflected. This is where the journey from little ant to old wolf began.
He overhauled his backline, shoving the underutilized Rivellino into his old role as a false left winger and bringing back Tostao as the sole forward, with Pele and Co pulling the strings behind him. Ta. He also “smacked the hell out” of tough physical trainer Claudio Coutinho to take him to the pinnacle of physical fitness. It helped me cope with the high altitude and scorching summer heat of Mexico. Brazil won the World Cup with the perfect balance of style and steel. They never touched the high notes.
A less romantic team reached the semi-finals in 1974, but Zagallo doubted that his team would have been able to defend their title had it not been for Pele’s insistence that he retire after the 1970 tournament and fly to America to play for the Cosmos. I believed that. Years later, he was still upset, saying, “The decision to leave the national team is not my decision to make.”
But the public deserted him for a more stylish coach, and he landed in the Middle East, shaping the soccer culture of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. He was called up again in 1994 as Carlos Alberto Parriera’s assistant to end his 24-year trophy drought. Although the team achieved victories, they were often achieved by eschewing offensive idealism for defensive rigor.
Given full responsibility for the team, he was no longer the manager, but by polishing the diamonds in the rough like Ronaldo and Rivaldo, who brought Brazil the last of their five titles in 2002, he I wanted to re-instill some of that romance. He was due to return in 2006, but succumbed to Zinedine Zidane’s spell in the quarter-finals. He emotionally exposed the beautiful loser’s idealism as false. He said, “It’s not worth it to play beautifully and lose.I want to play ugly and win.I want to play beautifully and win.The important thing is the word “win.” There’s no point in playing beautifully if you don’t get results. What history remembers is the result. There’s nothing more. ” And history will remember Zagaro as a winner, an unparalleled winner in the game, and someone who found the perfect balance between talent and function.
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