1962 World Cup Star : Mario Jorge Lobo Zagalo
Brazil have enjoyed great footballers in Pelé and Amarildo, Tostao and Romario, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. But in the country of the five-time FIFA World Cup™ champions nobody was more successful than “O Lobo“, the Wolf, when it came to carrying off titles.
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Zagalo is an important character in the story of world
football; he was one of the most successful champions as player and
coach at football FIFA World Cups™. His fellow-countrymen respectfully
call him “O Lobo”, the “Wolf”. As a player, Zagalo featured in Brazil’s FIFA World Cup™ victories in 1958 and 1962. At those tournaments, when the South Americans started their successes at the FIFA World Cups™, he was an accomplished outside left. As a head coach, Zagalo’s success was with the 1970 FIFA World Cup™ triumph. Then he took over the national team from Joao Saldanha just eight weeks before the event, and led them to their third World title in Mexico. |
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At Brazil’s fourth FIFA World Cup™ title in the USA in 1994,
Zagalo was the sports director. In that position he was the most
important assistant to coach Carlos Alberto Perreira. Since Zagalo has
had his share of four FIFA World Cup™ titles with the “Samba”
footballers, he was seen as the pivot to keep the world’s best team on
course in 2002. At the FIFA World Cup™ in Japan and Korea, Zagalo once
again added his share of advice as Brazil won the title again, this time
under coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. Since then they have called him the
“football professor” at home. In 2004, Zagalo risked his life for the sake of Brazilian football. Aged 72, he coached the World champions for one match -- a 3-2 victory over FIFA World Cup™ semi-finalists Korea in Seoul. There is every chance it was his farewell game with the national team. After the match he was admitted to hospital with severe heart problems. As the main figurehead of Brazilian football he remains today the “good spirit” of successful coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who is preparing the five-time FIFA World Cup™ champions for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ in Germany. Parreira describes the contributions of now white-haired Zagalo: “He is not only the first footballer who became a FIFA World Cup™ champion as a player as well as a coach, a feat which only Franz Beckenbauer achieved since him, but Zagalo is a very important technical adviser to us. The players love and admire him. His presence is important because he is a winner, a Brazilian football legend. He is the father figure of the team. A single word from him can inspire them all”. Superstar Ronaldo also enthuses respectfully about the man who is as popular in Brazil as Pelé: “Zagalo was the best thing that happened for me and Brazil.” The world appreciated him, and Brazil loved him, principally for his 37 international matches and four goals as a player. In his twelve FIFA World Cup™ games in which he scored two goals, Zagalo, born on August 9, 1931 in Macéio, contributed considerably to Brazil’s FIFA World Cup™ triumphs in 1958 and 1962. He became a national hero particularly in 1962. When Pelè was injured and could not play, it was Zagalo’s performances that kept the team on the highest level in Chile, and that made him a superstar. Zagalo began as an amateur with “America” in the 1950s of the 20th Century, then moved to Flamengo Rio de Janeiro. “Though his physique was not ideal, he compensated with excellent technique and energetic play, particularly in defence”, FIFA writes in a homage to Zagalo, who made his professional debut in 1953. From 1958 until the end of his playing career in 1964, he played for Botafogo Rio de Janeiro. During those six years he also wore the shirt of the national team. The fans in Brazil loved him as a player of great intensity, but his controlled, defensive kind of game as a coach met with less enthusiasm. The Brazilians love to see their “Selecao” attack, but Zagalo was inclined to choose more careful tactics. But he led the team to victory in the 1997 Copa America, the South American championship. After their 3-1 final victory over Bolivia, he furiously shouted into the microphones of the reporters who had previously criticised him: “Now you’ll all have to swallow me”. This sentence went down in Brazilian football history, comparable with the emotional speech of Giovanni Trapattoni (“bottle empty”), the former coach of FC Bayern Munich. As national coaches are permanently under a great deal of public pressure in Brazil, the repeated work of Zagalo for the Brazilian Association impressively proves his outstanding abilities. He was head coach from 1970 to 1974, from 1993 to 1994, and once again as interim coach in 2004. Zagalo was technical director from 1994 to 1998. Zagalo’s record includes participation in six FIFA World Cup™ finals, with five bringing the coveted FIFA World Cup™ title. Only in France in 1998 did he leave the final as a loser, after the 3-0 defeat by the host team. Then the grand master, as Scolari’s assistant, sent a sick Ronaldo on to the pitch. |
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Brazil have enjoyed great footballers in Pelé and Amarildo, Tostao and Romario, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. But in the country of the five-time FIFA World Cup™ champions nobody was more successful than “O Lobo“, the Wolf, when it came to carrying off titles.
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