They called him 'the professor' and is considered a true legend of Brazilian football: Mario Zagallo passed away at the age of 92, the only one to have been world champion four times, as a player and as a coach. “It is with great sadness that we inform you of the death of our eternal four-time world champion Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo”, the family's short post published on social media. And to “honor his memory”. Brazilian football federation has declared seven days of mourning while posts of remembrance and condolences follow one another. Zagallo played a key role in four of the five world titles won by the Seleçao.
As a player he won two trophies: in 1958 in Sweden and in 1962 in Chile. As a coach he then guided the Brazilian national team to the supreme title in 1970 in Mexico and was assistant coach during the 1994 coronation in the United States. He was manager again in 1998, when Ronaldo's Brazil lost 3-0 at the Stade de France against the Blues of captain Didier Deschamps. Only the legendary German Franz Beckenbauer (1974 as a player and 1990 as a coach) and Deschamps, after the Blues' coronation in Russia in 2018, managed to imitate him. Zagallowhose statue is located in front of the Nilton Santos stadium in Rio de Janeiro, he has little exported his talent. Only for the lucrative sirens of the Gulf, between 1976 and 1978 at the helm of Kuwait, then in 1989-90 with the United Arab Emirates with whom he qualified for the only World Cup, played without him, expelled before the tournament for stories of bonuses. Born on 9 August 1931 in Maceió, in the north-east of Brazil, to a family of Lebanese and Italian origin, Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo began his career in 1948 with the modest America club of Rio, then played eight seasons with Flamengo and seven with Botafogo. Very skilled left-footed, he defended an attacker ferociously.
He became an international in May 1958, before winning his first Jules Rimet trophy at the age of 27 with his glorious teammates Pelé, Garrincha, Didi and Vava 5-2 against Sweden, the hosts. Zagallo scored the fourth goal, before assisting Pelé for the fifth. “Zagallo is like a brother to me. When we arrived in Sweden for the 1958 World Cup I was 17 years old and the youngest member of the team, and Zagallo together with Zito and Gilmar told me to take me under their protection”, declared Pelé in August 2013 on the occasion of Zagallo's 82nd birthday. Very superstitious, Zagallo had an unshakable faith in the number 13 that adorned his shirt. He married his wife on 13 June, he lived on the 13th floor, he drove his car with the number plate 13. And he said he regretted that the 1998 final was played on 12 July. Zagallo hung up his boots in June 1964 before starting to coach two years later, mainly in Brazil (Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense, Portuguesa or Vasco da Gama). Coach of Verdeoro during the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, he led Brazil to their third world title with Pelé, Jairzinho, Tostao, Gerson and Carlos Alberto.
A tactical genius, he was the first to set up a 5-3-2 capable of transforming into a 3-5-2 in attack. He left the Seleçao for the first time after finishing fourth in the 1974 World Cup and was recalled in 1994 as assistant to Carlos Alberto Parreira during the Seleçao's fourth coronation. He replaced Parreira until the 1998 final in France, where Zinedine Zidane's team stripped him of the title. Recalled in 2003 to prepare as technical coordinator for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, his career was definitively put to an end when Brazil went out in the quarter-finals against France (1-0), once again beaten by Zidane.
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