Mário Zagallo

Zagallo
Zagallocomemora.jpg
Personal information
Full name Mário Jorge Lobo Zagallo
Date of birth August 9, 1931 (1931-08-09) (age 78)
Place of birth    Maceió, Brazil
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 7+12 in)
Playing position Winger (Retired)
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1948-1949
1950-1958
1958-1965
América
Flamengo
Botafogo
 ? (?)
217 (30)
 ? (?)   
National team2
1958-1964 Brazil 33 (5)
Teams managed
1966-1970
1967-1968
1970-1974
1971-1972
1972-1974
1975
1976-1978
1978-1979
1978-1979
1980-1981
1981-1984
1984-1985
1986-1987
1988-1989
1989-1990
1990-1991
1994-1998
1999-2000
2000-2001
2002
Botafogo
Brazil
Brazil
Fluminense
Flamengo
Botafogo
Kuwait
Botafogo
Al Hilal
Vasco da Gama
Saudi Arabia
Flamengo
Botafogo
Bangu
United Arab Emirates
Vasco da Gama
Brazil
Portuguesa
Flamengo
Brazil

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of June 4 2006.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of June 4 2006.
* Appearances (Goals)

Mário Jorge Lobo Zagallo (born August 9, 1931 in Maceió) is a Brazilian football coach and former player, of Lebanese origin, from the Zakkour family in Zahleh.

Biography

Zagallo started his footballer career in América in 1948 [1]. He was the first footballer to win the World Cup as a player (1958, 1962), as a manager (1970), and as assistant coach (World Cup 1994), all with the Brazilian national team. He also coached his country to a fourth-place finish in the 1974 World Cup and to a second-place finish in the 1998 World Cup [2].

Zagallo guided the United Arab Emirates to their first World Cup finals in 1990, but was dismissed from his post before the tournament. Zagallo was assistant coach (as in 1994, the main coach was Carlos Alberto Parreira) of the Brazilian team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which was eliminated by France.

As a player, Zagallo was the left-forward of the Brazilian teams in the Cups of 1958 and 1962; he scored goals in both tournaments, including one in the final match against the Swedish team, in 1958. What he lacked in physical stature, Zagallo compensated with exquisite technique and by always being the first man back to defend if his team lost the ball.

In 1970, Zagallo assumed the national team after the previous coach João Saldanha resigned alleging that he was suffering external pressures to include players in the team. Zagallo had the task – and succeeded in performing it – of finding a place in the team for a group of outstanding players such as Pelé, Gérson, Tostão, Jairzinho and Rivelino. In his 1977 autobiography, Pelé writes that Zagallo initially restricted his team from playing their attacking game at the 1970 World Cup. Based on a chess format, Zagallo organized a sophisticated method, which he ultimately had to abandon due to player complaints. His side won all six of their matches, scoring 19 times in the process. It was the first time football had witnessed a 5-3-2 formation that could seamlessly transform itself into a 3-5-2 and back again.

On July 23, 2001 the Brazilian football team was defeated (0-2) in the quarter-final of the 2001 Copa America tournament by the low-ranked (and last minute invitee) Honduras. Zagallo, stunned, stated that he never thought to live long enough to see the powerful Brazil being defeated by Honduras.

He is famously superstitious around the number 13. For example, since 5+8= 13 as well as 9+4=13, he believed that 1958 and 1994 World Cups were special for Brazil. Also regarding the 1994 victory, he used to state that the phrase Brasil tetracampeão ("Brazil four times champion") is comprised of 13 letters.

After being introduced by Cláudio Coutinho in 1978, Zagallo was one of the managers to fully use attacking full backs, a concept he has always remained loyal to -- as the importance of Cafu, Leonardo and Roberto Carlos to the Seleçao’s forward play in 1994 and 1998 stands to prove.

Quotes

External links

Preceded by
Flag of England Alf Ramsey
FIFA World Cup winning managers
1970
Succeeded by
Flag of Germany Helmut Schön