Ademir Marques de Menezes

For another Brazilian footballers named Ademir , see Ademir da Guia and Ademir Roque Kaefer.
Ademir
Personal information
Full nameAdemir Marques de Menezes
Date of birth8 November 1922
Place of birthRecife, Brazil
Date of death11 May 1996 (aged 73)
Place of deathRio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Playing positionStriker
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1939–1942Sport Recife
1942–1945Vasco da Gama
1946–1947Fluminense
1948–1956Vasco da Gama
1957Sport Recife
National team
1945–1953Brazil39(32)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Ademir Marques de Menezes (8 November 1922 – 11 May 1996), best known as Ademir (Portuguese pronunciation: [adeˈmiʁ]), was a Brazilian footballer, regarded as one of the best centre forwards in the history of the Brazil national team.[1] His prominent underbite earned him the nickname "Queixada", which means "jaw".

He is best known for his exploits in the 1950 World Cup held in his native Brazil. Playing in an outstanding forward trio involving Zizinho and Jair he won the Golden Boot as the top scorer in the competition. He was the scorer of the first competitive goal at the Maracanã stadium[2] There is some disagreement in the records as to how many goals Ademir scored, with some sources citing seven and others, including the authoritative RSSSF, nine. Despite this feat, he could not bring victory to Brazil in the decisive match against Uruguay – a national tragedy which was later dubbed the Maracanazo.

Ademir also enjoyed success in the Copa América. He played in the 1945, 1946, 1949, and 1953 editions of the tournament, scoring 12 goals in 18 appearances in the competition, including a tournament-winning hat-trick in the final play-off against Paraguay in 1949. He also won the Panamerican Championship with Brazil in 1952. In total, Ademir played 39 times for his country, scoring 32 goals (according to RSSSF) between 1945 and 1953.

He began his club career with Sport Recife before moving to Vasco da Gama. He played for Vasco for two spells, 1942–1945 and 1948–56, broken by a spell at Fluminense. In total, Ademir made 429 appearances for Vasco, scoring 301 goals, winning five Rio State League championships (1945, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1956). He won another with Fluminense (1946). He was the league's top scorer in 1949 with 30 goals and again in 1950 with 25 goals. Ademir finally retired from playing in 1956, going on to work as a commentator, coach and businessman.

Ability

A fast and powerful striker, with a strong shot in both feet,[1] Ademir began his career as a left winger before moving to the centre, causing havoc in opposing defences with his skill and sublime finishing. People at the time considered him an unequalled ball juggler who knew every trick in the book. He used to wreak havoc among defences with his quick changes in tempo, fooling his opponents with deceptions carried out almost at lightning speed, his mastering of the ball in all situations and the ability to accelerate rapidly.

Ademir Marques de Menezes’s 1950 World Cup statistics

The scores contain links to the article on the 1950 FIFA World Cup and the round in question. When there is a special article on the match in question, the link is in the column for round.

Game no. Round Date Opponent Score Ademir’s goals Times Ademir’s playing time Venue Report
1Group 1 24 June 1950  Mexico 4–0 (1–0) 2  30'  79' 90 min. Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro
2Group 1 28 June 1950   Switzerland 2–2 (2–1) 0 90 min. Estádio do Pacaembu, São Paulo
3Group 1 1 July 1950  Yugoslavia 2–0 (1–0) 1  3' 90 min. Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro
4 Final R. 9 July 1950  Sweden 7–1 (3–0) 4  17'  37'  51'  59' 90 min. Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro
5 Final R. 13 July 1950  Spain 6–1 (3–0) 1  57' 90 min. Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro
6 Final R. 16 July 1950  Uruguay 1–2 (0–0) 0 90 min. Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro

National team statistics

[3] [4]

Brazil national team
YearAppsGoals
194597
194661
194720
194800
194957
1950914
195100
195252
195331
Total3932

Honours

Preceded by
Leônidas		 FIFA World Cup Golden Shoe
1950 		Succeeded by
Sándor Kocsis

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tim Vickery (26 March 2007). "Tim Vickery column". BBC. Archived from the original on 30 March 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2007.
  2. ↑ "Maracanã, the largest stadium of the world". Sambafoot.com. Archived from the original on 21 March 2007. Retrieved 23 March 2007.
  3. ↑ Ademir Marques de Menezes at National-Football-Teams.com
  4. ↑ http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/ademir-intlg.html