Pele edges Eusebio as Santos defend title
Rarely in the history of football can a team have been so closely associated with one player as Santos FC are with Pelé. For two decades, Santos and 'O Rei' weaved dreams together as the incomparable forward demonstrated his insolent mastery of the game across the planet. Their legend is all the more staggering considering that Santos FC represent a town of less than half a million inhabitants, 70km to the south-east of the all-consuming megalopolis of Sao Paulo.
A brief history...
Rarely in the history of football can a team have been so closely associated with one player as Santos FC are with Pelé. For two decades, Santos and 'O Rei' weaved dreams together as the incomparable forward demonstrated his insolent mastery of the game across the planet.
Their legend is all the more staggering considering that Santos FC represent a town of less than half a million inhabitants, 70km to the south-east of the all-consuming megalopolis of Sao Paulo.
The club were officially born at 11.33pm on 14 April 1912 upon the instigation of three players from modest club Americanos. The founding members originally put forward three possible names for the new outfit: Africa Futebol Clube, Asociaçao Esportiva Brasil and Concordia Futebol Clube. Santos FC eventually won the day, though, and the team disputed their first official match on 22 June 1912, which they won thanks to goals from Ferramenta and Ribeiro.
Santos joined the Campeonato Paulista (Paulista championship) four years later, but it was only with the arrival of Pelé in 1955 that the club began to grab headlines. For the next 15 years, they were not only untouchable but seemingly insatiable, giving the impression that no amount of goals would ever quench their thirst for more.
The titles began to pile up without the players' sheer enjoyment ever fading, and the biggest stars of the day seized the chance to join in the fun alongside Pelé. Zito, Dorval, Jaïr, Coutinho, Ze Carlos, Pepe, Toninho, Edu, Clodoaldo and Brazil captain Carlos Alberto all rallied to the cause as Santos became the 'Harlem Globe Trotters' of football.
In fact, when Brazil faced Germany on 5 May 1963 no fewer than eight of the Seleçao's starting eleven were Santos players (Gilmar, Lima, Zito, Mengalvio, Dorval, Coutinho, Pelé and Pepe).
Even after Pelé retired, the club's unique delight in scoring continued unabated, and on 20 January 1998 they became the first team in football history to pass the 10,000-goal mark. But Santos only really returned to the forefront again in 2002, when they collected another Brazilian title thanks to a teenager who brought memories of Pelé flooding back. Short, fragile and only 17 years of age, Robinho was already the soul of the team. Unlike Pelé, though, he left Santos in 2005 to join one of the giants of European football, Real Madrid.
Santos Futebol Clube
City: Santos, Sao Paulo state
Founded: 14 April 1912
Official website:www.santosfc.com.br
Honours:
* 2 Intercontinental Cups: 1962, 1963
* 2 Libertadores Cups: 1962, 1963
* 1 South American Super Cup: 1968
* 2 Brazilian Championships: 2002, 2004
* 5 Taca Brasil: 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965
* 1 Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa: 1968
* 1 Conmebol Cup: 1998
* 5 Rio-Sao Paulo Tournaments: 1959, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1997
* 17 Paulista State Championships: 1935, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1978, 1984, 2006, 2007
Legendary players:
Araken (1922-29, 1935), Feitico (1927-33), Zito (1952-67), Pepe (1954-69), Pele (1956-74), Coutinho (1958-70), Mauro (1960-67), Gilmar (1962-69), Toninho Guerreiro (1963-69), Carlos Alberto Torres , Edu (1965-76), Clodoaldo (1966-78), Robinho (2002-05)
Records:
Pele - 1,115 appearances
Pele - 1,091 goals
Vittorio Pozzo - 'Old Master' helped make Italian football
Name: Vittorio Pozzo
Date of birth : 12 March 1886
In a brilliant four-year period, Vittorio Pozzo led Italy to two FIFA World Cups TM crowns and an Olympic gold medal, duly cementing his place in the coaching pantheon.
In a brilliant four year period, Vittorio Pozzo led the Italian national team to two FIFA World Cups TM and an Olympic gold medal, establishing himself as one of the greatest coaching figures in football history. Not only did il Vecchio Maestro ('the old master') build a side largely considered on par with any in the first half of the century, he was also a central figure in establishing many of the traditional characteristics of Italian football - steely pragmatism melded with sophisticated precision.
Known as a tactical wizard, Pozzo was also successful leader of men. Authoritarian but paternalistic and attentive, he demanded that his players pay any price for an Azzurri victory, even if many of his charges were not Italian. The Commissario Tecnico and his 1934 team won as hosts with an entire country (not to mention fascist dictator Benito Mussolini) watching their every move. It was an iron-willed, if fortunate, performance. However, the extraordinary France 38 team was the true culmination of Pozzo's footballing vision.
A vision takes hold
An unrepentant Anglophile, the adventurous young Pozzo discovered football while studying in England. After leading the Italian teams to the 1912 and 1924 Olympics in Stockholm and Paris - the latter time winning a bronze medal - Pozzo was named the first head coach of the Azzurri not to be shackled by the decision-making of a technical committee in 1929.
At the second FIFA World Cup finals in 1934, the hosts looked well on their way after uncomplicated victories over Greece (4-0 in qualifying) and the United States (7-1 in the first round), but a rugged quarter-final battled with Spain could not be decided after 120 minutes of 1-1 football, and a replay was ordered for the following day. Four Italian and seven Spanish players were unfit to play, including Spain's inspirational goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora, and legendary inside-right Giuseppe Meazza, eventually carried the day with the only goal in the relatively deadened rematch.
A high-profile semi-final against fellow tournament favourites Austria in the semi-final was a lacklustre affair. On a muddy pitch, the only thing separating the two was a dubious 10th-minute strike from one of the team's many oriundi (South American-born Italian nationals), Enrico Guaita. Pozzo's playmaking centre-half Luisito Monti - another oriundi, who actually played for Argentina in the 1930 FIFA World Cup final - was in fantastic form pre-empting attacks by the aging Wunderteam, led by Pozzo's friend and rival Hugo Meisl.
In the final, Italy met a dexterous Czech team, who took the lead in the 70th minute and by all rights should have carried away the trophy. Motivated brilliantly as ever by Pozzo, the hosts nevertheless managed to triumph almost through willpower alone as another oriundi, Raimondo Orsi, hit a spectacular, swerving shot to even the contest in the 81st minute. In extra time, a hobbled Meazza, all but left alone to drift in and out of the match, picked out Guaita from the wing. The Roma midfielder slid the ball to Angelo Schiavio, who just managed to poke in the winner five minutes into the extra period.
Amid the grandiloquent jubilations for Italia, riding atop his players shoulders, Pozzo was undoubtedly overjoyed as well as relieved. Despite being given the title Commendatore for greatness in his profession after the event, Pozzo made it clear that he still had much to do to form the team that he wanted.
Playing his football
After claiming a historic Olympic gold medal at the 1936 Olympics, Pozzo and Italy were amongst the shortlist of favourites in 1938, though the team was almost completely different from the side four years earlier. More refined and technical, the side now completely revolved around the inside forwards Meazza (now captain) and Giovanni Ferrari -- the only two players to feature in both finals. Up front with them Pozzo had inserted the deadly tandem of striker Silvio Piola and winger Gino Colaussi, who would go on to score five and four goals respectively in the finals.
Italy's toughest match of the 1938 finals actually came in the first round against a determined Norway side. Piola managed an extra time winner, and Pozzo adjusted the team for the daunting second round match up with France in Paris. As usual, the Maestro made all the right moves and Piola scored a brace to see off the hosts. In the semi-final, Brazil coach Ademar Pimenta famously rested his first choice strikeforce of Leonidas and Tim and paid the price 2-1 to an undeniable Italy.
Lucky four years before in the final, Pozzo's men stole the show from Hungary in France. They opened the scoring in just the sixth minute with a flowing, length-of-the-pitch move that culminated in a Colaussi strike. A Pal Titkos equaliser stemmed the tide, but Italy were mouth-watering. Meazza made goals for Piola and Colaussi before the half was up, as Hungary's more deliberate style and outdated tactics were cruelly exposed by the Azzurri.
Gyorgy Sarosi pulled one back for the Eastern Europeans, but Amedeo Biavati's backheel set up Piola with eight minutes remaining, and Italy's third all-time leading goal scorer thumped his left-footed blast into the net. Unpopular to the French fans and Italian expatriates in attendance, Pozzo and his team celebrated more intimately than four years before. But, the look on Pozzo's face is one of the complete satisfaction.
The demanding coach and his devoted team had played themselves into the record books as the first to successfully defend a FIFA World Cup as well as the first to win it on foreign soil. With war looming on the horizon however, Pozzo and his men never got the chance to defend their FIFA World Cup run as there would not be another finals for 12 years.
Pozzo struggled on against social and political forces as coach of the Azzurri until the summer of 1948 when he retired at the age of 62. In all, he led the national team to 63 wins, 17 draws and 15 losses in his 19 year career. The 63 victories and the total number of 95 matches coached in are both Italian national team records.
He resumed his previous career as a football journalist after retiring, but his standing as a football manager was compromised by what many saw as capitulation with Mussolini's fascist regime. He eventually faded back to his beloved Turin and died four days before Christmas in 1968. A popular figure or not, Pozzo's place in FIFA World Cup history is enshrined with his team.
Tactics
While in England watching Manchester United's centre-half Charlie Roberts, Pozzo was won over to the idea of a system featuring two backs and a playmaking centre-half. Inspired by Austria's Hugo Meisl, Pozzo developed his own tactics, known as the Metodo. Pozzo's teams typically relied less on the centre-half and more on the inside forwards, Giuseppe Meazza and Giovanni Ferrari, to break down defences, and thus combined the previously used 2-3-5 and W-M formations.
In the 1940s, the centre-half became a stopper, and the revised strategy was called the Sistema ('the system'). The new style was the grandfather of the unyielding defence and quick counterattacks typical of Italian football and it proved ultimately useful in the ever-quickening international game.
Coaching career
National team
1912: Italy
1924: Italy
1929 - 1948: Italy
International achievements
FIFA World Cup winner in 1934 et 1938
Olympic champion in 1936
97 matches, 64 wins, 17 draws, 16 defeats
Club
1912 - 1922 : Torino (Techincal director)
Playing career
Clubs
1905 - 1906: Grasshopper-Club Zurich (Switzerland)
1906 - 1911: Torino
Classic XI: the victorious team at Italy 1934
Combi, Shiavio, Allemandi, Bertolini, Ferrari, Ferraris, Guaita, Meazza, Monti, Monzeglio, Orsi
Classic XI: the victorious team at France 1938
Olivieri, Foni, Rava, Serantoni, Andreolo, Biavati, Colaussi, Ferrari, Locatelli, Meazza, Piola
Alf Ramsey - England's Anonymous Hero
Name: Alfred Ramsey
Country: England
England have won just one FIFA World Cup and they owe that success to Alf Ramsey. Loyal to his players and an astute tactician, this former England full-back led the 'wingless wonders' to glory on home soil in 1966.
Not even Queen Elizabeth II could contain her joy on 30 July 1966 when England, recognised as the birthplace of modern football, finally captured the FIFA World Cup TM. As wild celebrations erupted inside Wembley Stadium and scores poured onto the streets up and down the country, it seemed there was just one man able to remain calm. Alf Ramsey, who had masterminded the nation's greatest-ever sporting triumph, raised a warm smile but, remarkably, kept his composure as well as his seat on the bench.
Like Nobby Stiles' jig and Bobby Moore's lifting of the Jules Rimet trophy, the image of a restrained Ramsey sticks with every Englishman even 40 years after the famous event, underlining the importance of the role played by their coach and the quiet dignity that he personified. The 'General' also possessed an astute football brain, was flexible with his tactics, yet a strict disciplinarian, and as a technician was well ahead of his time. But perhaps his greatest talent was his ability to get the best out of his players.
"We will win the World Cup," the Essex man announced with uncharacteristic bravado as he took the national-team reins in 1963. Never at ease among the press but nevertheless widely respected, a 5-2 loss to France in a European Nations' Cup qualifying game had many within the media questioning the appointment. But Ramsey, who in his playing days as a right-back won 32 caps for England and a league championship with Tottenham Hotspur, was willing to take a major gamble by dispensing with the wingers English football had become identified with. He replaced them with an unfamiliar 4-4-2 formation, which led his side to become known as the 'wingless wonders.'
Whatever criticism he took from the media, Ramsey's loyalty to his players was always returned. "It worked both ways," explained midfielder Nobby Stiles, who, despite a vicious tackle on French playmaker Jacques Simon during England's 2-0 group win, was backed to the hilt by his manager amid calls for him to be dropped for the quarter-finals. "Because he was loyal to you, you'd run through brick walls for him. And it wasn't just the players. Everyone concerned with England was doing it for Alf. Before the Argentina game I was in the bathroom putting my contacts in when Harold Shepherdson [Ramsey's assistant] came in. He grabs me by the throat, pushes me against the wall and says, 'Don't you let Alf down'."
Despite Ramsey's bold prediction, most football experts did not think England, even as hosts, could win the tournament. After all Ramsey himself was in the England team that suffered a humiliating defeat by the United States at the 1950 finals in Brazil. His last cap, three years later at Wembley, came on the day Hungary's magical Magyars famously destroyed the home team 6-3. In three subsequent FIFA World Cups - Switzerland '54, Sweden '58 and Chile '62 - England had failed to go beyond the last eight.
There was little reason to suspect that Ramsey's men could dethrone Pele and Co, but England were about to wake up to the world. A goalless draw against Uruguay kicked off the finals for the hosts, which was followed by an unconvincing 2-0 win against Mexico. However, a confident 2-0 victory over France showed the team were moving in the right direction, and after vanquishing Argentina in a rugged 1-0 match - Ramsey infamously referred to the Argentina players as "animals" after the contest - the nation began to believe in the coach and his 'wingless wonders'.
With Gordon Banks in goal and captain Bobby Moore majestic in front of him, England had not conceded a goal in the tournament to that point. When their net did bulge for the first time, it came just eight minutes from time in the semi-final against Portugal, and Eusebio's penalty was too late to undo the damage of two Bobby Charlton strikes. That 2-1 success put England into the final where they would face West Germany, a side they had never lost to.
While the form book was in England's favour, few could have predicted the full drama of the 1966 FIFA World Cup final - Germany's last-gasp equaliser for 2-2, England's controversial 'third' goal, Geoff Hurst's hat-trick and finally the jubilation - all with Ramsey sitting resolutely on the bench. Hero Hurst related how Ramsey convinced the team to fight on before extra time: "You've won it once. Now go and win it again."
Alf became Sir Alf a year later and under his charge, the 1960s continued to swing for English football fans. Many commentators believed the team Ramsey took to Mexico '70 were even better than the champions of four years before, and the paternal England coach seemed to instinctively know what his players needed to perform at their best. Together with this psychological insight into the machinations of the modern professional, Ramsey's hand extended as far as travel arrangements, diet and fitness. His planning and control were even more exact for the Mexico finals.
"Alf's preparations for Mexico were incredible," remembered Stiles. "They'd be reckoned obsolete by today's standards but in those days they were revolutionary. No stone was left unturned. He even took HP Sauce to Mexico. I'll always remember that - HP Sauce on the tables."
But the world champions were hit by incidents off the field that would test Ramsey's managerial abilities to the full. First, his captain and great ally, Bobby Moore, was falsely arrested for stealing a necklace from a shop in a Colombian hotel. And, before the quarter-final rematch with West Germany, Banks - who made a miraculous save from a Pele header in the 1-0 group defeat by Brazil - fell ill. The resulting quarter-final in Leon was a turning point in the England coach's reign.
An error from Banks' replacement Peter Bonetti gave the Germans a lifeline at 2-1 in the second half, and Ramsey's decision to take off Charlton just minutes before Uwe Seeler's goal brought the contest level has been viewed as the moment when the boss' messiah-like reputation was lost for good. Gerd Muller's winner in the second period of extra time left England toppled in the most dramatic of fashions.
By the early 1970s football was transforming, and the change from black-and-white TV was accompanied by more colourful coaches who were more engaging with the media. Ramsey's momentous feats in the 60s found little currency when after a one-sided home draw with Poland, England failed to qualify for the 1974 finals in West Germany. "If Bobby Moore had wept, we would have all wept with him," said the deflated coach whose dozen-year reign came to an end. In all, Sir Alf's England teams registered 69 victories, 27 draws and 17 losses.
"It was the most devastating half-hour of my life," Ramsey later said of his sacking. "I stood in a room almost full of staring committee men. It was just like I was on trial. I thought I was going to be hanged." The 53-year-old son of a smallholder remained the people's champion, though, and with every passing year his unique feat of leading England to victory in the game they gave to the world appears more and more remarkable.
Hugo Meisl - The banker's son who masterminded a Wunderteam
Name: Hugo Meisl
Date of birth: 16 November 1881
In the 1930's Austria laid claim to a team whose quality and verve sent legitimate shockwaves throughout Europe. The mastermind and father of this Wunderteam often mentioned in the same breath as the great Hungarian side of the 1950s and Brazil of 1970, was Hugo Meisl.
In the 1930's Austria laid claim to a team whose quality and verve sent legitimate shockwaves throughout Europe. The mastermind and father of this Wunderteam often mentioned in the same breath as the great Hungarian side of the 1950s and Brazil of 1970, was Hugo Meisl. The ingenious football innovator and connoisseur was one of the game's leading authorities of his era, governing the Austrian Football Association as General Secretary in the 1920s and 1930s and coaching the Alpine nation to initial prominence on Planet Football at the 1934 FIFA World Cup.
Born to a wealthy family, Meisl moved to Vienna as a child where he attended a commercial academy, training for a career in business before securing a position as a clerk with the L䮤erbank. However, young Meisl had always harboured a passion for football and duly sacrificed a lucrative banking career to dedicate himself to perfecting the art and building a much-needed infrastructure for the sport. His knowledge earned him a reputation as an outstanding expert in his field.
As General Secretary of the Austrian Football Association, Meisl was a driving force in making football a professional sport not only in Austria, but throughout Europe. The shrewd expert in the burgeoning international game, he was the inventor of the Mitropa Cup, a precursor to the European Champions Cup. However, Meisl's greatest success came as coach of the fabled 'Wunderteam' that made footballing history in the 1930s.
On 22 December 1912, Hugo Meisl made his debut as national coach of the Alpine Republic at just 31 years of age. And it turned out to be a winning start, as his side overcame bitter rivals Italy 3-1 in Genoa.
Keeping it on the carpet
Meisl was in charge of the national team for just under two years before embarking on a five-year tour of service in the First World War. Heinrich Retschury subsequently took over the helm, but Meisl remained in relatively close contact and resumed sole control of the team at the beginning of 1919 after returning from the conflict.
Football enjoyed a golden era in the wake of the war, and Meisl was one of those in favour of professionalizing the sport. And in his position as General Secretary, he also played a major role in building the national team, along with his English friend Jimmy Hogan, who is largely credited with bringing what was then known as 'Scottish-style' football to the continent. His 'keep-it-on-the-carpet' philosophy particularly influenced Austria in the 1930s and Hungary's Magical Magyars in the 1950s - two teams regarded very highly for their controlled, technical style of play.
The Austrian Wunderteam, regarded by most as the greatest pre-World War Two team in Europe, was born in the early 1930s. A 2-1 victory against Czechoslovakia on 12 April 1931 would herald an unbeaten run of 14 matches for the Austrian team, consisting of eleven victories and three draws. This remarkable series of results also included two emphatic routs of Germany, who were outclassed 6-0 in Berlin and 5-0 in Vienna. However, the highlight of the run is traditionally seen as the 5-0 drubbing of Scotland on 16 May 1931 in Vienna, as it was the first time Scotland tasted defeat on the continent. Hungary were also humbled in an 8-2 thrashing, while Switzerland were swept aside 8-1 in Basel.
Playing with the Paper Dancer
Meisl's proxy on the pitch was the magical Matthias Sindelar, one of the greatest footballers of his generation and a genius of a playmaker who inspired the team to success. Nicknamed der Papierene on account of his lean, delicate stature, and 'The Mozart of Football' because of his virtuosity, Sindelar was the flamboyant, free-spirited soul of this well-drilled team.
The impressive run finally came to an end on 7 December 1932 when Meisl's charges were defeated for the first time in 15 tries by the game's English inventors. The upstarts went down bravely 4-3 in the birthplace of football at London's Stamford Bridge and even in defeat, the continentals' flair and strength was very much on display. It was an ironic return of Hogan's British methods that was a foreshadowing of Hungary's watershed 6-3 demolition of England in 1953.
Austria lost just one more game until the semi-finals of the 1934 FIFA World Cup' on 9 April 1933, when they were defeated 2-1 by Czechoslovakia. Between April 1931 and June 1934, the Wunderteam lost just three out of 31 games, scoring 101 goals.
Slouching into history
Austria's glory days were due to come at the 1934 FIFA World Cup in neighbouring Italy. Though they were a few years past their high-water mark, the Wunderteam confirmed their very real chances of winning the second global showpiece by thumping the hosts 4-2 in a friendly at the brand new Stadio Mussolini in Turin on the eve of the finals.
After their incredible run of form, Meisl's team understandably arrived at the finals with high expectations, but it was to be an unlucky competition all around. After a 3-2 extra-time win over France in Turin, Austria went on to eliminate Hungary in a 2-1 quarter-final triumph in Bologna to set up a semi-final clash with hosts Italy at Milan's San Siro stadium. The particularly bruising encounter with Hungary led Meisl to call it 'a brawl, not a football match,' and his team would rue the lingering injuries they picked up there.
Before the semi-final against Italy, coached by old friend and fellow innovator Vittorio Pozzo, Meisl remarked, 'We have no chance.' And, almost as if on queue, the heavens opened and a deluge of rain swamped the pitch. The conditions were a crushing blow for the fatigued Austrians who loved to play on the grass, as was the loss of injured dynamo Johann Horvath. And though Austria had their fair share of chances - some reports have Italian goalkeeper Giampiero Combi saving almost two dozen shots - Enrico Guaita's 10th-minute Azzurri goal held up 1-0, and Meisl, Sindelar and the Wunderteam would never truly cement their status in FIFA World Cup history.
Two years later Austria reached the final at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. However, once again it was Italy who denied Meisl and his men. The final, which ended in a 1-2 defeat remains to this day, the only time Austria have reached the ultimate match of a major international football tournament.
On 24 January 1937, Hugo Meisl took his place on the Austrian bench for the last time. And his team gifted him a farewell victory, defeating France 2-1 in Paris. Just weeks later, Hugo Meisl died at the age of 55. No Austrian national coach has been able to replicate his great success, and the subsequent German Anschluss of the Austrian team destroyed much of what the great man had created -- including der Papierene Sindelar, who died under mysterious circumstances soon after the Nazi occupation began. It was a quick and tragic end to a beautiful Viennese tale.
Tactics
Jimmy Hogan's tactical ideas about football found little purchase in his native England, but he was openly accepted as both coach and tactician in Austria, Hungary and Germany among other places. One of the first men to take to Hogan's short-passing style was Hugo Meisl. The Austrian football administrator and Hogan adapted their ideas to the pitch, giving unprecedented emphasis to the creative centre half in a 2-3-5 'W-M' formation. The Austrian Wunderteam was an important step between the forward-thinking ideas of Herbert Chapman and Jimmy Hogan from England and Vittorio Pozzo's two-time FIFA World Cup champions Italy.
"Coaching career"
National team
1912-1914: Austria
1919-1937: Austria
International achievements
Fourth place at the 1934 FIFA World Cup Italy
Silver medalist at the 1936 Olympic Football Tournament
Playing career
1900-1905: Vienna Cricket and Football Club
Herberger: Miracle worker for a new Germany
Name : Joseph 'Sepp' Herberger
Date of Birth: 28 March 1897
Mastermind of the 'Maracle of Berne', Joseph Herberger is widely accepted as a founding father of the new Germany after the Second World War. He was transformed by the seminal victory over prohibitive favourites Hungary into a social and cultural icon for the fledgling Federal Republic.
Labelled the 'Miracle of Berne,' Germany's first FIFA World Cup TM triumph in 1954 is inextricably linked with Joseph Herberger, a man whose achievements transcended the conventional boundaries of football coaching. Indeed, he is widely accepted as a founding father of the new Germany after the second World War, a sportsman transformed by the seminal victory over prohibitive favourites Hungary into a social and cultural icon for the fledgling Federal Republic.
'Sepp', as he was affectionately known, was the youngest of six children in a working-class family. When his father died, Herberger was sent out to work at the age of 14, taking odd jobs on building sites before entering employment in a metalworking factory.
Even as a young child, however, he was only really interested in football, and he made his senior debut for home town club Waldhof Mannheim at the tender age of 17.
Army, internationals and university
Herberger was drafted into military service in 1916 and served two years in the army before returning to play for Waldhof, where he earned rave notices as a gifted striker with battling instincts and hard-running stamina.
He received his first international call-up in 1921 and made his Germany debut in a 3-3 draw against Finland, although he was to win a total of only three caps. In his club career, Herberger moved across town to bitter rivals VfR Mannheim but was accused of accepting an illegal payment and received a year-long ban for contravening the game's amateur statutes.
With VfR, the 28 year-old scored the winner in the 1925 South German championship final, appearing for the third and final time in a Germany shirt against Holland that year.
He moved to Berlin in 1926 and embarked on a four-year stint with Tennis Borussia. At the age of 30 he began studying for a coaching diploma at the University of Physical Education in Berlin, graduating top of his class. His thesis was entitled 'Towards peak performance in the sport of football'. He subsequently spent four years with the Western Germany Sports Association in Duisburg as a senior coach.
Rebuilding Germany
After Germany's poor showing at the 1936 Olympics, Herberger was named Reichsfussballtrainer, succeeding Otto Nerz. He fashioned a team widely expected to do well at France '38, but his work was undone by the ugly politics of the age. The regime in Berlin forced him to field players from annexed Austria, and Germany were knocked out ingloriously in the preliminary round.
International competition was suspended during the devastating war years, but the determined Herberger made every attempt to maintain contact with his players. At the cessation of hostilities he began the tough task of rebuilding the national side and was officially named national coach again in 1950.
Germany were excluded from the FIFA World Cup that year, but in November a national side again took the field after an eight-year absence. It was Germany's first game since the war and ended in a 1-0 win over Switzerland in front of 115,000 spectators in Stuttgart, ushering in an inspiring era in German football.
Herberger assiduously crafted a team around legendary captain Fritz Walter, but his men were still considered rank outsiders at the 1954 FIFA World Cup in neighbouring Switzerland. The all-conquering Hungarians were rated as nearly invincible as an 8-3 first round victory over Herberger's men appeared to prove. The boss was battered by a storm of criticism, but he later claimed that he had chosen to field a weakened side and saw the defeat as part of a broader strategic plan.
The football strategist par excellence
'Sepp' had calculated that he needed two first-round victories to progress. His men defeated Turkey in their opening match but the coach knew even his strongest side had little chance against Hungary. Thus he accepted there would be a defeat, sent out his reserves and rested his best players for the decisive match, once again versus the Turks.
Strength of character enabled him to ignore the barrage of hostility, but further events proved him right as a full-strength side duly disposed of Turkey a second time and progressed to the next round. His critics were silenced and suddenly he was hailed as "an outstanding football strategist."
His fame spread, partly due to a trademark notebook with details of upcoming opponents' strengths and weaknesses, but largely thanks to a gift for unforgettable pearls of wisdom. "The ball is round" and "A match lasts 90 minutes" have passed into the standard German football vocabulary.
For Germans, the 4th of July 1954 is written in indelible ink in the history books. Their national team, back on the world stage after a long, cold winter, would have to face Hungary in what seemed a lopsided final. Instead the event would be immortalised in the annals of German history as the 'Miracle of Berne.'
The Chief masterminds German triumph
Always a fighter, Herberger knew how to motivate a team. He was an authoritarian, but had a real feel for his players, highly aware of the effect of his words and how to stoke up his men's ambitions. The dressing room, and later an entire nation, respectfully addressed him simply as 'Chief'.
The football world may still be looking for his equal in terms of getting the best from individual players. His teams were superbly prepared, bristling with stamina, strength, discipline and fighting spirit, the virtues generally classed as typically German to this day.
Of all these attributes, interpersonal restraint was the most important, as he believed a side must be primarily functional as a group of people. He lived by his motto, "You have to be 11 friends." Captain Fritz Walter, Herberger's only real confidante, executed the Chief's instructions on the field, taking a key role in both sporting and personal terms.
The rain poured down as Germany defeated Hungary 3-2 after trailing by two early goals at the Wankdorf stadium in Bern. Herberger's tactics paid off: it was Hungary's first defeat in four years.
But the triumph in Bern meant far more than the prestige associated with a first FIFA World Cup success. It was a signal for renewal in devastated post-war Germany, restoring national pride and confidence, and sparking a powerful determination to rise from the ruins. It was the first sign of hope for a battered and bruised people.
Founding father of a new generation
Likewise, Sepp Herberger's influence stretched far beyond the role of FIFA World Cup-winning coach. He helped create the foundations for a new generation of Germans. In Germany, the 'Miracle of Bern' had a psychological effect greater than any other sporting success, and his achievement was recognised with the National Order of Merit First Class in 1962.
Herberger remained in the job of national coach until 1964. In 1958, Germany finished fourth at the FIFA World Cup in Sweden, before losing to Chile in the 1962 quarter-finals. His last match as German national coach was a victory over Finland on 7 June 1964.
He handed over his position to Helmut Schon and retired. Herberger died after a lung infection in 1977 in his hometown of Mannheim at the age of 80.
Tactics
Herberger was a shrewd tactician. After his team started the 1954 FIFA World Cup with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Turkey, he made eight changes, resting his best players for the second game against favourites Hungary. Only captain Fritz Walter, Jupp Posipal and Werner Kohlmeyer remained in an otherwise second-string 11.
Inevitably, Herberger's men were handed a merciless 8-3 defeat. However, the manoeuvre would later be acknowledged as a stroke of genius as the fully recuperated German team cruised to a 7-2 win in the deciding game against Turkey to progress to the next round. "I believe we would have lost today, even with our strongest team," claimed Herberger defending his actions, which caused wide resentment in his homeland.
Coaching career
National team
1936 - 1964 Allemagne
International achievements
FIFA World Cup winner in 1954
Club
1930 - 1932 Tennis Borussia Berlin
Playing career
National team
3 international caps, 2 goals
Clubs
1914 - 1921 Waldhof Mannheim
1921 - 1926 VFR Mannheim
1926 - 1930 Tennis Borussia Berlin
The brains behind the Magical Magyars
Name: Gusztav Sebes
Born: 22 January 1906
Gusztav Sebes was the brains behind Hungary's 'Magical Magyars' of the 1950s. His revolutionary attacking tactics - a prototype of total football - inspired a golden generation of players who, for four years up to the 1954 FIFA World Cup, proved unbeatable.
Sometimes referred to as the 'Match of the Century', Hungary's 6-3 demolition of England at Wembley Stadium in 1953 is seen by many to mark the birth of football's modern age. If so, then Gusztav Sebes, the manager of the 'Magical Magyars,' was the man most responsible for the game's shaping place in football history.
Though rightly remembered for the beauty of their play and the brilliance of the world-class players in their ranks, the feats of Hungary's Aranycsapat (Golden Team) also marked a turning point in tactics, group dynamics and on-field fluidity. Sebes's side have come to be regarded as a precursor for the most skilled and intelligent teams in the sport's subsequent history. As Hungary's inspirational captain Ferenc Puskas once said: "When we attacked, everyone attacked, and in defence it was the same. We were the prototype for Total Football."
Given the central concept of 'Total Football', it is no surprise that Sebes, the son of a cobbler, was attracted to the philosophy; the notion of every player pulling an equal weight and able to play in all positions fitted neatly with his famous socialist ideals. He even described it as "socialist football", and his history as a labour organiser in Paris and Budapest no doubt honed his equally celebrated ability to inspire his men.
"If we beat the English at Wembley, our names will be legendary," said Sebes. His masterful motivating job in the build-up to the friendly match on 25 November 1953 often drifted into political terms - the unsung eastern Europeans playing in the home of the empire against the aloof inventors of the game themselves. Hungary's goalkeeper of the time, Gyula Grosics, later recalled: "Sebes was very committed to socialist ideology, and you could sense that in everything he said. He made a political issue of every important match or competition, and he often talked about how the struggle between capitalism and socialism takes place on the football field just as it does anywhere else."
The communist government in Hungary allowed Sebes, whose official title was deputy minister of sport, complete control of team planning and, inspired by the Italy side that won two pre-war FIFA World Cups, he duly built his squad around two clubs, Honved and Red Banner (formerly MTK). He developed a tactical system centred on the strength of his best players - Puskas and fellow inside-forward Sandor Kocsis formed a majestic attacking partnership supported by the elusive elder statesman Nandor Hidegkuti.
If Sebes' political language was taken to its logical conclusion, one could fairly say that the 1953 victory under Wembley's Twin Towers was akin to a chilly afternoon revolution. The 6-3 score line barely did justice to Hungary's dominance as the visitors' skill and tactics left their hosts helpless and the watching supporters stunned. They had 35 shots on goal to England's five and their final goal, a Hidegkuti volley, followed a sublime ten-pass sequence. One of England's greatest-ever players, Sir Tom Finney, was on the field that day and summed up the match as "race-horses against cart-horses". He continued: "They were the greatest national side I played against, a wonderful team to watch with tactics we'd never seen before." Another English legend, Sir Stanley Matthews, echoed the sentiment, saying: "They are the best team I ever faced. They were the best ever."
Hungary lent further weight to these words by inflicting further humiliation on England the following May, routing Walter Winterbottom's men 7-1 at Budapest's Nepstadion. The result firmly established Sebes's side as clear favourites to lift the 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland following their impressive displays in winning gold at the Olympic Football Tournament two years earlier. The Hungarians had triumphed in Finland by overcoming four fellow European sides to the tune of 18 goals for and one against. The gold medal was theirs after defeating a high-quality Yugoslavia team 2-0 in the final.
The 'Magical Magyars' also registered what was the longest unbeaten streak in international football history until the 1990s when they went four years and 31 matches (27 victories) without losing. That run continued into the 1954 FIFA World Cup as they thrashed South Korea (9-0) and West Germany (8-3) in the group stage before dismissing the top two teams from 1950, Brazil and Uruguay, 4-2 in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively.
Sometimes even fairy tales have an unhappy ending, however. Hungary were undone in the final by a significantly improved German side from the one that they drubbed in the first round. After the favourites went 2-0 ahead in the first eight minutes, West Germany took over, evening the match in just ten minutes before finding the winning goal six minutes from the end. Sebes, his team and an entire country were crushed. It was "bad luck" the manager explained, and it was hard not to argue given the torrential rain in Berne, the injuries afflicting key players after a pair of bruising knockout round matches and the equaliser that Puskas saw cancelled out moments before the final whistle.
Speaking before the final, the 48-year-old Sebes had warned of the challenge facing his team. "Our greatest enemy is not so much physical fatigue as nervous tension. I never suspected that the World Cup could be such a test of nerves." Their nerve failed them at the decisive moment and that 3-2 defeat at the rain-sodden Wankdorf Stadium was to prove the beginning of the end for the Hungarians, even if they subsequently went another 18 matches unbeaten until falling to Turkey in early 1956. That loss was followed by a draw and two more defeats, and Sebes was duly relieved of his duties. Later that year, Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest, Puskas and others defected, and the Cold War slowly swallowed up the lives of many of the Aranycsapat. Sebes stayed active in football, coaching Hungarian club sides until the late 1960s and assuming administrative roles with UEFA and the Hungarian Olympic Committee. Yet for both him and Hungarian football, the golden age was at an end.
Tactics
Hungarian football was at the vanguard of tactical innovation in the 1950s. The traditional 3-2-5 formation (or WM) was turned upside down as club sides and Sebes's national team adopted a prototype of the 4-2-4 system. Where the old WM incorporated two attacking inside-forwards, two wingers and a centre-forward, this new approach saw the centre-forward withdrawn behind two attacking inside-forwards. A midfielder was pulled back to strengthen the defence, while two midfield half-backs helped both the defence and attack. Sebes adopted the tactic and brought it to the international game using Nandor Hidegkuti as the deep-lying forward and Sandor Kocsis and Ferenc Puskas as the central attackers. Sebes also encouraged his defenders to attack and his goalkeeper, Grosics, to act almost as a sweeper. (Grosics was even referred to sometimes as the 'fourth back'.) Interestingly, another Hungarian, Bela Guttman, travelled to Brazil where he turned the nation on to the values of a more standard 4-2-4 with which the Selecao won the 1958 FIFA World Cup.
Coach Detail
National team
1949-1956: Hungary
International honours
1954 FIFA World Cup TM runner-up
1952 Olympic Football Tournament gold medal
Clubs
1940-1941: Szentlorinci AC
1942-1943: WMKASE
1943-1944: Weiss Manfred SE
1945-1946: Budafoki MTE
1957-1960: Ujpesti Dozsa
1960-1961: Budapesti Honved
1968-1968: Diosgyori VTK
Playing career
International honours
1 full international cap
Clubs
1919-1920: Muszaki Doldozok SE
1920-1924: Vasas FC
1925-1926: Sauvages Nomades
1926-1927: Club Olympique Billancourt
1927-1929: MTK
1929-1940: Hungria FC
1945-1945: MTK
Club honours
Three Hungarian Championships with MTK
Mario Zagallo - None hungrier than Brazil's lone wolf
Name: Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo
Date of birth: 9 August 1931
The great history of Brazilian football is inextricably linked with one Mario Zagallo. The 'Professor,' as he is known to his players, is a legend not only in his homeland but in virtually every outpost of Planet Football, having played a role in four of the five FIFA World Cups TM won by the Seleçao.
The great history of Brazilian football is inextricably linked with one Mario Zagallo. 'The Professor,' as he is known to his players, is a legend not only in his homeland but in virtually every outpost of Planet Football, having played a role in four of the five FIFA World Cups TM won by the Seleçao. And yet, despite once sharing a locker room with such creative geniuses as Pele, Garrincha , Didi, Vava and Gilmar, Zagallo has often faced the wrath of dissenting voices who deem his style of management too defensive. If there is one thing that silences all the critics, though, it is the long list of honours El Lobo (The Wolf) has accumulated over the years.
Indeed, Zagallo's fingerprints on four FIFA World Cup trophies speak for themselves. A true icon of the Brazilian game, he won two of them as a player (Sweden 58 and Chile 62), one as national manager (70) and another as assistant manager (94). Only German legend Franz Beckenbauer in the history of world football can match Zagallo's boast of having been crowned world champion as both a player and a coach.
A great player in his day
Nowadays better known as a legendary manager, Zagallo first made quite a reputation for himself out on the pitch. In the early 1950s, he played amateur football for America Football Club and then Clube de Regatas de Flamengo, where he shone on the left wing. Whatever 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.
His emergence on the professional scene came in 1953, and with Flamengo, followed by Botafogo, Zagallo picked up five Rio de Janeiro State titles ( cariocas) before becoming an ever-present fixture in the Seleçao starting eleven from 4 May 1958 to 7 June 1964.
World championships and a new role
It was during Sweden 58 that the rest of the world discovered Zagallo and his illustrious team-mates. As the Seleçao headed to their first world title, he featured in a role rarely seen at a time when midfielders were expected to concentrate on defensive duties. Zagallo liked nothing more than moving forward to join the attack, and his runs from deep often ended with a Brazilian breakthrough. Along with Garrincha, he was Brazil's key to unlocking a defence and scored his side's fourth in the final against Sweden, before setting up Pele for the fifth.
By the time Brazil retained their world title in 1962, Zagallo had evolved into a genuine forward, prowling out on the left. His goal during the must-win match with Mexico in the group stage proved vital in booking the Auriverde a place in the quarter-finals, where his performances took on even greater importance as injury kept Pele out of the side. Zagallo finally called time on his playing career in 1964, but was back in the game just two years later, this time as a manager.
And it was in this new role that Zagallo really expressed his passion for the game, revealing a depth of tactical awareness the world had already seen glimpses of in his playing days. His first job was on the bench of his old club Botafogo, whom he led to two cariocas and two cup victories.
Success on the international stage followed soon afterwards, with yet another global conquest for the Seleçao, this time at the mythical 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. Blessed with an exceptionally talented squad, Zagallo now looks back on the tournament as his "greatest memory as a manager."
It is easy to understand why. His side won all six of their matches, scoring 19 times in the process, but above all it was the sheer quality of their play that stood out. Football experts all tend to agree that Brazil's FIFA World Cup triumph was the most spectacular and unquestionably deserved of all.
Attacking backs and the beautiful game
Having such fantastic players at his disposal was a great place to start, yet the game-plan conceived by Zagallo himself undoubtedly made a difference in the end. His system was able to incorporate Jairzinho, Tostao, Gerson, Rivelino, Carlos Alberto and the incomparable Pele, a wealth of individual stars that Zagallo fashioned into a team.
Many in Brazil were sceptical that Pele and Tostao could play together, but Zagallo waved off their doubts. It turned out to be a masterstroke and, as if that were not enough, the licence to get forward he accorded full-backs Clodoaldo and Piazza proved a resounding success. 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.
Zagallo's system worked like a dream, granting freedom to individual genius within a well-drilled unit. Everything about the Brazilians' play was both efficient and pleasing to the eye, from the dribbling and powerful strikes of Rivelino to Jairzinho's explosive runs, from Gerson's drives out of midfield to the unparalleled inspiration of 'O Rei' himself.
The final against Italy provided the ultimate expression of their spellbinding abilities as an excellent Italian outfit were brushed aside. Pele opened the scoring with a ferocious header, Gerson fired in after being set up by Jairzinho, who in turn netted the third before Carlos Alberto added a memorable fourth, with Pele instrumental in the last two goals. On 21 June 1970, Zagallo therefore became the first-ever manager to win the FIFA World Cup having already experienced the honour as a player.
Beyond Mexico 70
Hungry for more success, Zagallo carried on coaching, picking up yet more titles with Fluminese and Flamengo. His next port of call was the Persian Gulf. He managed a Gulf Cup success in the Kuwaiti hot-seat, followed by a spell in charge of Saudi Arabia and then qualification for Italy 90 as manager of the United Arab Emirates.
Four years later, Zagallo was sharing his experience at the very highest level again, as the Seleçao's technical director for USA 94. Together with his protégé, national coach Carlos Alberto Perreira, Zagallo help steer Brazil to another world title after a dour final with Italy.
In 1995, Zagallo took over the reins from Perreira and set about preparing the national side for a potential fifth FIFA World Cup triumph. With midfield stalwart Dunga as his captain, and talented footballers including Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Taffarel integrated into the team, Zagallo took the Copa America back to Brazil in 1997 and arrived at France 98 with his charges hot favourites for the greatest prize of all.
It was not to be, of course, with the hosts inflicting a heavy 3-0 defeat on Zagallo's men in a final marked by the mysterious illness picked up by Ronaldo a matter of hours before kick-off. Zagallo's decision to play an unfit Ronaldo caused unrelenting controversy back home, as did the choice to leave behind outspoken but in-form striker Romario before the tournament had even begun.
Zagallo indestructible
Having overcome typically flamboyant Brazilian criticism and fairly serious heart arrhythmia problems, Zagallo is nothing if not durable, and one might even say he has become part of the furniture in the Auriverde set-up. That is certainly how it looked in November 2002, when Zagallo was the automatic choice to oversee the national side in a friendly against Korea Republic after Luiz Felipe Scolari had masterminded Brazil's fifth world title and stepped down.
A bronze statue of Zagallo now adorns the main entrance to the Maracana Stadium, but El Lobo is not content with settling for that. Highly superstitious, he sees himself as belonging nowhere else but on the Seleçao bench, where he sat alongside Carlos Alberto Parreira in the role of technical director during Germany 2006.
If he has become a symbol, though, Zagallo is hardly the shy, retiring type and makes sure his opinions are heard on the evolution of the beautiful game. "The current trend in modern football is to favour physical power at the expense of technique, which allows the managers of smaller teams to erase the gulf in quality with bigger teams and prevents talented individuals from expressing themselves," he maintains. "Muscle has overtaken skill, which explains why the traditional favourites in European football have encountered so many problems recently."
"But here in Brazil, we still love the same kind of football. My own approach is to set out a plan and then leave the players complete freedom. I'm not a dictator, and how could I be with players who don't need to be told how to play football in the proper spirit?"
Time clearly has no hold on Zagallo. As determined as ever, it is easy to forget that the aging man collected 37 caps as a player, winning 30 times with a mere four draws and three defeats. He has also coached the national side for some 154 encounters, 110 of which ended in victory, along with 33 draws for just 11 reverses - impressive figures that attest to the legendary achievements of Brazil and Mario Zagallo.
Tactics
Despite his successes, Zagallo has often been criticised for his tactical choices. The indisputable quality displayed by the 1970 team shielded his system from the slightest reproach, but the 'defensive' mindset of the teams he coached alongside Carlos Alberto Parreira in 1994 and alone in 1998 provoked stinging attacks in the Brazilian press.
In those two FIFA World Cups, the Seleçao played in a classic 4-4-2 formation with two defensive midfielders - a concession to the principle that not losing possession has become the priority in the modern game. In Brazil, this was received as heresy and players like Dunga, Cesar Sampaio and Branco never really stirred the passion of the crowds. However, they all fulfilled crucial roles for Zagallo, who could point to results for all the justification he needed. And the Professor was one of the first managers to introduce 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.
Playing career
37 senior caps for Brasil, four goals.
International achievements
FIFA World Cup TM winner in 1958 and 1962
Clubs
1946-1950: America
1951-1957: Flamengo
1958-1965: Botafogo
Club achievements
Winner of the Torneo de Rio in 1953, 1954, 1955, 1961 and 1962
Winner of the Torneo de Rio-Sao Paulo en 1962
Coaching career
National teams
1970-1974: Brazil
1976-1978: Kuwait
1981-1984: Saudi Arabia
1989-1990: UAE
1993-1994: Brazil (as assistant to Carlos Alberto Parreira)
1994-1998: Brazil
Nov. 2002: Brazil
2002-2006: Brazil (as assistant to Carlos Alberto Parreira)
International achievements
FIFA World Cup winner in 1970 and 1994 (as assistant)
Gulf Cup winner with Kuwait
Copa America winner in 1997
FIFA World Cup Finalist at France 1998
Clubs
1966-1970: Botafogo
1971-1972: Fluminense
1972-1973: Flamengo
1978-1979: Botafogo
1979: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
1980: Al Nasr (Saudi Arabia)
1980-1981: Vasco da Gama
1984-1985: Flamengo
1986-1987: Botafogo
1988-1989: Bangu
1990-1991: Vasco da Gama
2000: Portuguesa
2000-2001: Flamengo
Club achievements
Brazilian championship winner in 1986
Rio State championship winner in 1967, 1968, 1971 and 1972
Saudi Arabian league winner in 1979
