Sunday, 31 July 2011

Careca

Careca Biography
Full Name: Antônio de Oliveira Filho
Date of Birth: Wednesday, 5 October 1960
Place of Birth: Araraquara, Brazil
Position: Forward

Antônio de Oliveira Filho, better known as Careca, was possibly the finest Brazilian striker of the 1980s. Although denied international success by playing in an era when the Brazilian national team as a whole was underachieving, Careca still won major honours in both Brazil and Italy and established a reputation as one of the game's most skilful forward players. Careca's playing career began in the late 1970s as a teenager with Guarani, and in 1978 his goals helped the club to a surprise victory in the Brazilian Championship. By 1982, his performances had been rewarded with a move to a bigger club as he joined São Paulo, and it was only injury that denied him a place in the Brazilian World Cup suqad of 1982. After helping São Paulo to state championship success in 1985 as the competition's leading scorer, Careca enjoyed perhaps the finest year of his career in 1986. São Paulo won the Brazilian Championship with Careca again the top scorer, and in the World Cup finals in Mexico he scored five goals in five games to finish second in the goalscoring list, as Brazil lost on penalties to France in the quarter-finals. Despite a disappointing Copa America in 1987, Careca won another state championship with São Paulo before moving to SSC Napoli in Italy in the autumn of that year. Joining the reigning Italian champions, and playing alongside the greatest player of his era in Diego Maradona, it was no surprise that Careca enjoyed further success at Napoli. The club won the U.E.F.A. Cup in 1989 and added the Serie A title a year later, before Careca appeared in his second World Cup in Italy. Again the national team underachieved, missing a host of chances before losing to Maradona and Argentina in the second round. After three more seasons with Napoli, Careca left in 1993 to join Japanese side Kashiwa Reysol, who he helped into the J-League, but he returned to Brazil in 1997 to join Santos. With his career coming to an end, he spent time in the lower divisions with Campinas and São José before finally retiring in 1999. Since his retirement Careca has worked as an agent in Brazil.

Careca

The Best of Careca

Tributo - Careca

Zizinho

Zizinho biography
Thomaz Soares da Silva, also known as Zizinho (Portuguese pronunciation: [ziˈzĩɲu]; born October 14, 1921 – died February 8, 2002), was a Brazilian football player, who played as an attacking midfielder) or winger for Brazil's national team. He came to international prominence at the 1950 World Cup, where scored two goals. He was renowned for his incredible array of skills such as dribbling, passing, shooting with both feet as well as dead ball ability and extraordinary vision.[by whom?]

Zizinho

Zizinho.mpg

Gol Zezinho Portuguesa

Ronaldinho

Ronaldinho biography

Ronaldinho was born into a family of football addicts, living in a wooden house in the heart of a favela. His father, Joao da Silva Moreira who played for an amateur club made ends meet by by working as a car park attendant at Gremio Football Club. His brother Roberto was a great hope for the club but then his career was unfortunately ended by a terrible knee injury.

At the age of 8, tregedy struck as Ronaldinho's father drowned in a swiming pool at a villa provided by Gremio for Roberto. Following in the footsteps of his brother Ronnie then joined the Gremio's footballing school and wowed everyone there. He made it into the first team in 1997 and was being heralded as one of the best young hopes in Brazilan football. Meanwhile, he was already making the breakthrough with the national squad, and his six goals were fundamental in Brazil's Copa America triumph in 1999.

The goal Ronaldinho scored against Venezuela is remembered to this day as one of the most spectacular ever scored by a player wearing the famous Canarinha jersey.

In 2001, Ronaldinho moved on to PSG where he became a fan's favourite with his tremendous flair and excting style of football - also contributing tremendous amounts of goals. However his employer's still weren't happy with his atitude and looked ot get rid of him. Of course, he continued to shine in the international arena. His finest hour came at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea, where he was a key member of the side that won Brazil's record fifth world title - scoring in the quarter final and playing an integral role in midfield in the final.

Ronaldinho then moved to Barcelona - arguably the biggest club in the world - for what now seems a bargain at £21,000,000. When he arrived, he said that his desire was to bring as much success to the club as so many Brazilians had done before him, such as Evaristo, Ronaldo, Romario and Rivaldo. Having won the World Footballer of the Year title it seems he has now fulfilled that desire.

Ronaldinho

Ronaldinho Goal Top 10

Ronaldinho on the World Cup

Saturday, 30 July 2011

Tostao

Tostao biogrhapy
Eduardo Goncalvez de Andrade was born in Belo Horizonte on 25 January 1947. ‘Aquarius,’ he smiles as he pours coffee from the silver pot his empregada, or housemaid, has placed on the table for him. ‘I am a very rational person, I analyse things and come to rational conclusions. At the same time I am a critical person, ironic, very quiet, introverted. I speak a little but I don’t keep quiet,’ he sums up with a sagacious nod.

Eduardo’s family was middle class, his father worked in a bank in Belo Horizonte and played amateur football for one of the city’s clubs, América. He passed on his love to all four Gonçalvez brothers. ‘I grew up in a passionate football atmosphere,’ recalls Eduardo.

Eduardo was the shortest of the brothers, but even as a seven-year-old he stood out. Soon he had been christened Tostao, the little coin. Unlike Pelé, he must have liked the name. There are no stories of psychological wounds, only an apologetic smile. ‘I can’t remember when and why it started.’

By the time he was fourteen, Tostao was playing junior football for Cruzeiro. By the age of sixteen he had signed professional terms at América – his father was no longer on the books. As he passed through his apprenticeship Tosta^·o found time to keep his head in his books. ‘I had cultural notions, I liked to read, I liked to study,’ he says.

At eighteen, marked out as what he calls a grande promessa, Tostao had to choose the direction his life was to take. Until then his opinion of football as a profession had been characteristically white-collar. ‘Football was like a paid entertainment,’ he says. Blessed with intelligence and a sense of his own God-given ability, he opted to leave his studies, at least for a few years. ‘It was worthwhile because I had everything to be a great player. I was aware that it would be for a short time and my future life would be different,’ he says.

A natural goalscoring centre-forward, Tostao quickly emerged as the great meteor of the Brazilian game. His intelligence and all-round ability was soon winning him comparisons with Pelé. In 1966 he was called up to the Brazilian squad as the King’s prince in waiting. At nineteen, he was little over half the age of some of Feola’s veteran squad.
He made his World Cup debut as replacement for Pelé in the Hungary match. His baptism was memorable for the explosive left-footshot he fired past the Hungarian keeper Gelei, but eminently forgettable in every other sense. He grimaces at the memory of the humiliations that followed. Tostao lays the blame on the lack of organization and basic physical fitness.
‘From the group of 1958 and 1962, the only one who was in condition to play was Pelé. Djalma Santos, Gilmar, Bellini, Orlando, Garrincha, no,’ he says, shaking his head. Tostao had heard the stories about Garrincha’s alcoholism but still found his disconnection from reality hard to believe. ‘They said that Garrincha didn’t even know who the opponents were in the Final in 1958. In England Garrincha was in no condition at all and played.’

He left England regretting that Feola had failed to listen to those, himself included, who believed that rather than being his understudy, he should be Pelé’s partner. It had been in a warm-up match in Sweden on the way to England that Tostao had sensed he had found a kindred spirit. ‘It was a friendly game and we understood each other immediately,’ he says. ‘He needed a more intelligent player at his side, a player that understood where he was going to be.’

Tostao

Tostao Goal

Jairzinho

Jairzinho biography
Jairzinho was born in Rio de Janeiro, where he went through the youth setup at local club Botafogo. He made his professional debut with the club as a striker at the age of fifteen. His hero Garrincha, whom he would eventually replace for both club and country, also played at Botafogo, albeit in Jairzinho's preferred position on the right wing. This resulted in Jairzinho spending most of his early games playing on the left wing or as a centre forward. However, he would fill in as a right winger, by far his strongest position, when Garrincha was injured.

He made his international debut as a 19 year old in 1964 against Portugal, again when Garrincha was injured. He played in the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England, however, and with Garrincha back in the side, he played as a left winger. Jairzinho struggled to be effective in this position, and he couldn't prevent Brazil from exiting the competition at the first round. When, after the tournament, Francis Pascual announced his retirement from international football, Jair Ventura finally took over his idol's role for Brazil on the right wing.

Now in his favourite position, Jairzinho became a far more effective and consistent performer for both his club and country. At the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, Jairzinho was one of Brazil's star players, and made history by scoring in every game for the Seleção, for which he received the epithet "Furacão da Copa" (World Cup Hurricane). He scored his seventh goal of the tournament in Brazil's 4–1 world cup win over Italy in the final. However, his impressive goals tally at the finals were not enough to win the Golden Boot, which went to Germany's Gerd Müller, who scored ten goals. Jairzinho has claimed that FIFA awarded him a "best body on the planet" prize for his athleticism; however, FIFA has no record of this award.[4] Following his display in Mexico, Jairzinho moved to Europe to play for French side Marseille. However, he struggled with Marseille and soon returned to Brazil to play for Cruzeiro, with whom he won the Copa Libertadores in 1976. The Cruzeiro team at the time included the likes of Nelinho and Dirceu Lopes.

Jairzinho scored two goals in the 1974 FIFA World Cup, which would prove to be his last World Cup for Brazil. The 3rd-Place Final was his last match for Brazil until he was given a one-off farewell cap against Czechoslovakia on March 3, 1982 in a game which Brazil drew 1–1. He scored 33 goals in 82 games during his international career.

Jairzinho finished his career playing for Portuguesa in Venezuela, making it one of the greatest teams in Venezuelan history, helping Portuguesa win a record 16 games in a row and their fourth of five championships. Following his retirement Jairzinho became a coach and coached the Gabon national team.[5] However, Jairzinho was sacked by Gabon's Football Federation after a crushing defeat against Angola in a World Cup 2006 Qualifier held in Luanda.[6] Perhaps his greatest achievement as a coach was spotting Ronaldo as a 14 year old whilst he was coaching São Cristóvão. He kick-started the career of the future three-time FIFA World Player of the Year by recommending him to Cruzeiro, his former side, and the Brazil youth team.[7] Jairzinho is currently the manager of Esprof Atletico futebol Clube, a team based in Cabo Frio, Rio de Janeiro state who play in the Campeonato Carioca.

Jairzinho