After receiving various PM's asking for information on tele santana and the selecao in the 1980s i thought i had better open a thread so brazilian posters can join in...so here goes with a few points to get started... Some people criticized santana for his strict discipline towards players - apparently some players were not fond of his attitude .. this can be traced back to his gremio days when single players ( unmarried) were not allowed to go out and socialize.. ( this also happened in the preparations for the 86 world cup where players were only allowed to socialize on a sunday from 10am till 10pm..) He was also accused of being stubborn when it came to selecting players.. ( he was criticized for playing no right winger/midfielder in the 82 world cup..( he had used a right sided player in preparation and qualifying games - isidoro or tita).. Santana's choice of players was also criticized - no tita, mario sergio, andrade etc Serginho chulapa in his book says that he couldnt play his usual style under santana..serginho also says he wished he had played in the 1978 world cup instead of 1982. The brazil '82 squad was not as 'united' as they appeared to be ..there were tensions between atletico and flamengo players (?).. It seems like some players loved santana and others didnt ?.. " if he was dying of thirst in the desert i wouldnt give him water" - Renato gaucho " although we had our problems he was a father to me " - èder this thread is not about santanas later days at sao paulo i want to focus on the years 1980 - 1986 .. Is it true that santana wasted the talent at his disposal because of his strict nature ? And what about selecao managers in between the 82 - 86 world cups - parreira, Edu ( zicos brother) and maceda ? Brazil were in a mess before the 1986 world cup and those years are rarely mentioned.. santana was booed and jeered in his first games as manager in 1980 and i am looking for info on this period of time in brazilian football.. how is santana and the brazil teams of the 80s thought of in brazil ?.. Anyway i set this thread up for a friend so hopefully he can get some good info off you guys - many thanks.. @gilmour86 @Jaweirdo @JGGott @Lucas... @unclesox @Ozora @celito @SirWellingtonSilva @Sir_Artur @Pipiolo @Once @Steen @greatstriker11
One of the greatest managers in football history. I wonder if as the former manager of Atletico Mineiro, did he perhaps hold a grudge against Flamengo to call up talents such as Tita, Andrade, Adilio, Carlos Mozer?
I will go through the history of every game the selecao played ..starting after the 1979 copa america when santana took over from claudio coutinho until brazils elimination from the 1986 world cup.. Looking at how he changed the line up, what players he left out, the brazilian club teams of the era, interviews and quotes from the players.. Santana definitely held grudges against some players like leao for example.. I opened this thread to find out more about santana as there is no thread dedicated to him and there should be.. If i get any information wrong then posters can correct me...!
I am going to begin this thread with the copa america 79 tournament and work my way through santana's time as brazil coach.. he has always been a manager that fascinated me and i have been meaning to open a thread about this period of brazilian football history since i joined ..but i will start from the days when claudio coutinho was still in charge..
After the 1978 world cup brazil didnt play another game until may 1979..although brazil had finished third in the tournament brazil had disappointed with their performances..indeed effigies of coutinho were burned in the stands.. Coutinho had tried to turn brazil into a 'european team' just like in '74 with zagallo..coutinho was the fitness trainer in the 1970 and 1974 teams. He was known for his pragmatic approach to football- he had caused upset by not taking brazilian player of the year Falcao to the 1978 world cup. He was not a popular manager to selecao fans but he was popular with the CBD ( governing body of brazilian sports) and the militia which ran the country.. So coutinho kept his job ( he also coached flamengo during his time as brazil manager).. Coutinho was obsessed with physical fitness above all else - an ex military man, multi lingual and intelligent... One of coutinhos first concerns in 1979 was to arrange friendlies as preparation for the copa america.. brazil would play paraguay on the 17th May 1979 at the maracana.. this match marked the debuts of future world cup stars Socrates, junior and Eder.. here is the line up : Leao (vasco) toninho (fla) Edinho (flu) Amaral (flu) junior (fla) Carpegiani (fla) Socrates (cor) falcao (int) Zico (fla) Batata (santos) Eder ( gremio) Subs: Cerezo ( Atl) Zeze ( flu)... The final score was Brazil 6 paraguay 0 Goals: Eder,Zico(3),Batata (2)
PAULO ROBERTO FALCAO talks on the anger he felt at being left out of the 1978 brazil squad for the world cup... " i prefer not to talk about this too much now that he ( coutinho ) is no longer with us, but the injustice i felt was great. When i lined up to sing the anthem against the ussr in seville i thought to myself this world cup has to be mine. I need to prove the injustice i suffered in 1978. " Injustice was what the whole of brazil felt at the time. The great number five of the now legendary internacional team that dominated the gaucho state championships. Falcao would win the golden ball as best player in brazil in 78 and again when internacional won the brazilian championship undefeated in 1979. A record that still stands. " i do not know if there was public outcry for me to go to the world cup but everyone thought i was ready to play a world cup. I know i deserved to go. I should' ve been there ".. " i watched the 0-0 draw against argentina at the world cup . It was a game for someone with my features. Argentina played 4-3-3, plenty of space in midfield. I wondered what i could have done ? ".. He was not alone.. luis menotti the argentine coach asked " where is the number 5 ? Why have they left him at home ? "... Falcao says he reported 2 days late for the brazil squad for a friendly against colombia because of a medical appoinment. Coutinho told him i need you in good shape " i was in good shape ! Recalls falcao.. coutinho told falcao he would talk to him after the friendly game. After a heated debate which falcao refuses to go into detail coutinho selected chicao in falcaos place... " in the end he chose chicao instead of me, but lets be clear, this wasnt just a football decision this was a military decision too " ( sourced from 2 articles written by andre kfouri )
@Giles - I am somewhat confused when they say "number 5" - maybe the Brazilians followed a different numbering, usually #5 refers to a defensive midfielder and Falcao never played in that position in a regular manner. He would be either a #8 (for Brazil) or #10 (for Internacional and Roma).
He wore the number 5 jersey for internacional... it is often said that it was hard to see what role falcao had on the pitch - he was gifted in attack and defence...but its true that he was known as a defensive midfielder ( volante ) that was his position at internacional.. falcao says his job was to protect the defence and turn defence into attack ...
Its also worth mentioning here two other absentees from the 1978 selecao world cup squad... Serginho chulapa was going to be a member of the squad after impressing at sao paulo. But he assaulted a linesman and was banned from football for a year.. serginho had many incidents of violence during his career which i will go into later on.. ( interesting fact :serginho didnt like to travel long distances for matches, so he would sometimes get sent off on purpose to get a suspension in the next fixture if the fixture was a long journey from sao paulo).. Éder aleixo was going to be a member of the 1978 squad after a brilliant first season for gremio in 1977. Gremio had brought a stop to internacional's run of 8 consecutive gaucho titles and Eder had been the best player.. but one night in may 1978 he was shot in a nightclub in porto alegre by a jealous love rival and rushed to hospital .. Interestingly it was tele santana who gave serginho his first game with sao paulo in 1974 and it was santana who signed eder from america MG and took him to gremio in 1977..
In my humble opinion, Tele Santana was a genius and the best coach of the seleção ever . The team of the WC 1982 means the brazilian footbal for me and the most beautiful football too. I´ve never seen something better. I didn´t like much the brazilian team at the World Cup in 1978. They were more succesfull than the 1982 team, maybe they deserved to win this WC, but they didn´t have style and the football wasn ´t very watchable. The last matches weren´t bad, but.......the biggest stars - Reinaldo, Rivelino and Zico didn´t play well. It would be interesting, if in this team were Falcao, Paulo Cesar Caju and Marinho Chagas and Luiz Pereira ( latter two were the stars of the World Cup 1974 ). I´m sorry friends, my English is horrible.
" Coutinho had no understanding of how to command the selecao. The players did what they wanted. In the last game Rivelino came on without knowing who would come off. Rivelino by his own accord rose up off the bench and walked to the edge of the pitch without the authorization of the manager " ..... ( zico )
The idea of this thread is to look into tele santana's time as brazil coach and to look at the great things he did for the selecao but also the mistakes he made.. i agree that he was a great coach.. he was known as master tele, but he also had critics during his days in charge of the selecao.. He was accused of being stubborn by many people ..
This piece is not about Tele Santana but about Brazil's 1978 European tour right before the World Cup. http://theantiquefootball.com/post/120670249768/brazils-tour-of-europe-spring-1978
Interesting article.. there were many rumours that the military influenced the decision to place coutinho as selecao coach... from what i ve read the dictatorship had a massive say in what players would represent brazil..
Soz pip ... only just saw this post ! I will get to the reason that tita was left out the squad for '82 ..( he ruled himself out )... Maybe from what i ve been told and what i ve read - santana felt like many in brazil that flamengo had alot of help in winning the brazilian championship final in 1980 and the copa libertadores in 1981.. Atletico mineiro were just as good as flamengo but seemed to be ' cheated' by referees and the victim of dodgy decisions... flamengo were obviously a great team but so were atletico.. i have some interesting interviews from players on both teams regarding this subject..
That would be definitely interesting to read. I wonder if the rivalry affected the dynamics of the Selecao at WC82 (it's something that has usually been an issue with Argentina with its strong club identities).
I know that flamengo were a great team in the 80s ..i ve watched alot of those games.. but the circumstances in which they won their titles - (especially the 1980 championship and the copa libertadores in 1981) - were very controversial.. Here are flamengos title games in the 80s... 1980 brazilian championship final vs atletico mineiro - referee jose de assis aragao. 1981 copa libertadores play off vs atletico mineiro - referee jose roberto wright 1982 brazilian championship final vs gremio - referee jose roberto wright ( there were 3 matches and wright reffed 2) 1983 brazilian championship final vs santos - jose de assis aragao.. 1987 brazilian championship ( sort of semi final/ playoff vs internacional) - referee jose de assis aragao Oscar scolfaro was the other referee accused of 'helping flamengo .. he reffed the second leg of the championship final against gremio in '82.. he had also reffed the ' third phase' game against recife in the same year and made a few controversial decisions in flamengos favour... I have nothing against flamengo by the way.. loved the 80s teams...
Anyway - back to the next official friendly that coutinho arranged as preparation for the 1979 copa america... On the 31st of May 1979 brazil played uruguay at the maracana... the team coutinho selected was : Leao, toninho, Amaral, Edinho, Junior, Falcao, Cerezo, Zico, Socrates, Batata, Joazinho (cruzeiro) Subs : Eder, Guina ( vasco) Brazil won 5 - 1 with goals by socrates (2) edinho, Batata and eder. Before this game the formation of the CBF had taken place. Previously football in brazil had been controlled by the CBD ( confederation of brazilian sports) but now football would be controlled seperately from other sports. The CBF became official on the 24th of september 1979.. Its worth noting that the uruguay team in this friendly was made up of younger players .. their coach Bentacur said " i have not come to the maracana to be humiliated " but they were.. the technical difference was great and brazil destroyed them despite uruguay taking the lead through victorino...
The next friendly ( unofficial) brazil played was on the 21st of june 1979... Ajax came to play the selecao at the morumbi stadium.. Brazil : leao, Oscar ( ponte preta) Edinho, toninho, junior, Falcao, Cerezo, Zico, Batata, Socrates, Joazinho. Subs: Renato ( guarani) Zenon ( guarani) Ajax : Jager,Meutstege, Wijnberg, Krol, Boeve, Lerby, Schoenaker,Arnesen, La Ling, Bonsink, Tahamata subs: Blanker, Kaiser Brazil won 5 - 0 with goals by socrates (2) Zico (2) and Toninho... the dutch may have been jetlagged and tired but the brazilians put on a super show against a very talented ajax team. The brazilian team closely resembled the 82 world cup team. " socrates has exceptional feet and he's everywhere at once. He is unpredictable and extremely skilled in first time passes. I have ever seen anyone better in one touch play " ( zico )
Falcao was the playmaker for that great AS Roma team managed by Liedholm, I believe it was DiBartolomei who played as DM during that time. Likewise, with Brazil he would be the center mid, with Cerezo doing a more defensive role alongside him. LOL, what an ass-whipping to the once great Ajax!
Falcao played in AS Roma in the season 82-83 with Herbert Prohaska, great and a little bit underrated player, although he is a player of the century in Austria ( I am not sure) . Played both of them the playmakers or Prohaska was more defensive??
Yes falcao was a playmaker for roma.. i suppose he could be classed as a playmaker in every team he played in ,but still a difficult player to pigeon hole.. If you watch roma games he would often drop back deep to receive the ball or stay deep to protect the defence.. Milton Neves - brazilian commentator , tv presenter and journalist compared falcao to beckenbauer in the way he played the game..
Prohaska played for inter before roma .. Now im not sure what the first choice midfield of roma was in 82 - 83 ..i thought it was falcao,ancelotti, cerezo and di bartolomei ? .. or did cerezo replace prohaska in 83 ? Now i think of it cerezo signed in 83 from atletico mineiro or was it 82 after the world cup ?
I've not really seen that much of Roma 82-83, and not enough to judge formation, but Italian Wikipedia has it like this: I hadn't thought that Falcao was a DM though myself but more like a CM or sometimes deep-lying playmaker, and even thought that he was a bit more attacking for Roma than for the 1982 Brazil team. Maybe Di Bartolomei played sometimes as sweeper and sometimes in midfield? I've not seen much or any of this game before I don't think, but could be useful to judge things - in the opening minutes Falcao seems almost like an AM in terms of being around the halfway line when Juventus have possession, almost pressing rather than sitting deep: Maybe Giles, Pipiolo or others even saw that game at the time, or highlights of it? Maybe the midfield 3 (if Di Bartolomei was in defence) would be better represented as a straight line rather than with any DM (or Falcao and Ancelotti a bit behind Prohaska?)? I think Conti playing from the left rather than the right more often seems right at that time judging by his compilation videos and some games I have seen some of including of course the following years European Cup Final. Nice work Giles with the thread.