Garrincha

 

Manuel Francisco dos Santos (October 28, 1933 – January 20, 1983), known by the nickname "Garrincha" (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɡaˈʁĩʃɐ], "little bird"), was an association football right winger and forward who helped the Brazil national team win the World Cups of 1958 and 1962. He played the majority of his professional career for the Brazilian club Botafogo.

The word garrincha itself means wren. Garrincha was also known as Mané (short for Manuel) by his friends. The combined "Mané Garrincha" is common among fans in Brazil. Due to his immense popularity in Brazil, he was also called Alegria do Povo (Joy of the People) and Anjo de Pernas Tortas (Angel with Bent Legs).

Garrincha is regarded by many as the best dribbler in football history. In the Estádio do Maracanã the home team room is known as "Garrincha," while the visiting team room is known as "Pelé."

 

 

Early life

Botafogo Fans and Garrincha flag at Engenhão stadium (2007).

Garrincha was born in Pau Grande, a district of Magé, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, in 1933. His father was an alcoholic, drinking cachaçaheavily, a problem which Garrincha would inherit. He had several birth defects: his spine was deformed, his right leg bent inwards and his left leg six centimeters shorter and curved outwards, none of which impeded his ability to play football at the highest level.

Garrincha was known amongst footballing scouts but did not arrive in professional football until his late teens; he had no interest in a professional career despite his immense talent.

 

Club career

Garrincha was already married and a parent when he signed for Botafogo in 1953. Team officials were ecstatic to learn that he was over 18 and able to be treated as a professional. In his first training session, he demonstrated his extraordinary skills by dribbling the ball through the legs of Nilton Santos, a Brazilian international defender and defensive midfielder with 16 international caps, who then requested himself for Garrincha to be hired for Brazil. He played in a 5–0 win for Botafogo's reserves and then scored a hat trick on his first-team début againstBonsucesso on July 19, 1953.

Garrincha continued to play brilliantly, but Brazil had other talented players in his position, notably Julinho and together with a new European style of play centered on team work, he was not named in the squad for the 1954 World Cup. He helped Botafogo win the Campeonato Carioca in 1957 by scoring 20 goals in 26 games finishing second in the league scoring charts and this convinced the national team selectors to name him to the 1958 World Cup squad. After the 1962 World Cup, Garrincha returned to Rio and carried Botafogo to victory in the 1962 Campeonato Carioca final against Flamengo. Garrincha played for Botafogo for 12 years, the bulk of his professional career. He won the Campeonato Carioca three times with them, scored 232 goals in 581 matches, and became a symbol of the history of the club.

In 1966, with his career declining, he was sold to Corinthians. Two years later, he signed for Colombian team Atlético Junior. The same year he went back to Brazil and joined Flamengo, where he would stay until 1969. In 1971, there were rumours that Garrincha, 38, would join French club Red Star FC 93, but he never signed and returned to Brazil.

Garrincha's professional career as a footballer lasted until 1972, when he played for Olaria, but he played occasional exhibition matches until 1982.

Garrincha was subject to numerous transfer attempts by rich European clubs like Juventus of Turin, Italy who tried to sign him in 1954. Real Madrid of Spain tried to sign him in 1959 after some stunning performances by him on a tour of Europe. Internazionale, AC Milan and Juventus of Italy considered jointly signing him in 1963 (he would have to spend a season with each); a deal that would have been unique in football.

 

International career

Garrincha played 50 international matches for Brazil between 1955 and 1966, and was a starter for the national team in the 1958, 1962 and 1966 World Cups. Brazil only lost one match with him on the pitch, against Hungary at the 1966 World Cup. Pelé did not play the game against Hungary, and thus Brazil never lost when Garrincha and he were on the same lineup.

His first cap was against Chile in Rio de Janeiro in 1955. He played two matches at the Copa America of 1957 and four in the 1959 edition, Brazil finished runners up in both editions.

 

Final years and death

The success Garrincha enjoyed on the football pitch had great contrast with his personal life. He drank heavily throughout his adult life, and was involved in several serious road accidents, notably a crash into a lorry in April 1969 which killed his mother-in-law. He was married twice, first to Nair Marques in 1952 (they separated in 1965), a factory worker from Pau Grande with whom he had eight daughters, and second to Elza Soares, a samba singer whom he married in an unofficial ceremony in March 1966; as Soares had also married before, the Brazilian press were sour on the marriage. The couple separated in 1977, when Soares left him after he struck her during an argument. Garrincha had other significant affairs, including one with showgirl Angelita Martinez, and he is known to have fathered at least 14 children.

After a series of financial and marital problems, Garrincha died of cirrhosis of the liver on January 19, 1983, in an alcoholic coma in Rio de Janeiro. He had been hospitalized eight times in the previous year, and by the time of his death he was a physical and mental wreck. His last years were unhappy and obscure – he seemed to have become a forgotten hero – but his funeral procession, from the Maracanã to Pau Grande, drew thousands of fans, friends and former players to pay their respects. His epitaph reads "Here rests in peace the one who was the Joy of the People – Mané Garrincha." People had painted on the wall: Obrigado, Garrincha, por você ter vivido (Thank you, Garrincha, for having lived).

A multi-use stadium in Brasilia, Estádio Mané Garrincha, is named after him. His career was presented in the 1962 film Garrincha, Alegria do Povo, and in 2003, another movie, called Garrincha - Estrela Solitária ("Lonely Star"), based on Ruy Castro's book, depicted his life on and off the field.

 

Playing characteristics

He was voted into the FIFA Team of the 20th century by 250 of the world's most respected football writers and journalists as one of the three best forwards of the 20th century.Known for his remarkable ball control, imagination, dribbling skills and ability to create something from nothing, Garrincha also possessed a ferocious shot with either foot and was a gifted dead ball specialist known for free kicks and corners taken with the outside of his foot. However, it was his astonishing dribbling skills he was most famous for, a skill he retained throughout his career. Examples of his shooting ability are his goals in World Cups against England in 1962 and Bulgaria in 1966. He was also able to turn on himself at top speed and explode at unusual angles, which he used to great effect. The numerous attacks and goal opportunities he generated through individual plays would often end up in an accurate pass to a teammate in a position to score. This occurred in the first two of Brazil's goals in the 1958 World Cup final and the second goal against Spain in the 1962 tournament. He was also an excellent header of the ball despite his relatively short stature. He is one of a few players to have scored direct from a corner, a feat he managed to do 4 times in his career.

He is often credited for having been the inspiration for the bull fighting chants of "ole" to be used at football grounds initially during a game in Argentina where he constantly teased and went past his markers to constant ole's from the crowd.