He was born handicapped, was a hopeless alcoholic, had 14 children with 5 women in his lifetime, and even gave his "first" to a goat at the age of 12...
He is also one of Brazil's greatest players, the toughest dribbling devil in football history (perhaps not one of them), and even pele, the king of balls, can't hide his dazzling light.
In his short life of 49 years, he has been bouncing back and forth between genius and madness. He was Manuel Francisco dos Santos, and he had a more widely known name: "Little Bird" Garrincha.
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Galincha was born on October 28, 1933 in a small town in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Due to congenital spinal deformation, his left leg was 6 cm shorter than his right leg, causing his left leg to bend outward and his right leg to bend inward. The doctor asserted that the deformed child could not walk normally, let alone play football.
With a strange walking posture and a thin body, his sister gave him the nickname "Little Bird" (Garrincha in Portuguese), which is also the origin of Garrincha's name.
Because of his poor grades, Garrincha gave up his studies early and spent most of his time playing football and hunting. In His Biography of Garincha, written by Rui Castro, he tells the story of a shocking event: at the age of 12, Garrincha, who had just entered adolescence, had an indescribable relationship with a goat.
At the age of 14, Garrincha was sent to work in a factory and joined the football team of workers, and soon became famous and gained the attention of some Brazilian teams, although he was not interested in becoming a professional player at that time.
In the 1950 World Cup, the whole of Brazil was paying attention to the World Cup final with Uruguay, but Garrincha ran to fish on the same day, and when he returned, he did not understand why everyone was so sad (Brazil eventually lost 1-2 to Uruguay). In his opinion, football is a simple pleasure, and winning or losing does not matter.
It was not until 1953 that Galincha finally accepted Botafogo's offer to try. As a newcomer, he humiliated Brazilian international full-back Nelton Santos with a single ball. Santos then dragged Garincha into the club president's office and demanded that he sign the 19-year-old immediately, citing "I don't want to be against him anymore." ”
In this way, Garrincha began his career, and he soon proved that Santos's concerns were not unfounded.
The amazing dribbling, the balanced left and right foot technique, and the strong explosive power make Garincha a nightmare for every defender. The bent legs made his change of direction more confusing than normal people, and no one knew whether he would choose to cut inside or overtake on the outside.
Even in today's eyes, Garrincha's ability to break through is still terrifying
As you can see in the collection, in those days, how to defend Garrincha's breakthrough was a worldwide problem. His favorite thing to do on the field is to smile and repeatedly flirt with the opponent in front of him with fake movements, this free and uninhibited style of play has made him the darling of Brazilians, fans like to call him "the joy of the people" and "the angel with bent legs". Of course, there are also many people who believe that Garrincha's kick is not respectful enough for the opponent.
Garrincha name scene: Shake you down, I don't even need to touch the ball
Wait, who are you reminding of? In fact, as early as the age of 19, the fledgling Neymar said: "My style of play is more like Garincha than Pele." ”
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When it comes to Garrincha, Pele is always an unavoidable name.
In 1958, thanks to his excellent performances at the club, Garrincha was given the opportunity to represent the Brazilian national team in the World Cup. Another big name in that Brazilian team is Pele, who is only 17 years old.
In the first two games of the group stage, neither Pele nor Garrincha got a chance to play. The young Bailey sitting on the bench is forgivable, but what is the reason for Garincha when he was playing?
Before the Start of the World Cup, Brazil played a warm-up match with Fiorentina, with Garrincha passing through four players and a goalkeeper. Facing the empty goal, he did not directly hit the goal, but instead passed the defender again and finally brought the ball into the goal. Brazilian coach Fiola thought Garrincha's showmanship was superfluous and irresponsible, so he beat him into the cold.
Garrincha scored against Fiorentina
In the third game, Brazil ushered in a key qualifying battle with the former Soviet Union. Fiora chose Pele as striker and Garrincha to the right. This employment caused a lot of controversy at the time, people questioned Pele because he was "naïve and inexperienced in the competition", and questioned Garrincha's reason for being hilarious: his IQ was too low.
After the 1950 and 1954 World Cups, the brazilian national team began to introduce some advanced European concepts. On the eve of the 1958 World Cup, they even gave IQ tests to all members of the national team, and the results showed that Garrincha had an IQ of less than 70, which was a typical "giant baby" and did not have the ability to work in teams.
But Bailey punched the critic in the face with Garincha. In the first 30 seconds of the opening, Garrincha juggled past Kuznetsov three times in a row and hit the goal frame, causing the Soviets to be in disarray. Three minutes later, Vawa broke through yassin's goal, which has been called "the most wonderful 3 minutes in the history of Brazilian football". Pele then assisted Vawa to go down the next city, and Brazil qualified 2-0.
Garincha opened the scoring with Soviet defender Kuznetsov
Pele and Garrincha have since established their places in the Brazilian national team. In that World Cup, Pele, who scored 5 goals, let the world remember himself, and Garrincha also contributed greatly: in the final, Brazil once fell behind Sweden 0-1, and it was Garincha who broke through the right side with his signature and assisted Vawa for 2 consecutive times, and Brazil finally won the crown 5-2.
Four years later, in 1962, Pele and Garincha teamed up again for the World Cup. However, Pele played only 2 group games before hanging up the card due to injury, and Garrincha almost single-handedly led Brazil to successfully defend the title.
In the quarter-finals against England, Garrincha scored twice, and after the match, the British media praised him as "a combination of Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney and snake-trickers". In the semi-finals, facing host Chile, Garrincha once again won two dollars, and the annoyed Chilean media "Mercury" directly used the headline: Which planet does Garrincha come from?
This extreme individual heroic performance had a more profound significance at the time. The wild playing galincha proved to the world that football is not a science, but an art. Beautiful samba football, do not need to give up their egos for the championship.
As the famous Brazilian playwright Nelsson Rodríguez said: "We all think Garrincha is a fool, but Garrincha proved at the World Cup that we are fools." ”
In 1966, the 32-year-old Garrincha made his last Appearance in the World Cup with a knee injury. Facing Bulgaria, he scored a free kick with the instep of his foot. Garrincha played for his country for the last time in Brazil's 3-1 defeat to Hungary, which turned out to be his only 50 national team matches.
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In his book Football, the Brazilian Way of Life, writer Alex Bellos describes the Brazilians' admiration for Garrincha this way: "A friend told me that Garrincha was the best player in Brazilian history. I thought he was teasing me, after all, Pele is the world's recognized king of the ball. So I went around asking the locals who was the best player in Brazil, and they all answered Garrincha. ”
As two of the greatest stars of his time, why didn't Garrincha get the same worldwide recognition as Bailey? The answers given by Bellos are intriguing.
Garrincha has been plagued by countless vices throughout his life, while Pele is a model of professional footballers, focusing on training and improving himself, living a life of abstinence. By the time Garrincha shoved his salary into the fruit plate, Bailey had already registered his name as a trademark. ”
From the beginning, Pele worked towards his goal of becoming the greatest player. For Galincha, who is simple-minded and happy, the historical status is probably not as good as a bottle of wine.
Influenced by his father's alcoholism, Garrincha became an alcoholic at a young age, drinking at least one bottle of rum a day. After winning the 1958 World Cup, he drunk and drove in his hometown and knocked over his father without knowing it. In 1969, Garincha repeated the same mistake when he was drunk and collided head-on with a van, killing his mother-in-law in the co-driver on the spot.
The chaotic private life also seriously affected Garrincha's reputation. At the age of 19, he married a girl named Marquis and gave birth to 8 daughters, but Garrincha never took the marriage seriously. In 1959, while following Botafogo to Sweden, he had a one-night stand with a Swedish girl and caused them to become pregnant, so he was expelled from the national team.
In 1962, Garrincha fell in love with Brazilian actress Elsa Soarez, and both were married at the time, which also made Garrincha criticized by the Brazilian media. In 1966, Garrincha secretly married Elsa, but he was exposed to cheating many times after his marriage. In 1977, after an argument, Garrincha beat Elsa, and the two's 15-year relationship broke down.
According to statistics, Garincha has had at least 14 children with 5 lovers, and some media believe that the abusive Garrincha may be a sex addict.
Immersed in the world of women and alcohol, the latter part of Garrincha's career was a disaster. From 1963 until his retirement in 1972, Garrincha worked for several clubs, but only played 48 games in total, during which even 2 years of his resume were completely blank. The physical defects of his legs gradually overwhelmed his knees, and the former Great Demon King eventually became an old man who mixed food everywhere.
Even in the most beautiful years, Garrincha did not save any savings. Illiterate and unwilling to hire an agent, When Botafogo handed him the contract, he signed it without looking at it. Seeing that he was so big-hearted, Botafogo simply filled in the lowest number in the salary column, and as a result, Garrincha, as the core of the team, could only get the least salary of the whole team for many years.
After hanging up his boots and losing his source of income, Garrincha's life was even worse. He applied for a loan to buy a house from the Brazilian Sports Association, but was refused. On the same day, he was found outside a church in downtown Rio, drunk and crying alone in a corner.
On January 19, 1983, Garincha, who had been drinking for a day, returned home, fell unconscious, and was taken to the hospital. Doctors simply couldn't recognize the man as Garrincha—his body was puffy from excessive drinking, and it was hard to imagine that he had been as agile as a cheetah when he was young. The next morning, Garincha died of cirrhosis at the age of 49.
On the day of the funeral, millions of Brazilians came to Maracanã to send off their former heroes. People put up slogans like: "Galincha, thank you for coming into this world", "You bring us joy, but let us cry for you".