Articles We Like….
The pioneer of Portuguese football
In being recently awarded the prestigious Ballon D’Or, Cristiano Ronaldo became the third Portuguese footballer to be given this glittering prize by France Football magazine. Both he and the second, Luis Figo, now in his dotage at Inter Milan, owe plenty to the first winner from their country; a player who put their country on the footballing map.
Sunday sees Eusébio da Silva Ferreira celebrate his 67th birthday. He remains Portugal’s favourite son, the player who took them to the brink of the World Cup Final in 1966 and gave a small nation belief in its ability to compete. At Benfica, he is revered as their greatest player, the man whose goals secured them a second European Cup and inspired them to unmatched domestic success. No-one ever shone brighter at the original Stadium of Light.
Really can’t praise this article enough. Eusebio is one of those rare players where in their time you see them play and know they advanced the game to a whole other level. In the 60′s there was Pele, Real Madrid great Alfredo di Stéfano and Eusebio. Make no mistake he deserved to be among that rarefied air of football greatness. It was Real Madrid and Benfica lead by Eusebio which dominated European Football in the 1960′s. We all know Brazil won the 1958, 1962, and 1970 World Cup with the only team to stop them along the way was Eusebio who during his magical 1966 World Cup ran ended Brazil streak of World Cup’s.
For the longest time I’ve told this story repeated in the article which I will quote.
“The regrets of 1966 would rankle long after his retirement. England had been supposed to travel to Goodison for the semi-final until a FIFA decision to move the game to Wembley. Having won the hearts of the people of Merseyside and after being forced to travel to London on a train at short notice, Eusébio continues to resent a switch he felt gave the English too great an advantage. “Had we played in Liverpool, like we were supposed to, we would have won that game and reached the final. There is no question about it,” he has said.”
To this day I can’t mention this fact to my family without swear words soon following in their reply. Somewhat in jest but also somewhat serious I’ve always dubbed the 1966 World Cup “the rigged world cup.” In this day and age you’d never see such an important game being moved 24 hours prior to kickoff plus the whole did the ball cross the line or did it not against Germany in the finals.
Moving on as we approach Eusebio birthday allow me to bow in his greatness and say thanks for the positive influence he continues to have in the game. Leaving with a youtube clip of Eusebio. Just looking at the way he stuck the ball with such power you could see he was a special player in his era. (Sorry for the music in the clip, have no control over that.)
January 26th, 2009 at 5:33 am
Wasn’t that the year you guys took out Pele to get there? To play devil’s advocate, if you didn’t take out Pele maybe this would have been a non-issue….
Let’s face it. We can play what-if’s all day long in sports. At the end of the day the scoreboard is all that matters and is all that is remembered.
January 26th, 2009 at 6:24 am
Portugal was already up when Pele got injured so they were still full value for that victory.