11 best Brazilian soccer players of all time

Roman Moon chose the coolest Brazilians. Roberto Carlos in stock, Ronaldinho stayed home. The priority, as usual, is for those who played well for the national team.

Gilmar

A contemporary of Lev Yashin, the best goalkeeper of Brazil of all time, one of the three most respected keeper of the continent. The only goalkeeper to win two world championships in a row (in 1958 he issued a series of four dry matches, and in 1962 missed an average less goal per game). Zhilmar’s career is inextricably linked with Pele’s career: Pele scored his first goal in his professional career, he won two World Cups and almost 20 trophies at the club level, and Pele weeps on one of the most famous photos in the history of Brazilian football on his shoulder .

Jalma Santos

There is terrible competition on the right flank of the defense: almost three of the best right-backs of all time have gathered here. And yet, it’s not Carlos Alberto or Cafu who will play, but Jalma Santos, who played for Brazil at the victorious World Cup 58 and World Cup 62, a highly reliable defense player who supported the attack very well. As they would write in the basketball section, he decided in a clutch: he defended himself flawlessly in the finals of 1958, and in the finals of 1962 he organized the third goal of Brazil, which removed questions about the winner.

Domingos da Gia

Superstar of the Brazilian national team of the 30s, a huge defender who loved to get into a stroke. He explained this by the fact that the black guys in Brazil needed to be able to avoid collisions: “When I was a kid, I was afraid to play football, because I often saw black being beaten when they foul. I danced well, it helped me to invent my dribbling style, which imitated samba ”. At the 1938 World Cup, Domingos brought a decisive penalty into his own net, the Brazilians lost to the Italians and ended up in third place. At home, the players were still greeted as heroes: the team’s game impressed the entire planet, and Brazil decided that winning the World Cup was a matter of time.

Bellini

The first captain of the Brazilian national team to touch the World Cup. The first one who joyfully raised the trophy over his head (they say it was not a matter of emotions, he was asked by photographers looking for a beautiful shot). Brazil-1958 with Pele and Garrincha was remembered by a team of stellar attacking players, although the national team did not miss a single goal to the semi-finals, and the game with four defenders in a line was then an original move. Brazilians remember everything: the “Maracana” has a statue of Bellini with the World Cup in his hands.

Nilton Santos

Roberto Carlos? In stock. Play will be the greatest left back in history. Four trips to the World Cup, two wins. He burned in attack and defense, which was emphasized by the 1958 World Cup: at the group stage, Nilton scored Austria’s miracle goal, passing the entire field with the ball, and in the final figured out with Kurt Hamrin, the main star of the Swedish national team. Four years later, the 37-year-old Nilton went to his final World Cup and was again in perfect order.

Gerson

Here could be Didi, the best player in the World Cup 58. Falcao, the most gifted central midfielder in Brazilian history, could have been here. And yet it would be strange to put only one attacking football player from Brazil-1970, so Gerson will be the basis. Pirlo of the 70s, the man who led the entire game of that team from the central zone. In the final match with the Italians, he scored, made an effective pass and took part in the legendary goal of Carlos Alberto.

Brazilian coach 70 Mario Zagallo says he trusted Gerson the most: “I gave him the signs from the edge, and he changed everything on the field, like a coach.”

Dunga

To be honest, Dunga is not included not only in 11, but even in the 111 best Brazilian football players of all time. But the symbolic team of all time cannot be just a collection of the best players. Throwing away Dungu means ignoring the “Era Dunga” - the period in the history of the Brazilian national team of the 90s, when it showed a dull football, but won the 1994 World Cup (and he scored a winning penalty in the final). To throw out Dungu means to succumb to the greatest myth of Brazilian football: everyone believes that Brazilians play for the sake of beauty, but in fact they play for the sake of victories.

Well, at least someone other than defenders should defend in this team.

Zico

The hero of Brazil’s lost generation of the 80s, talented enough to outshine the teams of Pele and Garrinchi. It was precisely Zico who was the main star of the generation: “White Pele” gave the last pass, closed the attacks and put free throws, as if not noticing the walls. In 1982, Brazil lost to the Italians, four years later, she lost to Platini and his friends in the penalty spot in the quarterfinals.

But it so happened that the team Zico, Falcao and Socrates love more than the victorious Brazil-94 and even Brazil-2002. Zico won nothing, but became a legend. It seems to suit him. “I did my best,” he says. “We did not win - so be it.” In this symbolic team, he is a great loser among the winners, but the generation 82 is so strong that he did not even need to win to stay in history.

Garrincha

His father was a drunken drunkard, his left leg was six centimeters shorter than his right, his spine was twisted from birth, and he was not going to play football professionally at all. With this set, Garrinch became one of the most popular footballers in history and won the World Cup twice. In 1962, he was generally in the MVP of the tournament: he defeated England in the quarter finals, scored two Chileans in the semifinals and played the final, in which the goalkeeper of the Czechoslovak team, in fact, gave Brazil a victory. Dribbling Garrinchi was ahead of time: no one knew how to stop his passages on the right flank. Brazil only lost one match with Garrincha, his last game for the national team in the group stage of the 1966 World Cup.

Pele says: Garrincha sometimes came to the stadium separately from everyone, at the beginning of the match. He changed clothes and asked partners: with whom are we playing today?

Pele

The greatest player of all time, the only winner of three world championships, is still the best scorer in the history of the Brazilian national team. The exact opposite of Garrinche. Garrincha lived as he wanted, Pele is a professional, always monitoring his health. Garrincha did not plan to be a football player, Pele knew from childhood that he would play big football, and at 15 left his parents' house at the Santos Academy. Garrincha kept the money he earned in a fruit vase, Pele had a financial adviser, investments and advertising contracts (this is how we got the worst coffee in coffee history). Mario Zagallo says that in 1974 Pele faced a choice: to go to the World Cup or to star in Pepsi commercials. Pele chose the ad. Garrincha was loved in Brazil. Pele - respected.

Pele and Garrincha are a guarantee of the success of the symbolic team: when both were in the composition, Brazil did not lose.

Ronaldo

In 2002, they said: Ronaldo’s shadow is going to the World Cup. Due to injuries, he did not really play for two years. The whole team was evaluated in approximately the same way: Brazil then barely passed qualifications. It seemed that Ronaldo missed his chance four years ago when he went to World Cup 98 as the best player on the planet, he burned the entire tournament with napalm, and played the final with his eyes closed (he had an attack of convulsions before the match) and Brazil gave the trophy to France. In Asia, everything turned out perfectly: the favorites failed, the Brazilians were lucky with the tournament bracket, in the final, Ronaldo scored two goals for Oliver Kahn and moved from geniuses to great ones.

Trainer

Mario Zagallo

The first person to win the World Cup, first as a football player, and then as a coach. If not for Ronaldo’s problems in 1998, he would be the first to win two world championships as a player and two as a coach.

He was appointed coach of the team largely because his predecessor, a grumpy former journalist Joao Saldanha, had an argument with Pele. The first thing Zagallo did, heading the national team, went up to Pele and said: “I'm not crazy. You and 10 more guys will be on this team. ” Still Zagallo refused 4-2-4 in favor of 4-5-1 and found a place in the basis for all attacking stars: Rivelino, Zhairzinho, Pele, Tostao. Finally, he did everything so that the team was physically prepared: Rivelino would later say in an interview that he had never felt like drinking during the match during the tournament (held in the Mexican roasting pot).

In 1958, Brazil had the strongest players. In 1970 - the best team.

First team

Second team

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