Portuguese Legend Eusebio Dies

[eusebio13]

Former Portugal footballer Eusebio, often ranked as one of the best players ever, has died at the age of 71, local media reports.

The forward was the top scorer in the 1966 World Cup as he guided his team to third place in the tournament.

Nicknamed the Black Panther or the Black Pearl, Eusebio spent most of career with Benfica in Portugal after moving from the then Portuguese territory Laurenco Marquez, now Mapatu in Mozambique.

He scored 733 goals in 745 competitive games over his career and in a poll conducted for Uefa's Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2004 he was voted as the 7th best European footballer to have played the game.

news.sky.com/story/1190439/eusebio-portugal-football-legend-dies

[sharky]

That's very sad news Eus. One of the best ever. Comiserations to his family, all Portuguese football lovers and to our own eusebio13

RIP

[eusebio13]

[Macmoish]

Very Sad RIP - The Black Pearl


BBC


Eusebio: Portugal football legend dies aged 71

Portugal football legend Eusebio, who was top scorer at the 1966 World Cup, has died at the age of 71.

Born in Mozambique in 1942 when it was still a Portuguese colony, Eusebio da Silva Ferreira went on to play 64 times for Portugal, scoring 41 goals.

The Benfica striker's nine goals at the 1966 World Cup in England included four against North Korea.

Widely considered one of the best players of all-time, he scored 733 times in 745 professional matches.

Eusebio, the 1965 European Footballer of the Year, won the European Cup with Benfica in 1962 and was in the side that lost to Manchester United in the 1968 Wembley final.

More to follow.

www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25611509


And a Profile from 10+ Years ago

BBC Wednesday, 10 April, 2002,

Eusebio: The Black Pearl

Eusebio won the Golden Boot award in 1966
Portugal did not win the World Cup in 1966, but their star striker certainly caught the imagination of football fans across the world.

Eusebio da Silva Ferreira used his amazing acceleration and dazzling dribbling skills to earn the title of top scorer at the tournament, notching up nine goals.

Known as "The Black Pearl", he made a tremendous impact on Portuguese football and was one of a group of African players who came to prominence in the 1960s .

He was born in the then Portuguese territory of Mozambique in 1942 and began his career with Sporting Lourenco-Marques, a nursery club of Sporting Lisbon.

Eusebio
FACTS
Born: 25/01/42
Country: Portugal
Caps: 64
Goals: 41
WORLD CUP STATS
Participated: 1966
Bronze winner (1966)
Top scorer 1966 - 9 goals

But, on arriving in Lisbon at the age of 19, he was snatched by rival club Benfica for a fee of £7,500.

In one of his first games for the club, Eusebio scored a hat-trick against Santos, a side that included Brazilian star Pele, and confirmed his status as one of Europe's most lethal strikers.

The following year, he was a member of the first side to beat Real Madrid in a European Cup final when Benfica triumphed 5-3.

He won 10 league championships, five cups and one European Cup in his 15 years at Benfica and was Portugal's top league scorer between 1964 and 1973.

His dazzling tally of goals for club and country earned him the prestigious European Footballer of the Year award in 1965.

But it was a year later that he secured a new following with his performance in the World Cup in England.

After winning all their group games and helping to eliminate title-holders Brazil in the first round, newcomers Portugal came from 3-0 down to beat North Korea 5-3 in a dramatic quarter-final, thanks to four goals from Eusebio.

Portugal went on to lose 2-1 in the next round to eventual winners England and a tearful Eusebio left the pitch.

By then, he had captured the hearts of the British public and his figure was soon added to Madame Tussaud's waxwork collection.

Eusebio continued to play at the highest level until 1974, but knee problems had already begun to slow him down.

In 1975, he moved to the North American Soccer League and then returned to Portugal in 1976/77 to play for SC Beira Mar before further spells in the USA and Mexico.

news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/team_pages/portugal/newsid_1778000/1778131.stm

[Macmoish]

[Macmoish]

As previously posted here












Several others from Bushman of Eusebio at QPR
qprreport.proboards.com/thread/19132/eusebio-qpr

[kenthoop]

One of the finest Portuguese footballers I ever had the privilege to see R I P Eusebio and my condolences to all your family

[eusebio13]

From Africa to posterity: How Eusébio lit up the World Cup
The career of Africa's greatest-ever player began with a chance conversation in a Portuguese barbershop and ended in unfading glory

Paul Hayward
theguardian.com, Sunday 6 June 2010 00.06 BST
Eusebio, born in Mozambique, became a Portuguese and international footballing legend
Eusebio was born in Mozambique, but became Africa's first football legend and one of the all-time greats of the game with Benfica and Portugal. Photograph: Tom Jenkins
Last summer Africa's first great footballer was invited by his friend and boyhood idol, Alfredo Di Stefáno, to the unveiling of Cristiano Ronaldo by Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. An €80m purchase from Manchester United, Ronaldo was Portugal's new global star. Di Stefáno nudged Eusébio and said: "That would have been you."

Long before George Weah, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien or Samuel Eto'o there was Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, who wears a symbolic lustre no footballer can match as Africa's first World Cup approaches. Eusébio affirmed his immortality in the era of Pelé, George Best, Bobby Charlton and Johan Cruyff. Though his 64 international caps were acquired with Portugal – and all his deeds at club level achieved with Benfica, from 1961-75 – Mozambique and Africa can cite him as proof that their continent bred one of the game's all-time top 10 players not in the present age of Drogba and Eto'o, but 68 years ago.

So the "Black Panther" or "Black Pearl", as he was known, dubiously, must sense he is a figurehead for this tournament? "I do, I feel very proud. I don't feel a weight of expectation, but a lot of people are looking to me, with the first World Cup in Africa," he says. "It's something for the whole continent to be proud of, not just South Africa. For anyone born in Africa, any footballer, the biggest party in football is going down there for the first time."

The bare outline is that the first great footballer to leave Africa to pursue European recognition spent 13 seasons at Benfica, where he won seven championships, was Portugal's leading scorer from 1964-68 and helped bring the 1962 European Cup back to the Estádio da Luz, where he is immortalised in statue form and is still an ambassador for Lisbon's biggest club.

Eusébio scored 727 times in 715 appearances for Benfica and won the Golden Boot with his nine goals for Portugal in the 1966 World Cup. Four of those came in a 5-3 quarter-final win against North Korea. Forty-one goals in 64 outings for his adopted country is a record that lasted until 2005, when it was surpassed by Pauleta, a journeyman compared to this son of a railway mechanic, who played for nothing grander than a Coca-Cola and a sandwich until a conversation in a Portuguese barbershop shaped his fate.

The first talker was a coach from São Paulo, the Brazilian side who were touring Portugal after a trip to Mozambique (then Portuguese East Africa). The unidentified scout eulogised a young striker he had seen with a provincial club with ties to Sporting Lisbon. Listening was Bela Guttman, the Benfica coach, who flew within a week to Lourenço Marques (now Maputo). Eusébio could run the 100m in 11 seconds. Guttman outraged Sporting by buying the 18-year-old inside-left for £7,500 (Eusébio now says it was for €2,000, or its equivalent). Two weeks later he was playing for Portugal.

So far, so romantic, but the rancour between the two Lisbon clubs has endured. Even now Eusébio is irritated by the suggestion that Sporting were entitled to his signature. "I used to play in Sporting's feeder club in Mozambique. Benfica wanted to pay me in a contract to go while Sporting wanted to take me as a junior player for the experience with no monetary reward," he says.

"Benfica made a nice approach. They went to speak to my mum, my brother, and offered €1,000 for three years. My brother asked for double and they paid it. They signed the contract with my mother and she got the money. She put it in a bank in Mozambique, with a clause on it, saying that if her son didn't go to Portugal and become a great footballer she would pay the money back, because she had a good heart.

"There was a newspaper picture of her with all the money on the table with her arms round it. I had never seen such money in my life. Sporting tried to spread the story that I'd stitched them up, but it was the other way round, because they tried to take me for free while Benfica were willing to pay." To escape the kerfuffle, Benfica hid him in a house on the Algarve until Sporting had calmed down. At €2,000, or £7,500, whichever is the true figure, Eusébio was to become Portugal's finest player. Ronaldo is unlikely to have left Manchester for less than £200,000 a week.

The world Eusébio left was one of European colonies and lasting exploitation. Portugal's leading clubs farmed the country's overseas "possessions" for African talent. Portugal's imperialism in Africa can be traced to Vasco da Gama landing there in the 15th century on his way to India. Eusébio's pathfinders to Europe were Hilário, Matateu and Mário Coluna, who joined Benfica in 1954. The new star's salary – piffling, by today's standards – was twice the previous highest paid to an African footballer.

The day of his leaving remains in the foreground of his memory. And an anniversary approaches. He says: "Eighteen years old, 17 December 1960. In December of this year I will have been 50 years in Portugal. Always Benfica, it's a family to me. I'm an ambassador for them and the national team. I'm with them all the time."

Like most products of that gilded age, Eusébio describes the deprivations of his early years with pride, rather than regret, perhaps to amplify his achievements to the young and ignorant. "I was already a good footballer, I just wasn't a professional. We played with socks or newspaper rolled into a ball."

He is in London to support the Fifa-backed 1GOAL campaign, which has a target of ensuring 72 million African children can receive an education by 2015. This is no light ambassadorial duty for Eusébio, who has launched numerous charitable programmes in Mozambique and still holds dual nationality. "I have family there, fewer of them with time, and I have my friends. A lot of my family have passed over to the other side but I still have six relatives there," he says. He will be there for a fifth visit this year when he flies in this week.

"Every time I go back it gets a little bit better. You go to Africa now and there are a lot more football pitches and a better infrastructure, but it also depends on how it's managed after the World Cup."

Watching him rise from a table with his bow legs and impossibly tender knees, you see the high physical cost of 20 years in the game in a more brutal era. After Benfica, in 1975, he toured the North American Soccer League, turning out for Boston Minutemen and Las Vegas Quicksilvers among others. In the 1960s, Real Madrid's interest in him ceased when they saw how bad his weaker right knee was (six operations, in the same spot, have left a kind of ruin). His ambition was to emulate Sir Stanley Matthews and play on towards his 50s, but chronic knee pain forced him to stop at the age of 39.

As he tells that story about the Ronaldo unveiling, the question of envy creeps into the interviewer's mind. But he is straight on to it, like a loose ball in the box: "There is no jealousy. The generation I played with was the best generation ever. You don't have that now and I wouldn't change it for the money. It was all heart and that's why there were so many great players. Portugal, England, Brazil, Argentina: so many. That's why I'm so happy with what I had, to have been a great player. I'm happy to have been part of that era.

"Football nowadays is just commercial. Television commands the times of the games. The players are very good, obviously. I'm happy for the modern-day player who signs his contract and makes lots of money. The players of my era helped make that possible.

"I respect the football of today but the football of my time was better. Football hasn't got better, it has just evolved, from the ball to the boots to the shirts to the training methods – everything around them. Pelé, George Best, Cruyff, Garrincha would have been amazing players today.

"When we played Real Madrid and won 5-3 [in the 1962 European Cup final – Eusébio scored two] it was soaking wet and the ball ended up weighing a kilo. It didn't have a brand. That's why Pelé or Garrincha, if they played now, would be so wonderful. Consider their boots. There was no personalised footwear from Adidas. We'd have one pair for all surfaces, and the kitman would change the studs according to the conditions. Sometimes they'd do it in a rush and a nail would still be in there. You'd take your boot off and there would be blood from where the nail had penetrated your foot. Back then we made money, but we played for the love, it was all heart."

In this fraternal spirit he urges Africa's World Cup contenders to assume a strong group mentality: "The problem is that the players are quite individual. I wish the players would get together and work together. If that happened African football would take another leap forward." And he chafes when asked why Portugal have failed to convert talent into international trophies: "What a lot of people don't know is that Portugal have won tournaments, just not at senior level. Their juniors have always been very strong in World Cups and European Championships.

"The problem is that when people think of Portugal and these great players they forget it's a very small country. It's not easy. Portuguese clubs have won European trophies, but it's a very fine line between success and failure at international level and it's a very small country. Compare Brazil to Portugal and it's David and Goliath. The colonies in Africa – Angola and Mozambique – had four players in the Portugal side in 1966 and that's gone now because these countries have their own national sides. You've lost that stream of players."

Of Ronaldo he says: "I know him very well, he's a very good professional, a hard worker. At Real Madrid when all the players leave training he stays there and takes free-kicks, takes penalties, takes the ball on his own, dribbles. His work ethic is very good, without the coach asking him to do it. When my colleagues were back at home eating I'd still be practising and Ronaldo is the same, a real hard worker. I'm not a Barcelona fan but I very much admire Lionel Messi. I haven't seen him train. I know Ronaldo a lot better. Currently, Messi is the best player in the world. He writes his name all over the pitch."

To summon the spirit of his era – the 60s and early 70s – just ask whether Ronaldo might surpass him as Portugal's nonpareil. "I'm a footballer, not a pundit," he says. "Seven-times best footballer [in Portugal], top scorer at the World Cup, voted into the all-time Fifa top 10. Those are just the facts. I'm not sure whether anyone can surpass that. It's up to you guys to decide. I'm proud to say I've done something for the good of football. I don't compare myself to anyone."

He points to Carlos Alberto – Brazil's 1970 World Cup-winning captain, who is with him in London, and who scored arguably the greatest of all World Cup goals. "There are things you can't forget, moments in history like that."

www.theguardian.com/football/2010/jun/06/eusebio-africa-world-cup

[Macmoish]

Somewhere on this board ("Archives") there's the photo of Eusebio at QPR with the ball under his QPR Shirt...?

[Macmoish]

www.evertonfc.com/history/when-eusebio-met-pele.html

When Eusebio Met Pele



The three big teams were still in it when Portugal met Brazil in front of an expectant crowd of 58,479 at Goodison on 19th July.

The Brazilians made nine changes to the side that had capitulated to Hungary but they were helpless as Portugal, and especially Eusebio, ran riot - although their brutal treatment of Pele led to the Brazilian legend being carried from the pitch.

One goal from Eusebio was particularly memorable - a volley from the right hand side of the box that brought a memorable line from David Coleman on the BBC: "Oh my word! Have you ever seen anything like that?"

The 3-1 win confirmed the Portuguese as group winners and it also proved to be the end of the road for Garrincha: remarkably it was the first time he had been on the losing side in 50 internationals. Hungary's 3-1 victory at Old Trafford against Bulgaria meant they also went through to the quarter-finals.


Tuesday, July 19th 1966



Brazil 1 (Rildo) Portugal 3 (Simoes, Eusebio 2).

Attendance: 62,204.

Brazil: Manga, Fidelis, Brito, Orlando, Rildo, Denilson, Lima, Jairzinho, Silva. Pele, Parana.

Portugal: Jose Pereira, Morais, Batista, Vicente, Hilario, Coluna, Jaime Graca, Jose Augusto, Eusebio, Torres, Simoes.

[Macmoish]

[Macmoish]

Audio: Ex-QPR Manager, Alan Mullery remembers Eusebio (second only to Pele)
www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/9102645/mullery-praise-for-eusebio

[Bushman]

Eusebio, Brian Moore & Gordon Banks at Loftus Rd 1971.

[Zamoraaaah]

Football 'legend' and 'great' are descriptions often over/misused in a world saturated with media hype. In Eusebio's case it's very apt.

RIP Eusebio da Silva Ferreira.

[gramps]

A sad loss. I am privileged to have lived in his lifetime and seen him play. What a dream to have a striker who averages almost a goal a game throughout his career.

[terryb]

RIP Eusebio.

A wonderful player that I saw twice in the flesh & numerous times on television highlights. One of the few players in the sixties that were up to the standard of the Brazil '70 side.

The '66 semi final was a classic but I still blame him for United winning the European Cup in '68!

[Macmoish]

Jan 5, 2014 11:58:53 GMT terryb said:

I still blame him for United winning the European Cup in '68!

I guess back then, I was still young and naive! I actually WANTED Manchester United to win the European Cup in 1968

[wrenboy61]

Very sad news about Eusebio!!!

In this time when strikers are glorified if they have a average of a goal every 2 game this guy's average was nearly a goal every game and at a time when defenders took no prisoners.

Eusebio. A proper player!!! RIP.

[sharky]

Tributes pouring in. This from the.BBC

www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25612337

Eusebio: Football figures pay tribute to Portugal legend

Leading football figures have paid tribute to Portugal legend Eusebio, who has died at the age of 71.
The former Benfica striker scored 733 times in 745 professional games and was top goalscorer at the 1966 World Cup.
Chelsea's Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho told RTP that Eusebio was one of his country's "great figures", adding: "I think he is immortal."
Fifa president Sepp Blatter  tweeted: "Eusebio's place among the greats will never be taken away."
In a statement, Benfica said: "We will remember his talent, his example, his character which marked Portuguese football and which established him as a global benchmark for football.
"Eusebio's life is the heritage of all those who love football.
"Benfica was his home port. He made Benfica more than a club, he made it his home and his family. The memory and legacy of Eusebio will remain among us."
Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo  said his countryman was "always eternal" while Luis Figo,  who won a record 127 caps for Portugal, described him as "the greatest".
Ronaldo's club, Real Madrid, will hold a minute's silence before Monday's La Liga match against Celta Vigo, and their players will wear black armbands.
Mozambique-born Eusebio won the European Cup with Benfica in 1962, and went on to score nine goals as his side reached the semi-finals of the 1966 World Cup, where they were beaten by eventual winners England.
Former Germany captain and coach Franz Beckenbauer, who also starred at the 1966 World Cup, wrote on Twitter:  "One of the greatest football players ever has passed away. My thoughts are with his family."
Eusebio was part of the Benfica team beaten 4-1 in extra time by Manchester United in the 1968 European Cup final.
Eusebio factfile

Born: 25/01/42 in Mozambique.

Early career: Started with Sporting Lourenco-Marques, a nursery club of Sporting Lisbon, but was signed by Benfica for £7,500 at the age of 19.

Benfica: Helped side beat Real Madrid 5-3 in the European Cup final in 1962. Won 10 league championships and five cups in his 15 years at Benfica.

Portugal: Scored 41 goals in 64 internationals.

Starring roles: Named European Footballer of the Year in 1965 and top scorer at the 1966 World Cup with nine goals.

The Premier League champions tweeted  they were "saddened" by his death, adding: "He was a fantastic player and a friend of the club."
Alex Stepney, then United's goalkeeper, made a crucial save from the forward towards the end of normal time at Wembley, which Eusebio applauded.
"The fact he was standing there clapping before running away is a mark of the man," Stepney said. "The fact he lost that semi-final in 1966 and also the final against us two years later creates a false picture. In a generation of truly great players, he was one of the very best."
Eusebio was famed for his powerful shooting and blistering acceleration, traits which made him the Portuguese top flight's leading scorer seven times during a 15-year, trophy-laden spell with Benfica.
Former England striker and Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker wrote:  "Sad news that Eusebio has died. One of the greats of his generation. Could play and strike a ball like very few others."
Former Arsenal and Scotland midfielder George Graham added on BBC Sportsweek: "He was one of the great players, especially playing for Portugal in the World Cup in England - he was phenomenal in that World Cup. It's very sad to see one of the greats die."
Former Netherlands player Ruud Gullit said:  "A great footballer left us and I want to say thanks to Eusebio for all his greatness and beautiful football moments he gave us."
Former England international Jimmy Armfield told BBC Sport: "There were some African players in France, Portugal and Spain at the time but he was the first African footballer to be a true great.
"The football world mourns him. He was a good player and a good chap."

[Lonegunmen]

There's only 2 words I can figure to use on him - 1] Legend & 2] Genius

[eusebio13]

Portugal leads tributes to trailblazing football legend Eusébio
Country declares three days of mourning for player who died of a cardiac arrest aged 71 and is described as among greatest ever
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Jacob Steinberg

The Guardian, Sunday 5 January 2014 20.04 GMT
Eusébio statue Benfica football


A fan hangs a scarf of Benfica football club on the bronze statue of legend Eusébio. Portugal has declared three days of mourning for its footballing star. Photograph: Francisco Leong/AFP/Getty Images
Portugal has declared three days of national mourning after one of its greatest footballers, Eusébio, died after reportedly suffering a heart attack at his home in Lisbon.

Eusébio, 71, who was born in Mozambique, played for Portugal, becoming the first black African global soccer star.

Portugal's president, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, addressed the nation on television to praise the "affability and humility" of a man who never let stardom go to his head despite being one of the game's most prolific goal scorers. "His talent brought joy for entire generations, even those who didn't live through the most glorious moments of his career," he said.

Eusébio emerged as football's popularity was exploding across the world and he was partly responsible for the globalisation of the sport. He was revered as highly as George Best, Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff, Bobby Moore and Pelé. "One of the greatest football players ever has passed away," Beckenbauer said.

Tributes poured in from around the world. The Portugal and Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo tweeted: "Always eternal #Eusebio, rest in peace." Luís Figo, another Portuguese great, tweeted: "'The king!! Grande perda para todos nos! O mais grande!! [Great loss to all of us]."

Chelsea's Portuguese manager, José Mourinho, described him as immortal. "For us, for you Eusébio is one of the greatest footballers. For Portugal he means more than that. No colour, no clubs, no political sides. For Portuguese people Eusébio is Eusébio.

"I [have known] him since a kid. He played against my father. Every year when I was a kid he was sending me a shirt, a ball, a boot. I think guys like him, they never die. History doesn't let them die."

A striker, Eusébio was blessed with outstanding pace and skill and possessed a fearsome shot. According to Fifa records, he scored 679 goals in 678 official games.

During his 15 years at Benfica, the club reached four European Cup finals. It won once, in 1962 against Real Madrid, and the game is remembered for the two Eusébio goals that won the match. The team lost the other three , the most famous of which was the 4-1 defeat to Manchester United at Wembley in 1968. Eusébio had a chance to win it for Benfica , but when his shot was saved by United's goalkeeper, Alex Stepney, Eusébio applauded because of his "sense of fair play". United won in extra time.

"He was certainly one of the game's greats," Stepney said. "To score that many goals is incredible. I don't care who you are, what era you play in, to do that is some achievement."

Eusébio was the son of Laurindo António da Silva Ferreira, a white Angolan, and Elisa Anissabeni, a black Mozambican. He was brought up in poverty, playing football on the streets with a ball of rags, but moved to Lisbon in 1961, joining Benfica and blazing a trail to Europe for African talent that was followed, by the likes of George Weah, Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto'o.

As Mozambique was a Portuguese colony at the time, Eusébio represented Portugal at international level and became a national hero with his wonderful performances at the 1966 World Cup in England. The team was beaten 2-1 in the semi-final by England, the eventual winners, and had to settle for third place. Eusébio won the Golden Boot with nine goals but never played in another World Cup.

His impact was huge in Portugal and Africa, and the Portuguese government decreed three days of national mourning, with flags flying at half-mast, while the Portuguese Football Federation ordered a minute's silence ahead of yesterday's Portuguese cup games.

After leaving Benfica, Eusebio was barred from a lucrative move to Italy by the intervention of the Portuguese dictator, António Salazar, and moved instead to the North American Soccer League. After retiring, he returned to Portugal, where he became an ambassador for Benfica and his adopted country. He reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest and is survived by his wife, Flora, two daughters and several grandchildren.

www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/05/eusebio-portugal-leads-tributes-footballer-national-mourning?CMP=twt_gu

[eusebio13]

Hard to express what an icon Eusebio is to the Portuguese people in a way no politician or celebrity could ever be...he belonged to everyone in Portugal irrelevant of their club and he also belonged to Africa in a time before African footballers had any prominence.

Some of you may know that my username is in fact my real name and while it was a family name predating him, the 13 was always a homage to him, his number from '66. I've felt this immense sense of loss today but as Mourinho said "history won't let him die" and I don't think the Portuguese will ever forget him.

[Deleted]

Well said eus, sad for your country's and football's loss. R.I.P

[Deleted]

Lifes a bitch.

[Bushman]

[marianqpr]

A true legend, Rest in Peace, Eusebio.

[londonranger]

Alex Stepney and Gordon Banks both on BBC saying how much he was as good as Pele and so difficult to cover.

[bacardi167]

Guys , is there anyway i can save some of these pics...esp the one where he is in Hoops?
Great pics...
RIP to a great man who played the game he way its supposed to be played !

The world doesnt turn out icons like this anymore

1. Pele
2. Maradona or Eusebiou ?

[alfaranger]

Jan 6, 2014 6:29:52 GMT bacardi167 said:

Guys , is there anyway i can save some of these pics...esp the one where he is in Hoops?
Great pics...
RIP to a great man who played the game he way its supposed to be played !

The world doesnt turn out icons like this anymore

1. Pele
2. Maradona or Eusebiou ?

Like many of the older ones on this board I watched the '68 Man U v Benfica live on't telly.

The famous 'handshake' to congratulate Stepney proved the gentleman he was without taking away anything from his footballing ability.

It's sad to see (but seems generally accepted by parents with the words 'that's football') children on Saturday and Sunday pitches diving and abusing referees because the professionals do so. It's a pity they don't take a leaf out of Eusebio's book instead - it wont stop them being good players.

As for Maradona I cant fault his skill. But I cant think of any footballers whom I despise as much as that cheating, lying, drug taking, crooked Argentinian.

/
/
/
/

No, still can't think of any!

[Macmoish]

New York Times


Eusebio, Who Represented the Best of Soccer and of Portugal, Dies at 71
Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Eusebio, left, playing for Benifica against AC Milan in a European Cup game in 1963.
By GEORGE VECSEY
Published: January 5, 2014 32 Comments


Soccer fans called him the Black Panther, in the manner of the day, because he was from Mozambique, playing for Portugal, but there was little feline about Eusebio. He was big in the beams and solid around the middle even when he was 24 and, for a few magical weeks, the most captivating player of the 1966 World Cup.
League Scoreboards

He was the center of gravity in that tournament. It was his time. He personally willed Portugal back from a shocking 3-0 deficit to North Korea, the strangers who had already stunned Italy into a tomato barrage back home. Eusebio da Silva Ferreira — known as Eusebio in the Latin soccer single-name fashion — died on Sunday in Lisbon. He would have turned 72 on Jan. 25. His death was announced on the website of his longtime club, Benfica, and confirmed by his biographer, Jose Malheiro, who said he died of heart failure.

Eusebio carried Portugal to a third-place finish at the World Cup in 1966, after seven failures to qualify. In 1998, a panel of 100 experts gathered by FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, named him one of the sport’s top-10 greats.

He was awarded the Ballon d’Or in 1965 as Europe’s player of the year and twice won the Golden Boot — in 1968 and ’73 — for being the top scorer in Europe.

His death led Portugal to declare three days of national mourning.

Measuring only 5 feet 9 inches, and weighing 160 pounds in his prime, Eusebio somehow seemed much bigger. Perhaps that was because he stood up tall and did not waste motion or energy. He was dignified, in a sport that encourages nasty little shoves and exaggerated stumbles, in search of the slightest advantage.

Eusebio played down racial and national politics, praised others and denied stories about him that could have been turned into legend. Born in Mozambique on Jan. 25, 1942, to an Angolan father, he belonged to Portugal because those countries were still considered colonies. The rumor grew that he had been kidnapped by Benfica, the great power of Portuguese soccer, until he signed a contract.

“These are all lies, pure and simple!” Eusebio said in a 2008 forum at fourfourtwo.com. “Some people aren’t honest, but me and my family are. My mother signed a contract with Benfica for 250 contos [around $1,700] and she insisted on a clause which read, ‘If my son does not adapt, the money is deposited in the bank in Mozambique and not one penny will be taken from it.’ I had return tickets when I arrived.”

Eusebio’s legacy is best seen and heard in the documentary, “Goal! The World Cup,” issued in 1967, with commentary by Brian Glanville. In the third match of the first round, a Portuguese player steamrollered the sport’s greatest star, Pelé, already playing with an injury. Eusebio stood by Pelé as the medics attended to him. The rumor was that Eusebio chastised his teammate, but he said, no, he stood by Pelé because “He is my friend.”

Portugal eliminated Brazil, but then fell behind, 3-0, to North Korea in the first 25 minutes. However, Eusebio scored four goals, and Portugal won, 5-3.

“That was the best game of my life in a Portugal jersey,” Eusebio said. “It left its mark on me.”

The semifinal was supposed to be played in Liverpool, where Portugal was ensconced, but it was hurriedly shifted to Wembley, outside London, for its great capacity. Playing in its national stadium, England seemed truly at home. A wiry defender, Nobby Stiles, with more gall than teeth, marked Eusebio until a late penalty-kick goal in a 2-1 loss for Portugal.

The big man patted the cheek of the English keeper, hugged the English defenders, and only when he reached the edge of the field did he begin to cry. (He scored his ninth goal of the World Cup in the third-place victory over the Soviet Union.)

The documentary is widely considered one of the greatest ever made about sport — and Eusebio is its star.

Eusebio had many other great moments, scoring 679 goals in 678 official games according to FIFA. Benfica won 11 league titles and five Portuguese Cups in his time. He was declared a national treasure by the Portuguese leader Antonio Salazar so he could not leave the country to take a higher salary in Italy, as players do today. In 2008, Eusebio insisted Salazar was acting in national self-interest, not for his own enrichment.

When his body wore down, Eusebio was allowed to drift to the dying North American Soccer League, kept alive by Pelé.

He remained an ambassador of Benfica, which placed a bronze statue of him outside the Stadium of Light, where fans congregated Sunday night.

Survivors include his wife, Flora, two daughters and several grandchildren.
A version of this article appears in print on January 6, 2014, on page B9 of the New York edition with the headline: Eusebio, Who Represented the Best Of Soccer and of Portugal, Dies at 71.

www.nytimes.com/2014/01/06/sports/soccer/portuguese-soccer-great-eusebio-is-dead-at-71.html?hpw&rref=sports&_r=0