Famous soccer players - Garrincha

29 de maio de 2011

Garrincha was another Rio de Janeiro Brazilian superstar that joined the national team and helped in a few world cup tournaments. Garrincha was a famous soccer players nickname that stuck to Manuel Francisco dos Santos who was born on October 28, 1933 the nickname is Portuguese for little bird which is supposed to mean Wren. Garrincha was also known as Mane which is a shortened version of Manuel, the community referred to him as Alegria do Povo which means the joy of people and he was also known as the angel with bent legs (Anjo de Pernas Tortas) due to the form of his feet.

Garrincha is ranked as the 20^th best of the most famous soccer players of all time and in accordance to FIFA he is the best player after Pele. As a forward and a right winger Garrincha had amazing ball dribbling ability and due to this he is considered the best ball dribbler ever. In his early life Garrincha developed deformities from birth and suffered an alcoholic dad something he would later inherit. During his growth it was realized that his spine was deformed his right leg bent inwards and the left leg six centimeter shorter, factors that came to play in the angel with bent legs nickname.

Unlike most famous soccer players, Garrincha came to the lime light in his late teen years and in the years he did not seem interested in a professional career. His first signing with Botafogo came in 1953 in which he dribbled past Nilton Santos who would later request for the new talent to be hired. At this stage he was already married and was a parent. Is first match in Botafogo’s reserves he helped in a 5 – o win and in his first debut against Bonsucesso he managed a hat trick. Though he was talented he was not called in for the national team since there were other famous soccer players with European styles of playing.

Though Garrincha spent most of his career with Botafogo he also played for other clubs in his career. His career with Botafogo lasted between 1953 all the way to 1965 in which he played in 81 matches and managed 232 goals. He appeared 10 times for Corinthians in1966 where he scored 2 goals, in 1967  he did not appeared for Portuguesa Carioca, between the years 1968 and 1969 he featured in 15 appearances for Flamengo scoring 4 goals and he made 10 appearances for Olaria in 1972 scoring a solitary goal.

The achievements of Garrincha with the national team included the world cup championships of 1958 and 1962. He also featured in the O’Higgins championship winners of 1955, 1959 and 1961 events and the Oswaldo Cruz Cup champions in 1960. Though his personal life was full of events his professional career was fairly smooth. Garrincha took to alcoholism and eventually died from cirrhosis of the liver in January 1983. The achievements of the superstar are still upheld and remarkable such as managing to be one of the few famous soccer players to have directly scored from a corner in which he did four times.

Fonte: http://famous-soccer-players.com/2011/05/29/famous-soccer-players-garrincha/