Eusébio Represented the Best of Football and of
Portugal
Ambassador – Sportsman – Gentleman -
Class
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 Eusébio. 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 in England.
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. Eusébio da Silva Ferreira — known as Eusébio in the Latin soccer
single-name fashion — died on Sunday January 5, 2014 in Lisbon. He would have turned 72 on January
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.
Eusébio 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.
Measuring
only 5 feet 9 inches, and weighing 160 pounds in his prime, Eusébio 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.
Eusébio played down racial and national politics, praised others and denied stories
about him that could have been turned into legend. Born in Mozambique on January
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!” Eusébio 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.”
Eusébio'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 Eusébio chastised his teammate, but he said, no, he
stood by Pelé because “He is my friend.”
“That was the best
game of my life in a Portugal jersey,” Eusébio 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 Eusébio 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 Eusébio its star.
Eusébio 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, Eusébio 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. His
death led Portugal to declare three days of national mourning.
Eusébio is survived by his beloved wife Flora, two daughters and several grandchildren.
