Mané Garrincha

Mané Garrincha

"o Anjo das Pernas Tortas"

mané garrincha with botafogo jersey in old maracanã stadium

Manuel dos Santos was born on October 18, 1933, in Pau Grande (RJ). Right winger with disconcerting dribbling, he played for Botafogo from 1953 to 1965. He debuted in the 1953 Campeonato Carioca, scoring a penalty for the equalizer against Bonsucesso, who were winning 2-1. Considered the most skillful football player of all time , owner of an incredible ability to always dribble in the same direction, he is to this day the ultimate symbol of Botafogo. The curious thing is that, after being rejected by Vasco and São Cristóvão, because of his crooked legs and a deviated lumbar spine, Garrincha went to train at Botafogo. In his first move, he put the ball between the legs of the legendary Nilton Santos and ended up being hired at the request of the full-back himself. For Botafogo, he played 612 matches and scored 245 goals. He won three Carioca Championships (57, 61 and 62) and two Rio-São Paulo Tournaments (62 and 64). Member of the Brazilian team for the 1958 World Cup, in addition to being mainly responsible for winning the world championship in Chile (62), Garrincha still holds an impressive record today: he lost only one of the 61 matches he played for Brazil. For the national team, he played 60 games, scoring 17 goals. Victim of liver cirrhosis, he died in Rio on January 20, 1983. In 1998, he was chosen, in a vote by journalists from all over the world, for FIFA's all-time selection. Garrincha had discreet spells at Corinthians, Portuguesa (RJ), Atlético Júnior, from Colombia, Flamengo and Olaria.
"Dribbling, with such crooked legs and dribbling like no one else is a mystery of Garrincha that I dare not explain; Dribbling, with one leg shorter than the other and dribbling like no one else is a Garrincha mystery that you dare not explain Dribbling, with a deflection in the backbone and dribbling like no one else is a mystery for Garrincha that he dares not explain; Dribbling, with the pelvis moved in the opposite direction to the misalignment of the legs and dribbling like no one else is a mystery that we dare not explain; Dribbling and dribbling with such grace and naturalness is a mystery of Garrincha that only God can explain" (Armando Nogueira)

mané garrincha with botafogo jersey in old maracanã stadium

Garrincha has impressive numbers for both the Brazilian national team and clubs. For the national team he has 60 games, 52 wins, 7 draws and 1 loss, as a matter of curiosity, he has more World Cups (1958 and 1962) than defeats for the national team (2) (!). In the photo above, you can see Garrincha and other great players from Botafogo and the Brazilian team with hundreds of cups won. His main titles: World Cup (1958 and 1962), Campeonato Carioca (1957, 1961 and 1962) and Rio-São Paulo (1962, 1964 and 1966).

mané garrincha with botafogo jersey in old maracanã stadium

The success Garrincha enjoyed on the football pitch was in stark contrast to his personal life. He drank heavily throughout his adult life and was involved in several serious road accidents, notably a crash into a lorry in April 1969 which killed his mother-in-law. He was married twice, first to Nair Marques in 1952 (they separated in 1965), a factory worker from Pau Grande with whom he had eight daughters, and second to Elza Soares, a samba singer whom he married in an unofficial ceremony in March 1966. Soares had also been married previously, and the marriage saw Garrincha cast as a villain by the same press that had once feted him. The couple separated in 1977, when Soares left him after he struck her during an argument. Garrincha had other significant affairs, including one with showgirl Angelita Martinez, and he is known to have fathered at least 14 children. After a series of financial and marital problems, Garrincha died of cirrhosis of the liver on 20 January 1983, in an alcoholic coma in Rio de Janeiro. He had been hospitalized eight times in the previous year, and by the time of his death he was a physical and mental wreck. His last years were unhappy and obscure – he seemed to have become a forgotten hero – but his funeral procession, from the Maracanã to Pau Grande, drew millions of fans, friends and former players to pay their respects. His epitaph reads "Here rests in peace the one who was the Joy of the People – Mané Garrincha." People had painted on the wall: Obrigado, Garrincha, por você ter vivido (Thank you, Garrincha, for having lived). A multi-use stadium in Brasilia, the Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha, is named after him. His career was presented in the 1962 film Garrincha, Alegria do Povo, and in 2003, another movie, called Garrincha – Estrela Solitária ("Lonely Star"), based on Ruy Castro's book, depicted his life on and off the field.

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