Product Description

The World Cup Finals, Sweden 1958. Brazil vs the fearsome USSR. In the opening three minutes - 'the greatest three minutes in the history of football' - one man wrote himself into the record books alongside the game's greatest players, men like Pele, Di Stefano, Puskas and Maradona. Brazil went on to win the cup, and, in Garrincha, a star was born. Garrincha was the unlikeliest of footballers - with a right leg that turned inwards and a left that turned out, he looked as if he could barely walk, but with a ball at his feet he had the poise of an angel. He played for the love of the game, uninterested in money, and ignoring tactical advice. And he was as wild off the pitch as he was mesmerising on it - mischievous, audacious and dripping with sex appeal. It was his affair and subsequent marriage to the singer Elza Soares that caught the imagination of a nation - their mouth-watering combination of soccer and samba made them the toast of 1960s Rio. But by the age of forty-nine, Garrincha was dead, destroyed by the excesses that made him so compelling. Ruy Castro's wonderful biography charts the extraordinary rise and fall of a flawed sporting legend, and a tragically human hero.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #131785 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 420 pages

Review
" 'Castro's biography is funny and moving, zealously researched and lovingly told. This excellent new translation by Andrew Downie means English readers can properly appreciate one of the most incredible lives in the history of sport.' - Alex Bellos, Telegraph. 'Passionate, fascinating and surprisingly moving... a worthy tribute... According to Gazza, Gascoigne has limited interest in books. He should be persuaded to make an exception for Garrincha. He would learn more about himself than by reading his own autobiography.' - Josh Lacey, Guardian. 'A compelling page-turner, warts and all' - Scotland on Sunday. [A] powerfully atmospheric and beautifully rendered life of one of Brazil's greatest ever players... A sad and fantastic book.' - Harry Pearson, When Saturday Comes"

Harry Pearson, When Saturday Comes
'This is a truly extraordinary story… A sad and fantastic book'

Josh Lacey, Guardian
'Passionate, fascinating and surprisingly moving … a worthy tribute'

Customer Reviews

The Sad Song of a Little Bird
Although some people may disagree - the entire population of Argentina, I suspect - Brazil are widely considered the top dogs of world soccer. As a nation they've won the World Cup five times and the Maracanã - where Brazil play their home games - is one of the sport's most famous stadiums. Any discussion about the soccer's greatest players will feature several Brazilians - Pelé, Jairzinho, Zico, Romário, Bebeto, Falcão, Sócrates and Ronaldinho would surely be in contention. Manuel Francisco dos Santos, most commonly known as "Garrincha", may not be as widely known as his countrymen but he fully deserves to be included on that list. He is, however, quite clearly honoured in his home country where he is still known as the "Joy of the People".

Garrincha was born in 1933 in a small town called Pau Grande. Amazingly, for such a gifted sportsman, he was born with 'bent' legs - his left bent out and his right bent in. When young, he was also smaller than the kids his own age and was christened 'garrincha' (the local name for a 'little bird') by his sister. His hometown was founded by the English in the 1870s and was centred around the América Fabril factory - the factory, it seems, practically employed the town's entire population. The town's soccer club - Sport Club Pau Grande - was founded in 1908 and, although an amateur team, was the first senior club Garrincha played for. He eventually moved to Botafogo, one of Rio's professional teams - it was here he played his best football, and he won the Carioca (Rio's State Championship) several times. He played for Brazil 60 times, winning the World Cup twice; he dismantled and demoralised the highly-rated USSR team in the 1958 Finals and, some say, won the tournament nearly single-handedly in 1962. Garrincha, however, played primarily for enjoyment - he didn't always turn up for training and still enjoyed playing with his friends on Pau Grande's dangerous pitch. Money seemed nearly irrelevant to him and he was practically taken advantage of by his club's directors. He'd regularly sign a blank contract, with the salary to be filled in later - as the team's star player he was then paid less than he was worth.

Garrincha's life was also hugely colourful off the pitch. He was, allegedly, very well endowed, which may help explain why he was so popular with the ladies. He fathered (at least) 14 children by 5 different women, including eight daughters with his first wife, Nair, and a son in Sweden - conceived while on tour with Botafogo. It seems he was anything other than a devoted husband to Nair. Throughout his marriage to her, he regularly chased other women - he had a number of girlfriends and one-night stands and had children with several of them. Only one woman came close to 'taming' him : Elza Soares, a well-known singing star and every Brazilian man's fantasy. The pair met in 1961 and began their affair the following year. However, the public were less than impressed when news of their relationship broke, something that caused a great deal of trouble for them. Garrincha also suffered from alcoholism - cachaça, made from fermented sugar cane, was a particular favourite - and it was this affliction that led to his death at the age of 49. It also caused a great deal of trouble for his friends, relations and colleagues.

The book is subtitled "The Triumph and Tragedy of Brazil's Forgotten Footballing Hero" and, as time goes by, the tragedies become more and more commonplace. At times, it is very difficult not to feel sorry for Garrincha, Nair and Elza - I certainly felt a great deal of regret that things didn't work out differently. The book was written by Ruy Castro, and was originally published in 1995 - he has quite clearly researched the book meticulously and has written a very engaging book. A great deal of credit must also go to Andrew Downie, who translated the book into English in 2004. A highly recommended book, that should appeal to more than just the soccer fan - largely because of Garrincha's colourful personal life. However, because of his personal life, I wouldn't think it's ideal reading for the kids !

A tragic story
The life of Garrincha has all the hallmarks of a tragic film. From Brazilian poverty through to the highs of winning the World Cup and starring in the 1962 World Cup to the dramatic lows of alcholism, broken families and an early and painful death. It would be easy to overdramatise and exaggerate such a life in a written account. However, Ruy Castro expertly avoids this pitfall. Instead, Castro presents a tragic and balanced portrait of one of Brazil's sporting heroes in an immensely readable and intelligent account.

From a British perspective, one has heard much about Garrincha and his wizadry in the World Cups of 1958 and 1962 but know little about his life apart from his early life. Castro fills in many gaps about Garrincha and makes this one of the best football biographies written in the last few years.

Catch a Falling Star
Until a couple of weeks ago, Garrincha was a name I could only vaguely associate with Brazilian football, no more than that. I couldn't tell you when he played, which position or for whom, a sharp contrast with Brazilian football luminaries like Pele, Zico, Romario and Ronaldo. So I was taken back to find out that in Brazil, he's more popular than all of them.

He's consistently voted into "all time best 11's" including FIFA's, yet his best days were prior to 1963 and there's hardly any video footage of him. You'd have to be in your 50's to remember him while he was playing, but he must have been some player for his flame to be kept alive by word-of-mouth.

The introduction says that Garrincha was more George Best than George Best, seems a good comparison, but Garrincha did it first and did it better. Sadly, that included drinking and where George survived Garrincha didn't.

This is ultimately a dark story, I bought it on the off chance, read it in a couple of days and have spent the ensuing week trawling websites trying to find out more about the enigma of Garrincha.

I wish I could have seen him play...