Athletico 100 years: Washington and Assis, the 20th couple

Anyone who sees them in the same photo with the red and black “half and half” shirts worn in 1983 thinks that the duo was born together and ready, but it wasn’t quite like that.

To the facts: in March 1982, Athletico was beaten at home by Ceará and eliminated from the Golden Cup. Two days later, five Internacional (RS) players were announced as reinforcements. The most popular was the right winger Piter, but the package included but the full-back João Carlos, the striker Jones and two midfielders, washington It is Assisi. Piter, however, asked for more than the salary cap and did not stay. Jones didn’t get it right either.

In fact, almost no one remained, as the then president Onaireves Moura did not want the deal and tried to undo it in a public fight with superintendent Hélio Alves and football directors João de Oliveira Franco and Antonio Carletto Sobrinho. The news occupied the footer of newspaper pages. The biggest scolding was with Assis, who was already 28 years old and had a lot of experience. The deal was closed weeks later, when Colorado agreed to pay around R$80,000 (at the current price), plus the pair’s pass to have full-back Augusto.

As Athletico ran out of a calendar, the two debuted in friendlies without much emphasis. In the second round of Paranaense, against Matsubara, in Baixada, the magic started to happen. Assis, playing with number 9, scored the two winning goals, the first of 36 goals in the double campaign for the title of Paraná champion that broke a 12-year fast without a state trophy.

It was only during the games that coach Geraldino found the pair’s position, with the Bahian Washington in command of the attack and the São Paulo native Assis floating through the attack with his unparalleled elegance that the red-black poet Augusto Mafuz described it as follows: “When Assis I touched the ball, I didn’t make any noise.”

Brazil was experiencing a period of abundance of stars with the base of the historic 1982 team competing in the Brazilian Championship, with the exception of Falcão, in the main teams. What shone, however, was the duo Washington and Assis who led Furacão to an unprecedented semi-final against Flamengo in the historic match with the biggest audience ever in the state. Two goals from Washington were not enough to qualify CAP for the final.

Both were sold to Fluminense that year and there they were finally national champions, made the national team and earned (from the great Ibrahim Sued) the nickname inspired by a canned series on American TV. But the magic of the coolest duo in history changed Athletico’s life, and since then he knew that anything was possible, including beating the big guys by playing nice.

So much so that the two returned to Athletico. Washington in 1991, in time to score important goals and participate in the Winterthur Tournament, in Switzerland, Hurricane’s first trip to Europe. Assis returned for the first time in 1988 and, as a top reserve, scored decisive goals against Atletiba and in the semi-finals that gave us the title. Two years later, he was also part of the champion squad, only to hang up his boots later.

The destiny that brought them together in life also brought them together when they said goodbye. The two stars passed away in Curitiba within a few weeks of each other in the winter of 2014. As if to prove that – just like in great love stories – there could not be Washington without Assis and vice versa.