The luck of dying in Brazil – 01/24/2024 – Juca Kfouri

When Carlos Lacerda (1914-1977), former governor of Guanabara (1960-1965), organizer of the 1964 coup, with implacable verve and first-rate orator, who left the PCB to become a far-right leader, died, the immortal Henfil wrote that I didn’t recognize his figure in the obituaries published in the national press: “The Lacerda I knew was someone else.”

Zagallo’s death provided similar texts, although he did contribute to the joy of Brazilians.

It is undeniable to be the only four-time world champion; It is true that he went beyond inheriting the “Beasts of Saldanha” – and Doctor Tostāo is there to testify with ruler and compass –, as is the fact that he was a left-winger with a beautiful history at Flamengo and Botafogo.

There just seemed to be embarrassment in mentioning how luck protected him in such a way that the 13 became the mark of his superstition, with nothing to do with the PT…

Because Canhoteiro and Pepe were better.

The first failed the national team in 1958, and the second was injured, which allowed Zagallo to play in the World Cup in Sweden as a starter, when he saved a goal in the final and scored another in the stunning 5-2.

Also in 1962, in Chile, the starter would be Pepe, who was injured again and gave way to the Alagoas native, who scored on his debut against Mexico, 2-0 — the first Brazilian goal in the second championship campaign.

And equal luck came with Dino Sani’s refusal to take over the team’s selection as João Saldanha’s replacement, on the eve of the 1970 World Cup.

Sani, one of the few survivors of the 1958 team, in which he was a starter, played as such in the first two games, was injured on the eve of the third, against the Soviet Union, and Zito took his place.

Sani shone as a coach, at the beginning of his career, at Corinthians, when invited to take over the selection.

He guarantees that he did not accept out of loyalty to his friend Saldanha, although there are those who say that the refusal was due to the fact that he thought he was not mature for the position.

Zagallo, also in 1970, was the second option.

Estrela is for those who have it and know how to make the most of it, without giving chances to bad luck.

The strangest of all was the silence surrounding the 500 thousand dollars that Zagallo received from the Libyan Football Federation to hold a friendly match for the national team, never played, in the country of the then dictator Muammar Gaddafi — he said it was money as payment for interview given for a documentary in 1995.

Heard by this Sheetin 2002, Zagallo declared: “I don’t know if they made a book, a film, it doesn’t matter. Especially because, if they did, I don’t speak Arabic and I wouldn’t understand anything. If they paid me US$500,000, lucky me. Nobody has anything with that. All I know is that it wasn’t to set up a friendly match for Brazil. The person who did that was the president of the CBF. My role was to manage the team, can you understand?”

So that the rare reader has an idea, Barack Obama today charges 400 thousand dollars to speak.

All this to say that Zagallo took Nelson Rodrigues’ phrase to the nth degree: “Without luck, you can’t even suck a Chicabon. You could choke on the toothpick or be run over by the cart.”

Zagallo did not choke – on the contrary, he made himself swallowed – nor, fortunately, was he run over.

On the contrary, he went down in history as one of football’s greatest.

I needed to register when I returned from vacation.

Long live, São Paulo! May you enter the 471st year in better hands.

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