Book 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 Pelé, 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 has worked for many of Brazil's top newspapers and
magazines. He is also the author of several biographies and collections
of quotations. His most recent works include
Bossa Nova: The Story of
the Brazilian Music that Seduced the World
and
Rio de Janeiro: Carnival under Fire
. He is currently working on a biography of Carmen Miranda. He lives in
Rio de Janeiro.
