Today is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the death of Garrincha, the legendary Brazilian player who drank himself to death at the age of 49. The BBC’s Jonathan Stevenson has written a piece on the importance of remembering him.
Simply “remembering” him seems like a low bar to set, though, for one of the greatest players and greatest folk heroes the game has ever known. (And surely no one ranks ahead of him on both those lists, except possibly Maradona?) He should be celebrated. But the idea that Garrincha is gradually being “forgotten” seems to be based in the truth. It’s probably simply that dead players are never remembered the way living players are: had Pele been the one to kill himself with drink and had Garrincha lived, we’d very likely think of Garrincha as the best player ever and struggle to remember his tragically flawed Brazilian teammate.
In case your memory needs refreshing, then, this is Garrincha, the angel with the crooked legs, the joy of the people, a player whose absolute lucidity on the pitch (he is probably the best dribbler in football, despite being born with a curved spine and legs of different lengths) was matched by his absolute disarray off it. Spare a thought for him today—raise a glass, if you think it’s appropriate—and be thankful that you live in a world so rich that most people don’t even know his name.
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by Brian Phillips · January 20, 2008
I’m an American that knows nothing about the game. The only name I know is Pele. The footwork on this guy, Garrincha, is unbelievable. The only comparison I can think of is Pistol Pete Maravich (sp?) of basketball fame. My question for you, Brian, is this: are those other players just that bad, or is Garrincha that good?
Garrincha was that good. That’s not to say he would have gotten away with some of those moves against top contemporary defenders, but then a lot of these highlights are from games against very good international teams from his era, so it’s not like he was only dominant against flimsy Brazilian club teams. He absolutely owned the 1962 World Cup, which he essentially won for Brazil after Pele went out with an injury in the second match. He scored two goals against a Chile team in the semifinals whose approach to defending him was basically to take turns scything themselves into his knees.
Garrincha once faked out an opponent so badly that the guy fell down; instead of going on to score, Garrincha went back, helped him up, then beat him with the ball again. We can’t ever know for sure, obviously, but I think he would have been great against any competition.
One of the best things about him, though, and I think one of the reasons he was so beloved in Brazil, was that he played so much in the moment that he didn’t think much about the score or about winning and losing. When he saw his teammates celebrating after they won the 1958 World Cup, he was famously confused because he hadn’t understood the format of the tournament and thought they’d get to play all the teams twice.
Pete Maravich is a great comparison, by the way, stylistically if not psychologically.
There is a story about Garrincha regarding the ’62 WC, how he didn’t actually ‘know’ what tournament he was playing in.
He would just turn up with the team where ever they happened to be and play in the games, oblivious to the context.
A rare genius indeed. And geniuses are timeless.
This is a genuine public service, Brian.
Many older Brazilians will tell you that Garrincha was better than Pele, and these clips help explain why they think so.
It’s also worth noting that he is doing all of this with a ball that was significantly less adapted to outrageous tricks than the ones currently in use.
Great point about the ball, Ursus. Had Garrincha played with the ball they use today I think there’s a decent chance he could have made it go back in time.
What’s particularly striking is how still the ball is, so often, when it’s at Garrincha’s feet. It’s like he’s tormenting the damn thing as much as the defenders, teasing it with his stepovers and feints.
I find his ability to change direction off the step at such acute angles astonishing. He invariably goes right, even if he goes left initially, he comes back to go right and the defenders must have figured this out, yet Garrincha had the ability to evade the lunge by the angle of his step.
This obviously takes the highest levels of dexterity of foot.
Only player I can think of that resembles him in this respect is Lionel Messi. But Messi is of the Maradona mould, the point of difference from Garrincha and the great Brazilians- his dribble is feint-less.
Really good points. Tom, one of the effects of watching this video was to make me realize how far some of today’s top players have to go before they can be seen as true greats. Cristiano Ronaldo makes some of the same feint-stepover moves look involved and difficult, where Garrincha makes them look natural and almost incidental. Garrincha also had a higher level of, um, natural balance.
A., spot on with the Messi comparison. He has the same air of moving slowly and easily no matter how hard he’s actually running, and the same ability to put the ball in a place where it will take the defender a split second to find it. But as you say, he’s much more direct with his dribble and lacks that pinball-in-an-invisible-machine unpredictability.
The closest in dribbling style to Garrincha was Celtic’s Jimmy ‘Jinky’ Johnstone. Both had an element in their play that was about “take the ball off me if you can.” When on song, they were not content to beat an opponent unless it was into submission.
One of my favorite players ever, Antonio, and you’re right, a fantastic comparison for Garrincha. He has that same quality Tom noted of keeping the ball relatively still even though his legs are always moving.
Great videos of Jinky here and here, for anyone who’s interested.
most of this footage is from world cups which is the highest level in the game an the botafogo footage is from the season when his knee began to unravel on him near the age of 30.imagine what he did at his absolute peak when he had no fitness problems.the mind boggles at what he could do.he was out of this world and died much too soon
remarkable player.sad that hes not remembered aswell as he ought to be..an idiot on soccerpulse said he must have been all hype..i thought if only you knew if only ? garrincha was a player you see once in a century
It’s unfortunate that alcohol should destroy that pearl. I think he was better than Pele. He was the finest dribbler in history, a great goals return for a winger. Pele certainly, for all the worthy hype is considered the best ever because Garrincha was forgotten. I will raise a glass.
Older Brazilian people who were fortunate enough to watch Garrincha play all say that he was way above any other player of that time. Zagalo (4 times world champion as player and coach) said on tv recently that people who saw him dribbling saw a show that will never be seen again. Please note that Zagalo himself was considered one of the world top players in those years. God bless Garrincha.
i have seen zagallo say that garrincha was inimitable and that no one compares to him in terms of his individual skills.imagine what he did in week to week league games or what he did in exhibition games considering how easily he could rip defenses apart in massive pressure games at the world cups etc.pele said garrincha was a spectacular show all by himself
armando noguiera said pele was the most complete but garrincha the most spectacular……luis mendes said betwwen pele and garrincha as the best he’d pick garrincha.
these two are probably the most knowledgable football experts alive today(they have been in the game longer even than the great brian glanville) having seen live everyone from leonidas to robinho.they put him as high or higher than anyone.cheers guys
garrincha was beyond anyone and thats that.the best ever imo
that compilation is what maybe 1 % of his career..just imagine if we had the number of highlight videos we have today of players ie 30-40 short videos of a players whole season..just imagine if we had just one season of his highlight videos let alone many like we have of modern players..our jaws would be on the floor
greatest genius in football.garrinchaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
George.Best.
ringo george best wasnt anything like garrincha,best was incredible garrincha was from another planet…even best’s british contempories who faced both are clear on this bobby moore,ray wilson,bobby charlton.our anglo-centrism is embarrasing sometimes
andrew downie who wrote about both said garrincha was more best than best ever was.garrincha was beyond any one else
I saw the end of garrincha’s career and he had ” IT “.Maradonna has “IT” so does ZIDANE ZIZOU. They brought joy and grace to the human soul.
Fantastic piece Brian.
Its always tough to place past players against contemporary foes – back in the day, double teams were rare. Defenders would form a line and get beaten one by one.
If Garrincha were to play today, I would see Gattuso and Masheranos simulatenously scything him, although I’m sure he would adapt to the physical/contact laden game we all enjoy today.
Garrincha was the staccato to Pele’s slaloming crescendos. One would dance side to side, stopping and starting, while the other ice skated effortlessly around the pitch. Having to defend one: difficult. But both? impossible.
The bend he puts on his free kick vs Bulgaria in ’66 is absolutely insane given the type of ball played with back then. Surely even more physics-defying than Roberto Carlos’ curler vs. France.
Cant think of any other player who would have even attempted it, let alone pulled it off.
yeah great player in todays football
only T Hendry+ronaldino combined would = him.
kinda sad how he was forgotten 2. All his twists and turns and tricks look so easy ,
only players in history of football i know that would match him are: Zico / Pele/ and maybe Zidane
A great player and a great shame this should happen to him.
Garrincha is the best player ever
He was indeed a great player that very few have even heard of. Very sad way to end up