There are a handful of men throughout history who would have to be in every book ever written about the game. It could be argued the game wouldn’t be as it is today without them.
One such man was Mário Zagallo whose death was announced this earlier this year, on January 5th 2024.
He had a hand in Brazil’s emergence as a footballing superpower, playing a part in winning three out of four World Cups between 1958 and 1970.
In 1958 and 1962 he was a player and in 1970 he returned as coach becoming the first man to win the World Cup as both player and coach.
Go back to 1958 and Brazil weren’t even the top country in South America and certainly not favourites for the World Cup in Sweden. Yet they raced to the title, becoming the first nation to win outside their continent, a record which stood until Germany won in Brazil in 2014. They then retained their title in Chile four years later, with Zagallo a crucial cog in the wheel.
After a disappointing group stage exit in England ’66 they embarked on a third title in Mexico.
By then the expectations back home were huge. For many years they’d been in the shadow of Uruguay and Argentina and of course, suffered the incredible humiliation of defeat in their own backyard to Uruguay in 1950.
Yet all was not well in the state of Brazil. Under the grip of a military dictatorship, they had a coach, João Saldanha, whose politics were at odds with the rulers. He was quite a defensive-minded coach who’d been fairly vocal in calling into question whether Pelé still had a place in the national team.
Three months before the tournament kicked off, general Médici had, had enough of Saldanha and suggested the Brazilian FA give him the boot. They interviewed a couple of candidates but they turned the job down. However, when they approached Zagallo he jumped at the chance, considering it an honour.
Once installed he had little time to make changes but the changes he made turned the team into world-beaters.
First, he made it known Pelé was very much part of his plans – in fact, he’d model the side around him. Everyone knew this was likely to be his final assault on the World Cup mountain and he was still smarting from his treatment back in ’66.
The greatest player in the world had never played a full World Cup tournament. He burst onto the world stage from the final group game in ’58, he only lasted a game and a half in ’62 and barely that four years later. He had unfinished business.
He only had a short time to prepare the team for the World Cup, but he wasted no time in making changes.
He moved Piazza, predominantly a midfielder, into defence. This enabled him to bring in 20-year-old ball-winning defensive midfielder, Clodoaldo to provide valuable protection for the defence. He then moved Rivellino into a role he’d adopted himself as a player, wide on the left. This was a kind of false winger role and as he played as a number 10 for his club, Rivellino was well-versed in moving inside as well as backwards and forwards.
As a player, Zagallo had reinvented the winger role so much that by ’70 Rivellino and Jairzinho played as wide attackers on either side of Pelé, with Tostao at the head of the formation. This tactic would’ve been unthinkable back in the fifties when Brazil were just another nation without a world crown.
It was Zagallo’s intelligence and flexibility which had convinced Sir Alf Ramsey football matches could be won without wingers.
Tostão was an interesting selection and one made at the last moment. Zagallo didn’t know the player and was initially concerned about his recovery from the eye injury at the end of 1969 which threatened his career. But Tostão was rejuvenated by the role he was asked to play in the friendlies running up to Mexico.
The coach’s strategy was for the team to defend and attack in unison. When they lost possession Tostão was generally the only player ahead of the line of the ball.
One other move was to bring in Dadá (Dario). A neat political move as the player was General Médici’s favourite striker and his continued absence from the squad was one of the nails in Saldanha’s coffin.
Throughout his coaching career, Zagallo was referred to as The Professor by his players and an example of his tactical nous came in the 1970 Final against Italy.
Zagallo had observed how Italy liked to adopt a man-marking system and with Jairzinho as his top goalscorer (he’d scored in every game to the Final), he figured they’d be especially careful with him. Giancinto Facchetti, the left-back would be expected to watch Jairzinho like a hawk.
So Zagallo’s strategy was to move his forward line across towards the left. Instead of Tostão at the head of the formation, he moved more to a left-wing position and Jairzinho moved into the centre. Italy thought he wanted Jairzinho in a more central position to give him a better chance of scoring. But Zagallo’s master plan was to create space in Italy’s left-back position, now vacated by Facchetti tracking Jairzinho.
The space was to be exploited by Carlos Alberto from right-back.
Italy never sussed this the whole game. Brazil tried to take advantage several times but it wasn’t until the iconic fourth goal they managed to make it count. It’s a beautiful example of how they manipulated Italy across the pitch with all the build-up taking place down Italy’s right.
So certain of the tactical plan was Pelé that he didn’t bother to look to see where his captain was, he just laid the ball off and there was Carlos Alberto to fire the ball into the net.
Game, set and match.
Perhaps it was inevitable that Zagallo would become a successful tactician as a coach, given he was one of the most intelligent footballers.
In the 1950’s Brazilian football was centred around the number 10 position. The best players played there. Brazil had Didi and there was no shaking him from the team. So Zagallo moved out to the left.
He recognised how many wingers were just attackers. This worked fine with the old ‘W-M’ formations with three at the back. But Brazil had discovered adding a fourth defender made them harder to beat. 4-2-4 was the formation adopted by many sides around that time. Of course, that left the two in midfield with a lot of ground to cover. Zagallo realised he would become far more effective if he dropped back to help out with defensive duties. This gave them a crucial man advantage in midfield.
Zagallo made his debut for Brazil in May 1958 scoring twice in a 5-1 over Paraguay in the Maracanã. Pelé made just his third appearance in the same match.
It was enough to get him selected for the squad for Sweden ’58, but Pepe of Santos was the regular choice on the left wing. Considered one of the best players to play for Santos, he was going to take some shifting. But in a friendly match against Inter a week before the tournament kicked off, Pepe suffered an ankle injury ruling him out of the group stage, at least. Zagallo came on as sub for Pepe and scored again. A week later he was a starter in the opening game against Austria.
Playing every match he scored in the Final against Sweden, also providing a cross for one of Pelé’s goals and Brazil’s first World Cup was secured.
Four years later the pair were experienced internationals with Zagallo making his 22nd appearance when they took Mexico apart in the opening group game in Chile ’62. He scored the first goal, heading in a cross from Pelé.
Brazil approached the 1962 World Cup with much the same side as they had four years earlier. But by now they were an ageing side, Zagallo nearing 31.
With Pelé getting injured in the next game against Czechoslovakia, it was up to the likes of Zagallo and Garrincha to retain the title in his absence.
Zagallo made his last appearance in a Brazil shirt in 1964 coming on as a sub for Rinaldo in a 4-1 win over Portugal in the Nations Cup, a mini-tournament organised to celebrate 50 years of the Brazilian FA.
33 caps in six years with two World Cup winners’ medals, quite a playing career.
Mário Jorge Lobo Zagallo was born in Alagoas, a state in North East Brazil on 5 January 1931.
His first club was Flamengo which he joined in 1950. After helping them to three successive titles in the Campeonato Carioca he moved to Botafogo in 1958, playing in a team which included Didi, Garrincha and Nilton Santos.
Zagallo won the World Cup four times. Twice as a player, 1958, and 1962, once as head coach in 1970, and once as assistant coach in 1994.
It’s been said if you cut him open he would bleed yellow and green. He was as passionate about his country as anyone could be.
He was still the coach in 1974 but was unable to persuade Pelé out of international retirement to play in the tournament. They finished fourth although this was seen as a disappointment.
In later years he was involved in the national side in the early 2000s including acting as a coordinator in the 2006 World Cup.
Zagallo can be remembered as a significant figure in the rise of Brazil as a footballing power. When they arrived in Sweden in 1958 they were the third-best team in South America, behind Uruguay and Argentina. He played a crucial part in the country winning three out of the next four World Cups and in 1970 his side achieved the status of one of the best teams the world has ever seen.
You could argue he was as important to Brazil and the world game as Pelé and it’s quite fitting their careers ran in parallel in so many ways.
He died on 5 January 2024 in a Rio hospital due to multiple organ failure, aged 92.
