Hundreds of Brazilians and some legends of the national team said goodbye Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo, the only one with four world championships in the world of football, who died on Friday and was buried this Sunday in Rio de Janeiro.
The “Old Wolf”, who had been in failing health for a decade, died last Friday at midnight at the age of 92 in a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, the city where he began his football career as a left winger for the club. America.
The vigil was held at the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), on the facade of which there was an inscription “Eternal Zagallo”the phrase with “13 letters”, the favorite number of the “Old Wolf”, who admitted to being superstitious like few others.
Next to the coffin, a 1.70 meter wax statue, his height, showing him in a coaching uniform, and the five World Cups won by Brazil, four of which were won by teams that had the “Old Wolf” among their members.
They were inside Sweden in 1958 and Chile in 1962 as a player, in Mexico in 1970 as a coach and in the United States in 1994. cas technical coordinator.
Despite its importance Zagallo, Several football personalities appeared. Among them Zinho, Grafite, Mazinho, Gilmar Rinaldi, Mauro Silva, Cafú and Bebeto, former Brazilian national team players who at some point had Zagallo cas a coach.
Bebeto, who shone as a striker in Spain with Deportivo La Coruña and Sevillaand, he remembered Zagall as “a guy who never gave up” and stated that he was his “biggest reference and teacher” in football.
“Always a positive guy, who was contagious in the dressing room” and “he encouraged his players like no other,” he added. Child, world champion in the USA in 1994.
Former and current coaches were also present Flamengo Adenor Leonardo Bachi “Tite”, along with the directors of Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense and Vasco da Gama, the big four of Rio de Janeiro where Zagallo worked as a player or coach.
CBF President Ednaldo Rodrigues appreciated the “enormous legacy” Zagallo for world football and announced that the entity will prepare “a series of tributes” to “honor his memory” during this year.
After the vigil, the coffin, covered with the flags of St CBF, FIFA and Conmebol, was transported by fire truck to the cemeteryor São João Batista, in the Botafogo district.
There, those three flags were replaced by one of Brazil and “Old Lobo” was buried with a ceremony planned for the closest family and friends, who bid him farewell with a long applause.
