The name Eusebio da silva Ferreira in the history of the World Cup can not be over-emphasized as one of the greatest athletes that graced the world showpiece.
Born to a white Angolan father and a Mozambican mother, Eusebio came through the doldrums of an impoverished background in Maputo but rose up to become his country’s most successful player at club and national team levels.
The Portuguese international wrote his name in the history books at 1966 World Cup play hosted by England where his country came third in the tournament.
Eusebio da Silva. Photo: Telegraph
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The Black Panther as he is being called, played a major part in Portugal’s debut at the 1966 competition where they eliminated defending champions Brazil in the first round and recorded Portugal’s best performance at the finals with a third place finish.
Known for his athleticism, skill and Powerful right-foot, the Benfica striker opened his account against Hungary in Group 3 and bagged a brace against Brazil to send the Champions packing out of the World Cup.
The quarter-final match against North Korea was regarded as the game with the biggest comeback from a deficit and resulted in a victory in the history of the World Cup.
The Selecao were down by 0-3 after just 25 minutes of the first half, Eusebio leveled the scores before the break with two goals and scored two other goals within the first 15 minutes of the restart as Portugal went on to win by 5-3.
The semi-final tie against the hosts, England was controversial as the match was slated for Goodison Park in Liverpool but it was rumoured that the English officials changed the venue for fear of being knocked out and embarrassed by the World Cup debutants.
The match was finally played at the famous Wembley Stadium as the Portuguese national team made a last minute trip on train from Liverpool to the venue in London.
The Portuguese marksman was not given a breathing space in the encounter as he was followed all through the match by England defender Nobby Stiles.
The English side had scored two goals by Bobby Charlton as they led till the 82nd minute where Eusebio scored from the penalty spot to beat Gordon Banks in goal.
Portugal had been denied by the England prolific goalkeeper on several occasions to keep the scoreline in favour of the hosts as it ended 2-1.
The star of the show was in tears as he was comforted by his teammates and his opponents as the game was regarded Jogo das Lagrimas in Portugal meaning The Game of tears.
Eusebio went on to add to his tally from a spot-kick against the Soviet Union in the third place match which they won by 2-1 to clinch the Golden Boot award as the top scorer of the World Cup with nine goals.
In addition to his top marksman award, Portuguese striker set a record for the most penalties scored in a match excluding shoot-out, also helping his team record the biggest comeback in a World Cup match from a three-goal deficit against North Korea to win 5-3 equaling Austria’s feat at the 1954 edition.
Nevertheless, he became the fifth player to score as many goals in a FIFA World Cup match, a record jointly held until Oleg Salenko put five past Cameroon at USA 94’.
Before playing at the World Cup in 1966, the great Eusebio had already announced himself in club football, winning the European Cup in 1962 whereby scoring two goals for Benfica in the 5-3 win against Real Madrid.
The Portuguese side were also runners up in the 1963, 1965 and 1968 editions of the European Cup respectively. Eusebio won the Ballon d’Or in 1965 and came second twice in 1962 and 1966.
The 1968 and 1973 European Golden Boot award was also won by the high flying Portuguese striker and was also top scorer in the Portuguese first division for a record, seven times.
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Also on the local level, Eusebio helped Benfica to win 11 consecutive Primera Liga titles from 1960/61 to 1974/75 seasons respectively. He also garnered 5 FA Cup wins under his belts.
In total, the one time record goal scorer for club and country scored 621 goals in 639 matches in his professional career, a feat that can only be compared to the great Pele, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal scoring records.
The celebrated goal machine died in his home in 2014 at the age 71 from a resulting heart failure after which the Portuguese government declared three days of national mourning.
His burial was attended by the President and Prime Minister of Portugal as his remains was moved to the National Pantheon were important personalities of his countrymen are laid to rest.
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Source: Sports.naija.ng
ROSY CREST
Thursday, 14 December 2017