Hundreds of Brazilians and football legends say goodbye to “Old Wolf” Zagallo

Hundreds of Brazilians and some legends of the national team said goodbye to Mário Jorge Lobo Zagallo, the only one with four World Cups 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 poor health for a decade, died at midnight last Friday 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 América club. .

The wake was at the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), whose façade bore a sign that read “Zagallo Eterno”, a phrase with “13 letters”, the favorite number of the “Old Wolf”, who admitted be superstitious like few others.

Next to the coffin, a 1.70 meter wax statue, his height, which shows him in his coach’s uniform, and the five World Cups won by Brazil, of which four were won by teams that had the “Old Wolf ” among its members.

They were in Sweden 1958 and Chile 1962 as a player, in Mexico 1970 as a coach and in the United States 1994 as technical coordinator.

Despite the importance of Zagallo, few football personalities appeared. Among them, Zinho, Grafite, Mazinho, Gilmar Rinaldi, Mauro Silva, Cafú and Bebetoformer players of the Brazilian team and who at some point had Zagallo as their coach.

Bebeto, who shone as a forward in Spain with Deportivo La Coruña and Sevilla, remembered Zagallo as “a guy who never gave up” and stated that he was his “greatest reference and teacher” in football.

“An always positive guy, who was contagious in the locker room” and “encouraged his players like no one else,” added Bebeto, world champion in the United States in 1994.

Also present were the former coach and current coach of Flamengo Adenor Leonardo Bachi “Tite”, along with directors of the Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense and Vasco da Gama clubs, the big four of Rio de Janeiro in which Zagallo acted as a player or coach.

He president of the CBF, Ednaldo Rodriguesvalued Zagallo’s “gigantic legacy” for world football and announced that the entity will prepare “a series of tributes” to “honor his memory” throughout this year.

After the wake, the coffin, covered with CBF, FIFA and Conmebol flags, was transported by a fire truck to the São João Batista cemetery, in the Botafogo neighborhood.

There, those three flags were replaced by one of Brazil and the “Old Wolf” was buried in a ceremony reserved for his family and closest friends, who said goodbye to him with a long round of applause.