Zico is one Brazil’s biggest idols and was a Flamengo hero – but despite his best efforts the World Cup evaded him
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FRIDAY was a second Christmas for millions in Brazil. It was the birthday - and a special one - of one of the biggest idols that Brazilian football has ever produced. Zico turned 70.
Flamengo of Rio de Janeiro are Brazil’s most popular club, with a fan base all over the giant country.
And Zico is the most important player in the club’s history, the one most identified with its tradition.
His is the story of the local working class kid made good, arriving at greatness through a combination of natural talent and a ferocious work ethic.
He was the first one on the training ground and the last one off it, and his routine also included plenty of gym work.
He was a skinny little kid - hence his nickname. He was born Arthur, which became ‘little Arthur’ - normally in Brazil this would have been Arthurzinho.
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But his father was an immigrant from Portugal, and used the variation from there - Arthurzico - which then became reduced to four letters which during the 1970s and 80s were synonymous with stylish and effective football.
He was the main attraction in a Flamengo side that were champions of Brazil, South America, and of the world after beating Liverpool in the first Inter-Continental Final to be staged in Japan.
This was a country that was to play a huge part in his life. He ended his playing days as the key figure in the successful launch of Japan’s J League.
Indeed, his time there is arguably more significant than the role that Pele played popularising football in the United States.
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But Pele, and plenty of other Brazilian players, have something that Zico cannot claim - a World Cup winner’s medal.
He had three bites at the cherry. But the tournament was cruel to him. The last time, in 1986, he did not want to be there.
He was still recovering from a serious knee injury, and though he worked round the clock to be fit in time, he did not think he was ready and asked to be dropped.
Brazil pleaded with him to play, if only to come off the bench and change the course of the game with second half cameos.
When he came on in the epic quarter final against France he immediately helped win a penalty.
He stepped up to take the kick. But, still cold, he struck the ball weakly and his shot was saved.
The tie went to penalties, and in the shoot out Zico made no mistake. But Brazil were eliminated and his World Cup career was over.
The high point had come four years earlier, when Zico was part of one of the all time great midfields in Brazil’s Spain 1982 side.
They fell to Italy in one of the best games ever played in the tournament, and although Brazil did not even reach the semi finals they left memories which more than 40 years later are still firmly lodged in the minds of millions.
But if 1982 is a frustration, so too is 1978 in Argentina. It was his first World Cup, and he had to deal with the pressure of being dubbed the successor to Pele.
It was a heavy burden, made worse by the awful state of the pitch in Mar del Plata.
Brazil struggled in the opening game against Sweden, but they, and Zico, seemed to have won it right at the end.
Zico glanced home a corner struck in from the right. But astonishingly, while the ball was in the air, Welsh referee Clive Thomas blew for full time.
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Had the goal stood then Zico would have opened his account and eased the pressure for the next games.
He ended the tournament branded as a disappointment, but things could have turned out differently, and having that goal taken away remains a bitter memory - along with the many golden ones that he has gathered and given over the course of 70 years.