Great football player of Portugal – Eusebio – the black panther

The great Eusebio was hailed as a national hero both in Portugal and Mozambique
Eusebio who passed away on January 5 is widely acknowledged not only as the finest footballer of Portugal but also the greatest to come out of Africa. Named in the top ten players in the all-time list, Eusebio gained eternal fame when he spearheaded Portugal to their best ever show ñ a third position in the 1966 World Cup.

Nicknamed “Black Panther” for his pace and awesome presence, the gifted striker netted nine goals to top the scorers’ list. He was deservedly declared the player of the tournament.

He was born in 1942 in Mozambique. The South East African country was a Portuguese colony at the time. Born in an impoverished family, he had to endure further hardships as his father passed away when he was only eight.

All this meant his earlier games were played barefooted with socks or a newspaper rolled into a ball. But his precocious talent was very much evident. Eusebio was only 15 when Juventus, the famous Italian club, expressed interest in him; only to be refused by his doting mother.

However, it was only a matter of time. The scouts of Portugal’s two top clubs, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon, both wanted to have the rare talent in their ranks. Benfica offered better terms and the mother agreed to allow her 18-year-old son to move to Europe for a better future.

His salary was believed to be twice as much as paid to any African footballer before. It is said that Benfica had to hide him in Portugal for a few months so as to prevent Sporting reaching him.

Eusebio made an immediate impact. After making his club debut in 1961, he donned the Portuguese national shirt the same season.

At the time, Mozambique, being a colony of Portugal, didn’t field their own national team; all the Mozambicans were Portuguese. From then onwards, it was a great success story as he starred for both the club and the country.

Also called “Black Pearl”, he turned out for Benfica from 1961-1975 and helped them win the Portuguese league as many as 11 times.

He was blessed with amazing physical attributes — he could run 100 metre in 11 seconds and had massive thighs. He had a superb technique and a thunderous but accurate right-footed shot.

He topped the scoring charts in his domestic league on no less than seven occasions.
On the continental stage, Eusebio’s Benfica won the European Cup (now UEFA Champions League) in 1961-62 (he scored twice in the final against Real Madrid). He appeared in three other finals in the 1960s. They had to wait till 1987-88 for the next appearance in the final.

Eusebio was the 1965 European footballer of the Year (Ballon d’Or) and finished as runner-up twice, in 1962 and 1966. In 1968, he was the first winner of the Golden Boot Award, as Europe’s leading scorer, a feat he repeated five years later.

The 1966 World Cup earned him an immortal status as one of the game’s all-time greats. Ironically, it was Portugal’s first ever appearance in soccer’s quadrennial showpiece event.

In the group phase, they won all the three games, including one against the mighty Brazil (two-time defending champions) with Eusebio netting twice in the famous 3-1 victory.

In the quarter-final, Portugal came across North Korea who had reached the knockout stage by eliminating Italy in the group phase, one of the greatest upsets in the history of the World Cup.

The East Asians had one foot in the semi-finals as they led the Portuguese 3-0 after 25 minutes. But then there was a turnaround and it was a one-man show. Eusebio scored four successive goals, two before the half time and two within 15 minutes of restart. The final score was 5-3. His feat is arguably the finest individual performance ever witnessed at any World Cup match.

With four goals, he also tied the record of the most individual goals in a World Cup game at the time. Portugal equaled the World Cup record of overcoming the greatest deficit to win a match.

Their semi-final was against the hosts England. The gallant Portuguese narrowly lost 1-2; no need guessing the scorer. Eusebio was inconsolable after the defeat. He regained composure to score one more in his team’s 2-1 win over the Soviet Union in the 3rd place tie to take his tally to nine, the highest of the 1966 competition.

These performances at the biggest stage made him the world’s most popular footballer in the era of Pele, George Best and Bobby Charlton.

The 1966 Eusebio show in England enthralled the people so much that his wax statue was immediately added to Madame Tassaued’s museum in London.

His 41 international goals remained a Portuguese record until 2005. In 2003, at the celebrations for UEFA’s Jubilee, the Portuguese Football Federation selected Eusebio as the Golden Player of Portugal — the country’s most outstanding player of the past 50 years.

No wonder, following his death, the Portuguese government declared three days of mourning. Despite rain thousands lined the streets of Lisbon to pay tribute to their country’s most loved sportsperson. Hailed as a national hero in Mozambique as well, there was grief in his country of birth as well. The President of Mozambique stated, “He’s a figure who has contributed to the deep and rich history of Mozambique. Eusebio came here from time to time. He always maintained a link with Mozambique.”

Written by the famous international sports journalist Mr. Ijaz Chaudhry
Link:- http://tns.thenews.com.pk/au-revoir-black-panther/
Published by the daily “The News” on 12 January, 2014.