Carlos Alberto

Day -597 #WorldCup2018

Sadly, it's an easy subject for me today as I mark the passing of one of the great names in football, Carlos Alberto.

I have very often repeated my admiration of the the Brazil team of 1982. They are my personal benchmark of viewed greatness in football. Brazil, World Cup winners 1970 have been universally acclaimed as the greatest team ever. I have seen the highlights and read the books but as they were before my time I was never influenced by watching them live on TV as I was by the 1982 team.

However. it is hard to argue with the widely held belief that watching Brazil win the 1970 World Cup was a uniquely wonderful experience for anybody who had the pleasure to watch them play. I can equate the emotions generated by that team to what I felt when I watched the magic of 1982. The big important difference, of course, was that Team 1970 won the World Cup and were amazing to watch. Team 1982 were exhilarating but didn't even make it to the final.

Carlos Alberto was one of the many stars on that star-studded team. Pele may have been the greatest but the names of Jairzinho, Tostao, Rivelino and Gerson were an integral part of my football history education.

Carlos Alberto is remembered for beautifully scoring one of the finest examples of a goal that came out of a combination of incredible team movement, individual skill and seemingly telepathic understanding.

I have often wondered if Brazil would have been able to play this way if they weren't winning 3-1 in the 86th minute against a very tired Italian team who had maybe also run out of the mental energy to keep up with the Brazilians. Nevertheless it is fantastic to watch, a wonderful reminder of a way Brazil could play football like no other team did then or does in this generation.

Carlos Alberto was football royalty, just a name to me but the bringer of beautiful memories for many.

(Read this for a great description of the goal. Scroll down all the way to see the goal.)