Friday, January 10, 2025
The Professor in Spite of Himself, Part 4
Just as Brazil's nightmare against Uruguay in 1950 made the conquest of the World Cup an obsession, their early exit from the 1966 tournament in England made them determined to leave nothing to chance when it came to preparation for 1970.
A military junta was in charge of the country, and preparations for the forthcoming World Cup in Mexico took on rather a military flavour. The brilliant eccentric who had steered Brazil through the qualifying stages, Joao Saldanha, was jettisoned in favour of a more politically reliable manager, the austere former national team star Mario Zagallo. And in charge of preparing the team physically was Admildo Chirol, a trainer at the military school in Rio and a former mentor to the young Carlos Alberto Parreira. When Chirol encountered Parreira in Germany after the latter's stint in charge of Ghana and offered him the chance to be part of the preparations for Mexico, Parreira was only too happy to accept the challenge.
Pelé and co. had an astonishing four months (!) to prepare for the event. Along with Chirol, the physical preparation team featured another army man, Claudio Coutinho, who had extensive contacts in the U.S. military and even NASA. Coutinho had been impressed by the so-called Cooper Test (the predecessor of the now-ubiquitous "beep test"), and introduced it to the 1970 players. Ensconced in a Jesuit retreat, the players were able to build up their stamina in almost monastic isolation. They would be similarly shielded from press, fans and assorted troublemakers in Mexico as well - planning for Brazil's return to the summit of world football was immaculate.
Brazil's ultimate victory in 1970 has taken on a mythic character in the years since, and the artistry of the great players in the side - Pelé, Tostao, Jairzinho, Rivelino, Gerson and the rest - has been justly celebrated. But the intense physical preparation played a very important role as well. It says something about their stamina in the heat and altitude of Mexico that only two of the seven goals they conceded at the event were scored in the second half (while they scored 12 of their 19 goals after the interval). Rivelino recalled later that, unlike in previous events, he couldn't recall a single time when he had to get water from the touchline.
And for Carlos Alberto Parreira, it was the event which confirmed his desire to become a fully-fledged football coach.
Much of this was down to the admiration he conceived for Zagallo, who became a lifelong friend and a priceless adviser at the side when Parreira went on to win a World Cup himself in 1994. He always asserted later that he received his real tactical education from Zagallo; this was, after all, the man who had practically invented the 4-3-3 as a player, introducing the "withdrawn winger" role which was so influential throughout the world.
Significantly, Parreira's role in 1970 went slightly beyond mere physical preparation. He was detailed to look for potential weaknesses in Brazil's opponents, and his key contribution in this regard was an astute analysis of Italy's tactics. Parreira suggested that Jairzinho, on the right wing, should pull his marker Giacinto Facchetti over to the Brazilian left, to make room for a run up from the back by the other Carlos Alberto, Brazil's right-back and captain.
Zagallo liked the idea and explained it to the team prior to the game. And, famously, the tactic worked to perfection on the occasion of Brazil's famous fourth goal in the final.
Carlos Alberto Parreira's subsequent career is well-known. Taking five teams to the World Cup finals (two of them for the first time), the 1994 triumph, and all the accolades that followed. But the first steps that took him from untried physical preparer to football professor-in-waiting were, perhaps, the most important ones.
Wednesday, January 08, 2025
The Professor in Spite of Himself, Part 3
When not on national team duty during his time in Ghana, Carlos Alberto Parreira was given charge of the nation's top club team, Asante Kotoko.
There were political considerations involved. Based in the inland city of Kumasi, the Asante team had long been a symbol of the Asante (or Ashanti) people, a warrior nation that had fiercely resisted British colonization in a series of wars in the 19th century. During Ghana's transition to independence after the second world war, a separatist movement among the Asante had posed a serious threat to the embryonic nation's charismatic leader Kwame Nkrumah. "Kotoko" means porcupine in the local Twi language, and the porcupine, with all its connotations, was the symbol of the Asante people. By having a foreigner in charge of both Asante Kotoko and the national team, it was thought that tensions between the coastal Akan and Ewe groups and the inland Asante could be lessened.
Rather a large responsibility to put on the shoulders of an untried 23-year-old.
But Parreira responded to the challenge with typical youthful exuberance. Needless to say, a number of players from the national team represented Asante Kotoko as well, including the iconic striker Osei Kofi. Parreira adopted the same policy of concentrating on what he knew best, physical preparation. But, as we shall see, he was starting to display some tactical insight as well.
Victory in the African Cup of Champions Clubs, the forerunner to the CAF Champions League, was the main objective. In the previous year, Asante Kotoko had been knocked out at the quarter-final stage by Stade d'Abidjan of the Ivory Coast; this time, they believed they could go all the way.
Starting with a relatively straightforward win over Saint-Louisienne of Senegal, the "Porcupine Warriors" advanced to the quarter-finals, where their opponents would once again be Stade d'Abidjan. The Ghanaian team won the first leg 3-1, and Kofi recalls how Parreira decided to approach the second leg. The young coach had noticed that the Ivorian side had run out of puff towards the end of the first game, and surprisingly instructed the star striker to hang back in the first half of the return leg, barely crossing the halfway line. "But in the second half, when the Ivorians were tiring, he let me loose, and I scored three goals."
8-3 was the aggregate score, and Asante Kotoko narrowly defeated Djoliba of Mali in the semi-final. In the final, as in the African Nations Cup early the following year, their opponents would be from Congo-Kinshasa (Zaire). Tout-Puissant ("All-powerful") Englebert of Lubumbashi, now known as TP Mazembe, had been somewhat fortunate to reach the final, advancing from the first round via a drawing of lots and benefiting from a walkover in the quarter-finals.
Parreira recalls the two-legged final tie with a certain chagrin. After a 1-1 draw in Kumasi, Asante Kotoko were leading 2-1 in the return leg in Lubumbashi, before a large, volatile crowd. "Almost at the end of the game, my defender chested a ball, the ref said it was handball and gave a penalty. So it was 2-2."
No away-goals rule. "At the end of extra time, the ref said the winner would be decided by tossing a coin, but there was a pitch invasion and it became utter chaos. Afterwards we learnt that a third game had been organised, but no-one told us (!). The team from Zaire were declared champions, but I consider myself the winner too."
Parreira had learned much and grown both personally and professionally during his time in Ghana. He had harboured no ambitions to be a full-fledged football coach before that, but the seed had now been planted. When a German came to play a friendly in Ghana in 1968, Parreira was invited to come to Hanover to study audiovisual coaching aids. Keen for a new adventure, he accepted.
And it was in Germany that he encountered his old teacher Admildo Chirol, who offered him another tempting opportunity: would he like to join the physical preparation team for Brazil's upcoming World Cup campaign?
The answer, not surprisingly, was yes. To be concluded in Part 4.
Tuesday, January 07, 2025
The Professor in Spite of Himself, Part 2
When the young Carlos Alberto Parreira arrived in Ghana in 1967 to take up the post of national team coach, he found a number of surprises awaiting him. As a university graduate in Brazil, he was addressed as "professor" by the players - a hangover from British colonial times. Sitting down to eat lunch with the players after meeting them for the first time, he was puzzled by the shocked looks he received from his new charges. Previous coaches, apparently, had not deigned to mix with the players on such a relatively intimate level. Parreira immediately made it his custom to break bread with the players and stay in the same hotel in the same conditions, rather than in the comparative luxury favoured by his predecessors.
But the biggest surprises concerned the state of preparation and training in Ghana. The best (club) team in the country, he recalled, trained on a vacant lot in front of the Sheraton Hotel. "They went to work, came back at 5 o'clock, picked up a couple of stones to mark the goal, changed their clothes in a corner and went to play." This was not to last long under Parreira.
Ghana's "Black Stars" had already garnered two victories in the African Nations Cup, and boasted some great talent. The striker Osei Kofi, a star of the 1965 Nations Cup, was recognised as one of the finest players on the continent. Also in the forward line was Wilberforce "Willie" Mfum, who would go on to play professionally in America. The previous coach, C.K. Gyamfi, had already experienced considerable success with the side. Yet, on Parreira's arrival, Gyamfi uncomplainingly accepted being relegated to second fiddle status, despite being fifteen years Parreira's senior. Such was the aura of Brazilian players and coaches at the time.
Parreira, although he harboured few illusions about his tactical acumen at that point, was determined to make his "mission" a success. To that end, he concentrated on what he knew best - physical preparation and training - and brought all his knowledge to bear, as well as the intelligence and charisma that his mentors back in Brazil had recognised. And he gained the players' respect quickly. "He was able to build our stamina, so that we could play two hours non-stop, in any competition," recalled Kofi many years later.
Another Ghanaian international of the time, Cecil Attuquayefio, was a member of his country's delegation when Ghana took the field against a Parreira-coached Brazil in the 2006 World Cup. "He was young like us, a strong guy," Attuquayefio recalled. "I'd very much like to meet him again!"
Ghana went into the 1968 African Nations Cup in Ethiopia as defending champions and one of the favourites. A scare against Senegal in their first match was followed by a late winner against Congo-Kinshasa (soon to be known as Zaire) and a comfortable win over Congo-Brazzaville. The semi-finals pitted them against the Ivory Coast in a thrilling game which ended in a 4-3 win for the Black Stars. Ghana were in the final for the third time in succession. This time, however, it was not to be their day; in a rematch against Congo-Kinshasa, the Ghanaians found the Congolese goalkeeper Kazadi Mwamba (later to have a wretched time at the 1974 World Cup) in defiant form, and lost 1-0.
No beginner's luck for Parreira, then. But this was not his only footballing duty during his time in Ghana. More in Part 3.
Monday, January 06, 2025
The Professor in Spite of Himself, Part 1
"Good morning, Professor!"
The 23-year-old being addressed in these terms by his new charges, the members of a national football team, didn't know what to say. He was no professor. He had never been a coach before, let alone a national team coach. He had never even played competitive football himself, at any level. And last but not least, he was over 5,000 kilometres from home.
Yet some fifty years later, perhaps no-one in football would deserve the title of "Professor" more than he. By that time, Carlos Alberto Parreira had taken five separate national teams to the World Cup, and had won the ultimate prize with one of them. Furthermore, he had been part of the backroom team that had fostered the success of the most memorable World Cup winners of all, the Brazilians of 1970. He had saved the club he supported as a boy from relegation (his proudest achievement, or so he claimed). And he had left a legacy of football professionalism and knowledge that made him a hero in many countries throughout the world.
But every journey has to start somewhere. And this is the story of Carlos Alberto Parreira's early steps in the world of jogo bonito.
It goes without saying that Brazil's World Cup wins in 1958 and 1962, and the style in which they were achieved, made them a cynosure for all developing football nations. And the part of the world that was the most anxious to develop as rapidly and impressively as possible, in those days of decolonization, was Africa.
Ghana, formerly known as the Gold Coast, was one of the first African nations to become independent, in 1957. Its charismatic leader, Kwame Nkrumah, saw the country as a potential beacon for the rest of the continent; a prosperous, successful modern nation in hock to neither of the Cold War superpowers. As with so many other charismatic leaders of the era, he looked to sport as a potential symbol of the country's progress. Following Brazil's second successive stylish World Cup victory in 1962, Nkrumah sent the new national coach, Charles Kumi ("C.K.") Gyamfi, to Brazil's national team camp, on a mission to study their tactics and training methods.
Gyamfi was a pioneer himself. One of the first Africans to play professional football in Europe (at Fortuna Dusseldorf), he was perhaps Africa's finest player throughout the 1950s, and his professional experience made him a natural choice to be the national coach upon his retirement. And Nkrumah's plan came to fruition when, following Gyamfi's return from observing the world champions' preparations, Ghana won the nascent African Nations Cup in 1963 and 1965.
But the Ghanaians' ambitions didn't stop there. Impressed by the Brazilians' thoroughness in preparing their players physically as well as tactically for the big tournaments, the Ghanaians decided to recruit a trainer who could enable their players to compete with hardened professionals at the top level. 1970 was to be the first World Cup with an assured qualifying place for the African confederation, and various old and new African nations had a covetous eye on it. Ghana was no exception.
So it was back to Brazil, this time in search of a fitness trainer, preferably one with real expertise, plus the energy of youth. The Brazilians at the Foreign Ministry, known as Itamaraty, consulted a respected trainer called Admildo Chirol, who was attached to the Botafogo club and had taught at the renowned Physical Education school in Rio (an offshoot of the Brazilian army). Were there any good young physical trainers around? Yes, said Chirol. There was his star pupil of a few years before, a certain Carlos Alberto Parreira, who was working as a physical trainer at the Sao Cristovao club at the time. What's more, Parreira spoke tolerably good English - and Ghana was a former British colony.
Parreira was duly approached. Would he like to work in Africa? Yes, replied the adventurous youngster. Could he go more or less immediately? Yes.
Within less than a fortnight, armed with a diplomatic passport and a self-confidence which belied his years, Carlos Alberto Parreira stepped into the unknown.
More in Part 2.
