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.
