Mário Zagallo: the vain strategist who created the model of modern football

08-Jan-2024 08:00:03 | The Guardian

Brazil’s 1970 World Cup-winning manager, who died on Saturday aged 92, spent a lifetime cultivating a place in history

On a winter morning in 2013, I jumped out of a cab to meet my interviewee in a seaside condominium on the Avenida Lúcio Costa. In his 80s, Mário Jorge Lobo Zagallo, who was waiting in the lobby, remained football royalty. For decades, Zagallo and Brazilian football fed off each other in a wonderful, symbiotic relationship and achieved victory after victory.

Zagallo ignored my first question, but instead expanded on and dissected his achievements and conquests. He was full-on vain. Here was a man who had spent a lifetime cultivating his own place in history, a man who would tell you of his glories, and would never pass on a chance to be thanked for his own largesse. He reminded me of Dadá’s words: “Zagallo never tired of telling us: ‘Guys, I want to be part of history!’”