Beckenbauer and Zagallo, two pioneers of football, pass away
Two of the only three men to win the FIFA World Cup both as a player and a coach have died in quick succession—Mario Zagallo on Sunday at the age of 92 and Franz Beckenbauer on Monday at 78.
The other to win both as a player and a coach is Didier Deschamps of France.
‘The Professor’, as Mario Zagallo was known as, won the World Cup for Brazil alongside the great Pele in 1958 and 1962, and then coached the ‘Selecao’ to the 1970 title, the team once again starring Pele, playing in his final World Cup.
He was also the assistant coach of the 1994 World Cup-winning side.
Zagallo is credited with creating the position of the modern left-winger, a position he made his own right from his first World Cup in 1958.
He was also the last surviving member of the starting line-up of the 1958 final.
Franz Beckenbauer, dubbed ‘Der Kaiser’, or ‘The Emperor’ is considered one of the greatest-ever players to have graced the game.
He was part of the West Germany team that lost the 1966 final to England, winning a silver medal, and won the bronze medal in 1970, playing the semi-final against Italy with a hand in a sling.
Then, playing in his final Cup in 1974, he captained the team to victory. The final was a classic, with two legends leading two of the greatest ever sides—Beckenbauer the Germans and Johan Cruyff the Dutch—and both in their finest forms.
Beckenbauer also excelled at the club level, winning a hat-trick of European titles with Bayern Munich in the 1970s and the Ballon d’Or twice as the best player in Europe.
Beckenbauer created the role of the modern sweeper—a central defender sitting behind the other defenders, providing an additional line of defence and intercepting, or ‘sweeping’ away loose balls.
