Carlos Alberto Torres

**Carlos Alberto "Capita" Torres** (17 July 1944 – 25 October 2016), also known as the "Captain of the Third", was a former Brazilian football player. He has played for Brazil national team. A technically talented defender with good ball skills and defensive ability, he is widely regarded as one of the best defenders of all time. He also stood out for his leadership and was an excellent penalty taker. In the 1970 FIFA World Cup Final, Carlos Alberto scored the fourth Brazilian goal that closed the 4-1 rout against Italy. His goal is considered one of the greatest goals in the history of the tournament. Considered one of the greatest players in history in his position, he was the captain of the Brazilian team that won the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, becoming known as the Capitão do Tri. As far as clubs go, Carlos Alberto has played for Fluminense, Botafogo, Flamengo, California Surf, Santos and New York Cosmos. He was Pelé 's teammate in the last two clubs.

## Club career

Carlos Alberto joined Fluminense at the age of 19. He quickly made a name for himself in the team, and this from his first season at the club, thanks to his defensive qualities and his vision of the game but also an ability to dribble but also to make his teammates play, rare qualities for defenders. at that time. In 1966, he left for the Santos club where he joined his teammate Pelé. In 1974, he returned to Fluminense and enabled the club to win two consecutive Rio championships. Three years later, in 1977, he moved to Flamengo, Fluminense's biggest rival.

Despite his success in Brazil, Carlos Torres joined New York club Cosmos in 1977. He arrived on the day of the New York power outage and reunited with his former teammate and friend Pelé. He helped his club win back-to-back NASL titles in 1979 and 1980. After a year at the California Surf club, he returned to New York and won a third NASL 3 title with his club in 1982. During his five years in the NASL, he was elected to the All-Stars team of the year five times and scored eight goals in 119 regular season games and 26 playoff games. He bid farewell on September 28, 1982 during a match between Cosmos and his former club Flamengo.

## International career

Between 1964 and 1977, Carlos Alberto Torres was capped 53 times and scored eight goals with Brazil. In 1966, he was on the list of forty-four players likely to participate in the 1966 FIFA World Cup but he was not retained in the final list of twenty-two players. At this edition of the World Cup, in England, Brazil is eliminated in the group stages. When João Saldanha is responsible for restoring the image of the Selecao, he recognizes Carlos Alberto's ability to lead a team and decides to make him the new captain of Brazil. His extroverted character is also suitable for taking on this role of leader of the group. He is therefore the captain of the Brazilian team that won the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. Despite his position at fullback, Carlos Alberto scored the last goal in the final against Italy - on a blind pass from Pelé. This goal is considered one of the best scored in the competition. 1970 was the best year of his career with Brazil. He couldn't participate in the 1974 World Cup because of a persistent knee injury. When he regains a certain physical form, his speed has decreased markedly. Nevertheless, his vision of the game which makes it possible to compensate for his low speed, allows him to occupy the position of central defender. After some return to form, he was selected again with Brazil. In 1977, his coach Cláudio Coutinho called him up to captain the Selecao in the first three qualifying matches for the 1978 World Cup. He performs well despite seven years of absence in the national team. He is approaching 33 when he retires from international duty and immediately joins the New York Cosmos. Even today, he is considered one of the best players to have worn the colors of Brazil.

## Death

Torres died in Rio de Janeiro on October 25, 2016 due to a sudden heart attack, aged 72.

## Club career statistics

|-
|1971||rowspan="3"|Santos||rowspan="3"|Série A||2||0
|-
|1972||20||2
|-
|1973||28||6
|-
|1974||rowspan="3"|Fluminense||rowspan="3"|Série A||16||1
|-
|1975||18||0
|-
|1976||19||3
|-
|1977||Flamengo||Série A||0||0

|-
|1977||rowspan="4"|New York Cosmos||rowspan="4"|NASL||4||0
|-
|1978||25||2
|-
|1979||28||2
|-
|1980||23||2
|-
|1981||California Surf||NASL||19||2
|-
|1982||New York Cosmos||NASL||20||0
103||12
119||8
222||20
|}

## International career statistics

|-
|1964||3||0
|-
|1965||1||0
|-
|1966||3||0
|-
|1967||0||0
|-
|1968||18||5
|-
|1969||9||0
|-
|1970||14||2
|-
|1971||0||0
|-
|1972||1||1
|-
|1973||0||0
|-
|1974||0||0
|-
|1975||0||0
|-
|1976||1||0
|-
|1977||3||0
|-
!Total||53||8
|}

### Player

**Fluminense**
- Campeonato Carioca: 1964, 1975, 1976
- Taça Guanabara: 1966

**Santos**
- Recopa Sul-Americana: 1968
- Taça de Prata: 1968
- Paulista Championship: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1973

**New York Cosmos**
- NASL Soccer Bowl Championships: 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982

**Brazil**
- Pan American Games champion: 1963
- FIFA World Cup: 1970
- Roca Cup: 1967, 1971
- Rio Branco Cup: 1968
- Taça Oswaldo Cruz: 1976

**Individual**
- FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1970
- World Team of the 20th Century: 1998
- National Soccer Hall of Fame: 2003
- FIFA 100: 2004
- The Best of The Best – Player of the Century: Top 50
- Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame
- Ballon d'Or Dream Team (Silver): 2020
- IFFHS All-time Men's B Dream Team: 2021