Tostão

**Tostão** (born 25 January 1947) is a former Brazilian football player. He played for Brazil national team. A complete player, he was a natural left-hander able to fill various roles  in an excellent way, from the attacking midfielder to the left midfielder up to the first striker and the second striker. His first-rate individual technique allowed him to jump the man with great ease and to have a very broad vision of the game. He played as an attacking midfielder, left midfielder, first striker and second striker. He scored  303 goals between club and national team. In the national team he was the center forward. He was widely considered as one of the best players in the world. He was named the first South American Footballer of the Year in 1971.

## Early life
He was born in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. ,His nickname was 'Tostão' (little coin). Legend has it that as a six-year-old school boy he scored 47 goals in one game for his primary school football team.
## Club career
At the age of 14 he entered the Cruzeiro youth academy. After a further year of apprenticeship at América, he returned to Cruzeiro. He made his debut as a first-team center-forward at sixteen. With the Cruzeiro shirt he won five consecutive editions of the Campeonato Mineiro, from 1965 to 1969. He was the best scorer for four consecutive editions (from 1965 to 1968). He won a Taca Brasil in 1966 beating Santos di Pelé in both home and away finals. With 249 official goals, Tostão is still the best scorer in Cruzeiro history. He holds the record for goals (143) scored at the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte. His move to Vasco da Gama in Rio de Janeiro, in 1972, was one of the most famous of the time. It was one of the most expensive in Brazilian football. Tostão did not have the opportunity to be very useful to his new team. He suffered from a detachment of the retina due to a ball in the face received in 1969 during a meeting with Corinthians. He spent a lot of time for medical consultations. To safeguard his sight, he decided to retire in 1973 at the age of 26, after five retinal surgeries.
## International career
In 1966, Tostão was selected to go along to the World Cup in England. He was only 19 years old  and one of the youngest players in the Brazilian squad.  Tostão made his World Cup debut and scored a goal in the match against Hungary, replacing the injured Pelé. Brazil lost the match and Tostão later claimed that it was due to the too old selection. "Of the players who took part in the 1958 and 1962 World Cup, only Pele was fit enough,"  he said. "Djalma Santos, Gilmar, Bellini, Orlando and Garrincha were not fit enough for the tournament in England".

After the 1966 FIFA World Cup, preparations began for the next tournament, the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. During the qualifying matches, Tostão was Brazil's great hero. He was a striker who could do anything. He gave assists to others, but also scored many goals himself. Under the new national coach Saldanha, he did not play instead of Pelé, but together with Pelé. It seemed certain that Tostão was going to the World Cup in Mexico. A match between Corinthians and Cruzeiro almost threw a spanner in the works. A defender of Corinthians, Ditao, shot a ball in his face.  He could not see for a while after this accident. Something was wrong with the retina, an injury that could prevent him from competing in the World Cup. Tostão sent for the best doctor from Belo Horizonte to operate on him, and on October 3, 1969, the whole of Brazil held its breath. Doctor Robert Abdalla Moura operated on Tostao in Houston. He said after the operation that he was satisfied with the result. In the months that followed, it had to become clear whether Tostão could come to Mexico. On a Friday in April 1970, he awoke to blood pouring from his eye. It was a few days before he was to make his comeback in a match against Paraguay. His competitor Dario could hope again, as he was Tostão's replacement during this match. He failed to impress, however, as the game ended 0-0. The new national team manager, Mário Zagallo, knew right away how valuable Tostão was to the squad.

In the end, Tostão recovered from his injury just in time and was able to compete in the tournament. On his appointment as national team manager, Zagallo said Tostao would fill in for Pele, but after missing the striker for a long time, he knew how valuable the "White Pele" was to the squad. Tostão started the tournament as a starting player and scored two goals and provided a number of assists. Brazil won the tournament with arguably the most beautiful football ever played. Italy was defeated 4-1 in the final.

## Later life
After his career as a football player, he started studying again and became a doctor. Years later, he returned to the football world and became a sports journalist.

## International career statistics
|-
|1966||7||6
|-
|1967||3||0
|-
|1968||15||8
|-
|1969||9||12
|-
|1970||9||3
|-
|1971||6||2
|-
|1972||5||1
|-
!Total||54||32
|}

### International goals 
## Honours 
### Club 
;Cruzeiro
* Campeonato Brasileiro Série A: 1966
* Campeonato Mineiro: 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969
* South American Footballer of the Year: 1971
* IFFHS Brazilian Player of the 20th Century (5th place)
* IFFHS South American Player of the 20th Century (13th place)
* Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame

## References