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Tostão talks about his chemistry with Pelé

Author: Isaque Argolo | Creation Date: 2021-10-02 22:13:27

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This story goes back to the 1966 World Cup, when I played as a withdrawn midfielder at Cruzeiro. Pelé also came back to play, he was a ponta de lança. So, Saldanha, in 1969, ended it, which had been(this story) since 1966. Then, when Zagallo came in, he came back with the same conversation. He arrived at the national team and immediately said that I would be Pelé's reserve, and called Roberto and Dario to be the centre-forwards. And he clearly said that it was already decided that I would be Pelé's reserve. But when the World Cup approached, he started to think again.
One day, he (Zagallo) came up to me and said:
— Can you play up front but not come back too much as a centre-forward?
I still remember, because when he asked me that, I remembered Evaldo. I said that I would be Evaldo, from Cruzeiro, because Evaldo played in front, like a pivot moving in front, and Dirceu Lopes and I came from behind with the ball. And so much so that Dirceu Lopes and I were the team's top scorers, not Evaldo, who was the centre-forward. So I said:
— I'll play like Evaldo!
There is no doubt. When you put two players to play together, when the two fit together, sometimes that chemistry doesn't need training.
When you hear this thing: "Ah, the players aren't working together, because they did not train enough...". You can be sure they will never fit together. When the player combines, in the first training, with his eyes, one already knows everything the other wants to do on the field.