A Footballer and a Gentleman.

 

Not often does one get the opportunity to meet a professional sportsman, and much more seldom one who has represented his country. So to have the chance to meet a former Brazilian international footballer is a rare treat indeed. However this is the thrill we were lucky enough to be afforded on Tuesday evening.

 

Carlos Alexander Torres played for every level of Brazilian football, culminating in his first Brazilian cap in 1992 when he was part of the squad which eventually won the World Cup two years later. He is the son of Carlos Alberto Torres, who is known as the scorer of possibly the greatest goal in a World Cup Final, as Carlos Alberto slotted home a pass from Pélé after superb team build-up in the 1970 showpiece match, to take Brazil to their third triumph. As a result, when Carlos Alberto raised the Jules Rimet Trophy aloft as captain, Brazil got to keep it forever, the only team to do so.

 

Be that as it may, to-day was about Carlos Alexander Torres, his son. When Carlos walked into the sports’ hall, an awed hush fell upon the pupils. I put questions to Carlos for twenty minutes before the children had fifteen minutes to pose their own, and then Carlos was asked to perform some skills for the crowd.

 

We spoke about life growing up in Rio de Janeiro, the poverty and culture of football in Brazil and how the schoolteachers (and nuns) used to discourage football from being played at school by popping their balls to encourage them to concentrate on education. Carlos told a story of how when this happened, the Brazilian boys used to play their football with plums, grapefruits, anything which would act as a ball. Games could get quite squelchy as you might imagine! As he grew up he played from when school finished at three p.m., playing with the younger boys, till when the adults, who had finished work, had played for a couple of hours at ten p.m.

 

Carlos played for clubs in Brazil before moving to Japan, along with Gary Lineker, where he was managed by Arsene Wenger, whom he rates as his greatest manager. Carlos rates Romario (top scorer in the 1994 World Cup) as the greatest player with or against whom he has played. He says he felt great pressure being born into a successful footballing family but also great pride and honour in representing his country. Growing up in contact with Pélé, Jairzinho and Tostão was a great experience and led him to practising up to nine hours a day at his passion.

 

We spoke about what it takes to succeed not just at the highest level in football, but also in any sport or professional field. Carlos mentioned dedication, enthusiasm, commitment, skill, time invested, listening skills and two key factors; luck and enjoyment. For without enjoyment, any person should ask themselves if they really are in the right field for them, and a lack of enjoyment can prevent ultimate success. And as for luck, Carlos can reel off an arm’s length of examples of talented players who didn’t get a break, or got injured at the wrong time, or weren’t pushed in the right direction at the right time. Luck is a major factor, and without it, we’re nothing.

 

As far as determination goes, Carlos cited an excellent example from his own family. His father and his uncle were both defenders and trying to break into the Brazilian national team at the same time in the late nineteen-sixties. They appeared to be getting nowhere, however, as the national team’s defence was populated by reliable, solid players, who never put a foot wrong. One player lost heart, and though he went on to become a good player, he drifted out of the game eventually. One day the player in Carlos’ father’s position got injured and Carlos’ father was called up. His chance came, he held onto his place and in 1970 became a World Cup-winning captain. The moral of the story, as they say at the end of every Desperate Housewives episode? Never give in. Keep knocking at the door, and one day, you never know, if you knock hard enough, it might just open.

 

The floor was opened to the pupils who asked some excellent questions, a selection of which follow:

Who is his favourite player/manager? (Romario/Wenger.)

Has he ever been a manager? (Yes, an assistant in Japan.)

What does he do now? (He’s an agent to players in Brazil.)

What does he think of the English Premier League? (Excellent, entertaining, but too many foreigners are hindering the progress of the national side.)

Is there any chance of getting Brazilian players through him into the Premiership? (Yes, very possibly.) And the Scottish league? (The answer was unfortunately lost in general tittering and guffawing. The teacher did not pursue the line of questioning!)

 

The children showed excellent understanding of what had been said before and had really listened to the answers. The pupils deserve all credit for listening to long periods of Portuguese and taking in answers.

 

At this point I asked Carlos if he’d be able to show us some skills and he obliged, but asked yours truly if I’d like to join him. If he needed a partner, I was more than willing to oblige. That I had my football with me, was dressed in football gear and had been practising my keepie-uppies for five hours that day in the hope of such an offer was mere coincidence. I tried my best to keep up and mainly held my own whilst having the humility to allow Carlos the glory to complete the more difficult moves, balances and rolling the ball across the back of his neck etc. It wouldn’t have been either polite or sporting for me to steal the show, you see …

 

After we had finished we had a quick ‘best of three’ penalty shoot-out in which Carlos very sportingly gave me a chance before he went and signed autographs for everyone who wished one, with great patience. A footballer and a gentleman. Huge thanks go to Carlos Alexander Torres and his son Diego who translated, and also to Mr. Simon Flame who helped me make the contact with the Brazilians.