Didi (soccer player, 1928)

Didi
Didi, 1958
Personnel
Surname	Valdir Pereira
birthday	October 8, 1928
place of birth	Campos dos Goytacazes ,  Brazil
date of death	May 12, 2001
Place of death	Rio de Janeiro ,  Brazil
size	174 cm
position	midfield player
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1946-1948	Club Atlético Lençoense / Bariri
1946	Americano FC
1948-1949	Madureira EC	32 (8)
1949-1956	Fluminense FC	150 (51)
1957-1959	Botafogo FR	64 (40)
1959-1960	real Madrid	19 (6)
1960–1962	Botafogo FR	44 (19)
1963	Sporting Cristal
1964-1965	Botafogo FR
1964	Sao Paulo FC
1965-1966	CD Veracruz	29 (4)
1966	Sao Paulo FC
edit on Wikidata
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1962-1964	Sporting Cristal
1964	Botafogo FR
1965	CD Veracruz (Mexico)
1966-1967	Sao Paulo FC
1967-1969	Sporting Cristal
1969-1970	Peru
1971	River Plate
1972-1975	Fenerbahçe Istanbul
1975	Fluminense Rio de Janeiro
1977	Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte
1978-1981	al-Ahli (Saudi Arabia)
1981	Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte
?	Atlético Mineiro
1985	Fortaleza EC
1986	Sao Paulo FC
1986	Alianza Lima
1989-1990	Bangu AC
1 Only league games are given.

Brazil 1958: Vicente Feola (coach), Djalma Santos, Zito, Bellini, Nílton Santos, Orlando, Gilmar - Garrincha, Didí , Pelé, Vavá, Zagallo

Didi , actually Valdir Pereira (born October 8, 1928 in Campos dos Goytacazes , † May 12, 2001 in Rio de Janeiro ), was a Brazilian football player . As a midfield star , Didi led his country Brazil to two world championship titles in 1958 and 1962 . He played a total of 68 international matches and scored 20 goals. From May 13 to September 20, 1959 he was together with Nílton Santos record national player of Brazil. Both made their 54th international match in the 2-0 win against England and replaced their predecessor Zizinho . They were then replaced by Djalma Santos , who expanded the record to 98 games.

Life

His parents were Arthur Pereira and Maria da Penha. He started his career at the provincial club Americano FC (RJ) (1945-46). Via Lençoes São Paulo (1946) and Madureira Rio de Janeiro (1946-50), he finally came in 1950 to one of the country's great clubs, Fluminense Rio de Janeiro . That same year, on July 19, he scored the very first goal in the newly built Maracanã stadium during the opening game, a friendly between the youth teams of the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

In 1952 he made his debut for the Brazilian national team in a 2-0 win over Mexico on April 6. In the following years he became a regular player. His trademark was the so-called Folha Seca, a shot with the outer instep in which the trajectory of the ball changes in a surprising way for the goalkeeper (like a falling dry leaf). At the 1954 World Cup , he played three games and scored two goals, but was eliminated in the quarter-finals against title favorites Hungary.

From 1956 he played for Fluminenses local rivals Botafogo FR who went through his second golden era in one team with him and unforgettable world stars such as Nilton Santos and Garrincha . On April 21, 1957, with a directly converted free kick eight minutes before the end of the game in the World Cup qualifier against Peru , he secured Brazil's participation in the 1958 World Cup , which was to be his career highlight. Brazil became world champions for the first time in history and Didí was voted best player of the tournament.

In 1959 he moved to the reigning European Cup winner Real Madrid following an offer comprising several cubic pesets . It is generally said that there was not enough space for a third star in the team alongside Alfredo Di Stéfano and Ferenc Puskás . He only played 19 games (6 goals) in the league, where it was only enough for runner-up, and he did not come at Real Madrid's fifth and last European Cup triumph of this era, which culminated in a 7-3 final win over Eintracht Frankfurt in Glasgow for use. He was happy to return to Botafogo. At the end of his playing career, he played from 1962 to 1966 for São Paulo FC . Didi had his international game farewell on June 17, 1962 in a 3-1 victory in the World Cup final against Czechoslovakia in Santiago de Chile.

In 1962, after winning his second World Cup, he ended his international career and switched to the coaching business. a. at São Paulo FC , 1971/72 River Plate , 1972/75 Fenerbahçe Istanbul and Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte . In 1970 he took part in the soccer world championship as national coach of Peru and led the South American country to the quarter-finals. In the preliminary round he lost against Germany with 1: 3 and in the quarterfinals against Brazil with 2: 4.

Coaching stations: 1963/64 Sporting Cristal (Peru), 1964 Botafogo , 1965 Veracruz (Mexico), 1966/67 FC São Paulo , Saudi Arabia, Atlético Mineiro , Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte (both Brazil), 1972–1975 Fenerbahçe Istanbul

literature

• Péris Ribiero: Didi: o gênio da folha-seca. Gryphus Editora, Rio de Janeiro 2014, ISBN 978-85-8311-017-0 .

Web links

Commons : Didi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Didi in the database of National-Football-Teams.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Leandro Stein: Didi 90: Uma coleção de histórias sobre a lenda do futebol. In: com.br. Trivela, October 9, 2018; accessed October 21, 2019 (Brazilian Portuguese).