Vavá

Vavá
Personnel
Surname	Edvaldo Izídio Neto
birthday	November 12, 1934
place of birth	Recife ,  Brazil
date of death	January 19, 2002
Place of death	Rio de Janeiro ,  Brazil
size	174 cm
position	Storm
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1949-1950	Sport Recife
1951-1958	Vasco da Gama
1958-1961	Atlético Madrid	71 (31)
1961-1963	Palmeiras São Paulo
1964-1967	Club America
1967-1968	Toros Neza
1968	San Diego Toros	28 0(5)
1969	Portuguesa
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1955-1964	Brazil	20 (15)
1 Only league games are given.

Edvaldo Izídio Neto , known as Vavá (born November 12, 1934 in Recife , † January 19, 2002 in Rio de Janeiro ), was a Brazilian football player .

Brazil 1958: Vicente Feola (coach), Djalma Santos, Zito, Bellini, Nilton Santos, Orlando, Gilmar - Garrincha, Didi, Pelé, Vava, Zagallo.

The striker was instrumental in the Brazilian World Cup triumphs in 1958 in Sweden (5 goals) and 1962 in Chile (4 goals).

Vavá 1958 with Gilmar , Garrincha and Moacir at the 1958 World Cup

At the World Cup in Sweden, Vavá competed with the young center forward Mazzola (at the 1962 World Cup he ran as Altafini for Italy on the field) for the place in the center of the storm. In the first group game against Austria (final score 3-0 for the Selecão ) Mazzola scored two goals and was therefore also used in the second game against England (0-0 draw). But the later world stars Garrincha and Pelé also sat on the bench in these games.

The third group game against the Soviet Union brought the breakthrough for the three great strikers Garrincha , Pelé and Vavá. Vavá scored both goals for a 2-0 victory, Garrincha kept dribbling into the back of the defense on the sidelines, and the super talent Pele performed a ball handling that had not been seen before. For the first time, the offensive formation Garrincha - Didi - Vavá - Pelé - Zagallo was able to show what magic football they were capable of.

The semi-final against France turned out to be one of the most spectacular games of this World Cup. Kopa and Fontaine guaranteed a first-class storm game on the part of France, the ball artists from Brazil even surpassed them. After goals from Vavá, Didi and Pelé three times, they won 5-2 and advanced to the final.

The host country Sweden , with senior Gunnar Gren in midfield and the two good wingers Kurre Hamrin and Lennart Skoglund , was almost a match for the Brazilians in the final. Again the result was 5: 2. The goalscorer were Vavá and Pelé with two hits each and the hard worker Mario Zagallo. Vavá was the determined executor, Didi, Garrincha and Pelé mostly the brilliant preparers.

In 1962 in Chile, Brazil entered with the same storm formation, but had the misfortune that the outstanding Pelé suffered an injury in the second group game, which then prevented him from actively intervening in this World Cup. His deputy Amarildo showed good performances in all missions alongside the sizes Garrincha, Didi, Vavá and Zagallo. In the semifinals, Garrincha and Vavá scored two goals each to beat Chile 4-2 . In the final against Czechoslovakia (3-1 win), Vavá scored again. With four goals, he was one of the top six goal scorers of the 1962 World Cup (all four goals each). But his teammate Garrincha was chosen by lot as the official top scorer.

Despite these two major tournament successes, Vavá only made 22 internationals. If you take into account that his first appearance took place on November 13, 1955 and he played his last game for Brazil on June 3, 1964 against Argentina in São Paulo , 22 international matches in nine years are little for such a successful striker, even by Brazilian standards . The name Vavá is inextricably linked with the era of the greats Garrincha, Didi and Pelé and with the two World Cup titles in 1958 and 1962.

With CR Vasco da Gama he won the championship of Rio in 1956 and 1958, with Palmeiras São Paulo he won the unofficial Brazilian club championship in 1959.

With Pelé, Paul Breitner and Zinédine Zidane, he is one of the only players to score in two different World Cup finals.

Web links

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

• Mission data on BDFutbol.com