Zizinho

Zizinho
Zizinho in 1944 in Flamengo dress
Personnel
Surname	Thomaz Soares da Silva
birthday	September 14, 1922
place of birth	Niterói ,  Brazil
date of death	February 7, 2002
Place of death	Rio de Janeiro ,  Brazil
position	Attacking midfield
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1939-1950	Flamengo Rio de Janeiro	172 (88)
1950-1957	Bangu AC (RJ)
1957-1959	Sao Paulo FC
1959-1960	Uberaba Sport Club
1961–1962	Audax Italiano (Santiago de Chile)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1942-1957	Brazil	53 (30)
1 Only league games are given.

Tomás Soares da Silva - Zizinho for short - (born September 14, 1922 in Niterói ; † February 7, 2002 ) was a Brazilian football player .

The striker Zizinho played in the Brazilian first division from 1939 . He began his professional career in Rio de Janeiro with the CR Flamengo . With Flamengo he achieved his greatest success in the 1940s, where he stayed until he was sold to Bangu . He played his first international match on January 17, 1942 in a 2-1 draw against Argentina at the 1942 South American Championship . On February 3, 1946, he led the Brazilian team for the first time as captain on the field, where he scored 4 goals to 5-1 against Chile. In total, he acted as captain 18 times. He also scored two goals in Brazil's highest international win, the 10-1 win against Bolivia on April 10, 1949.

The high point of his career was to be the 1950 World Cup in his own country. With his performances at this tournament, he scored one goal each against Yugoslavia and Spain, Zizinho contributed significantly to the fact that a draw in the final round against Uruguay would have been enough for Brazil to win the world championship. However, his team lost 2-1. This defeat is considered to be the greatest tragedy in the history of Brazilian football , along with the 7-1 defeat against Germany . The South American Championship in 1949 , in which he scored 5 goals, remained his only title with the national team.

By April 3, 1957 Zizinho brought it to 53 internationals and scored 30 goals. His last international match, like the first, took place at a South American Championship and Argentina was the opponent again. Like the first one, this one was also lost (0: 3). He was Brazil's record international player until May 13, 1959 and with 34 games and 17 goals is both one of the record players (together with the Chilean Sergio Livingstone ) and one of the record goal scorers of the Copa America (together with the Argentine Norberto Méndez ).

For Pelé he was one of the best and most complete players of all time.

Statistical career overview

successes

National team

• Copa America : 1949
• Vice world champion 1950

societies

• State championship of Rio de Janeiro : 1939, 1942, 1943, 1944
• São Paulo State Championship : 1957

Individual evidence

1. ↑ www.guardian.co.uk/news/2002