In search of firepower, Corinthians celebrates 70 years of fulminant attack

Full of creative and offensive players, such as Giuliano, Paulinho, Renato Augusto, Willian and Róger Guedes, Corinthians is looking for a striker who can take advantage of the fruitful company by putting balls in the net. There is not, however, a name on the market like Baltazar, who arrived from Jabaquara to become one of the great number 9 shirts in the club’s history.

Cabecinha de Ouro was one of those responsible for the most prolific attack in the 111 years of the alvinegra club. In the 1951 Campeonato Paulista, which ended in 1952, the Parque São Jorge team needed only 27 games to reach 100 goals. Anticipated champion, he ended the competition with 103 goals in 28 matches, an impressive average of 3.68 boxes saved per match.

The triple digits were reached 70 years ago, on January 19, 1952. With the title secured six days earlier, Rato’s men did not have to show their best football to take down Ypiranga and reach the (centennial) goal that remained after the fulfillment of the main one: the end of a state fast that had lasted ten years.

“Even not playing with the class of a true champion, Corintians, yesterday afternoon, at Pacaembu, overcame the Ipiranga team, imposing the score 3 to 0. There is no doubt that the ‘Campeonario do Centenario’ deserved victory”, reported Folha da Manhã, which, in yet another day of productive attack, highlighted the performance of a beck.

“Murilo was once again the main figure of the Corinthians eleven. A great match was played by the Minas Gerais defender, emerging as the main element on the field. The midfielders Idario and Lorena also stood out in the rearguard”, described the newspaper, which praised the finishes. of Balthazar and Jackson.

Corinthians also ended the campaign with a 3-1 triumph over arch-rivals Palmeiras. And he added another trophy in a glorious sequence: in the first half of the 50’s, at a time when there was no Brazilian Championship, he took the Paulista three times, also won the Roberto Gomes Pedrosa Tournament three times, the Rio-São Paulo, and lifted the Little World Cup in Venezuela, toppling Rome and Barcelona.

It was such a remarkable time that it even became music, the song “Gol de Baltazar”, by Alfredo Borba, recorded in the voice of Elza Laranjeira: “Baltazar’s goal, Baltazar’s goal, Cabecinha jumps, 1 to 0 on the scoreboard.” But 1-0 was not the most recurring score on the way to the 1951 trophy, recorded only twice.

To celebrate, the alvinegra team ran over opponents such as Comercial de São Paulo, overcome by 9-2, Jabaquara, defeated by 7-1, and Juventus, who took 7-2 in a journey with five goals from Baltazar. Rival São Paulo was thrashed in both rounds: 4-0 and 4-1. Santos took 4-1 and 4-2. Even Mário, an impressive dribbler who preferred feints to goals, left his mark on the day Radium lost 5-2.

“And on November 17th of that year, an almost unbelievable event happened”, reports Lourenço Diaféria, in the book “Coração Corinthiano” (1992), referring to 1951. “The left winger Mário, who dribbled his own shadow, his first goal at Corinthians! The fans can’t believe what they see. Mário scoring a goal! Delirium in the stands. Mário hated to score goals. ‘My mother doesn’t like it,’ he explained to his teammates…”

According to alvinegro folklore, the player’s mother felt sorry for the beaten goalkeepers. Another legend points out that he deceived a woman in Rio de Janeiro and saw her face taking the space of the beams. Older fans swear they saw shirt 11, with the goal open, retreat to drive the ball and look for more dribbles. I exaggerate, certainly, but the carioca ended his time at the club in the east side of São Paulo with just five balls in the net in 57 participations.

Baltazar, on the other hand, did not have the same compassion for the archers and scored 269 times with the Corinthians shirt, 25 of them in the 1951 Paulista. marchinha “Gol de Baltazar”: “Carbone is the spectacular scorer”.

The 100-goal attack also featured Cláudio, the player who hit the net the most for the Parque São Jorge club (305 boxes), and Luizinho, the devilish Pequeno Polegar. Which did not prevent the overwhelming campaign from also having a hard defeat.

Against Portuguesa, on November 25, 1951, Idário and Carbone (2) scored. However, newcomer goalkeeper Gylmar was leaked time after time in the 7-3 rout. Away, he lost his position to Cabeção, holder of the title, before achieving the prestige that kept him in the team until 1961. and made him recognized as one of the all-time greats in his position.

The failure became a footnote in the biography of the ace and also became a footnote in the trajectory of the exceptional Corinthians of 1951. It was up to Carbone, “the spectacular scorer”, to score the hundredth goal of a team that has a prominent place in black history and White.