Marcos Tadeu Alonso, 64, remembers watching Sir Alex Ferguson’s last game as Manchester United manager at Old Trafford on television. Players from both teams stood in line to applaud him, the crowd formed a mosaic and the stadium sound system played “The Impossible Dream”, composed for the Broadway musical Man of la Mancha. The year was 2013.
“I thought the tribute was beautiful. Then I heard the broadcast say that Ferguson had won 38 titles in 30 years [27, na verdade]. My father won 38 titles in 12 years at Santos. If you ask today’s kids, nobody knows who Lula was, I’m sure,” he says.
Marcos is the son of Luis Alonso Perez, the most important coach in the history of the Vila Belmiro club and one of the most successful Brazilian footballers of all time. This Tuesday (22), he would have turned 100 years old.
Santos paid tribute to him before the classic against São Paulo, this Sunday (20). The coach’s son was grateful but unimpressed.
“It took 50 years, but it came [a homenagem]”, he added.
Marcos Tadeu’s somewhat bitter opinion matches the title of the biography “Lula, o Campeão Esquecido”, in pre-sale by Editora Corner (R$ 59), to be launched in the coming months.
To tell the story of the coach who led Santos between 1954 and 1966, journalist Fernando Campos Ribeiro had one main concern: to demystify the image that still exists of Lula in football. That the team was so good, but so good, that he threw the shirts in the air and whoever picked them up played.
“They think Pele’s Santos lasted from 1956 to 1974. In fact, Pele’s Santos were different. Lula created several teams. He takes a team in which Álvaro was the centre-forward and makes him switch positions with Del Vecchio. comes Pagão. Sells Pagão, has Coutinho. Lula knew when to put the young man in. He had the team in his hand. The players respected and understood him”, explains the author.
Writing the coach’s biography was, many times, fighting the myth. Another legend is that Captain Zito was in charge. Or that Lula didn’t understand football because he used expressions like “you four will form a triangle in attack.”
“He might have had some difficulty expressing himself, but he had unparalleled life experience. He could make the top 11 play without making those who stayed out angry. When Pepe came in, Tite was the starter on the left. He passed him to the right. and there were no complaints”, says Fernando.
“Zito was a great leader on and off the field. He had the upper hand over his teammates and even helped some to renew their contracts. But Lula understood what Zito represented and gave him space to do that. If he were another coach, he would be jealous “, complete.
In Santos’ 12 years, he won two World Cups and two Libertadores (1962 and 1963), five Brazilian championships (from 1961 to 1965) and eight from São Paulo (1955, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964 and 1965), among other titles.
His departure was caused by a bad campaign (by the club’s standards at the time) in 1966. The team lost the state championship to Palmeiras and was runner-up in the Brazil Cup after being defeated by Cruzeiro. One of the hurts that stayed with him until his death was that some players asked him to leave a meeting.
Lula went to head Corinthians and broke the taboo he helped build for Santos. He was the coach of the Parque São Jorge team when the 11-year spell of no wins over the rival in the Campeonato Paulista ended in 1968.
“In Brazilian football, only marketers and jabazeiros stand out. My father loved Santos. He wanted to build Santos. He was a simple person and didn’t drool over anyone’s eggs. From the way they say, it seems that Santos had no coach at that time So, the realization of this book is a dream of mine”, completes Marcos Tadeu.
The work also focuses on the golden period of the Baixada Santista floodplain, in the 1940s, when Lula won so much that he was sought after by professional teams. It also tells how he created the formula of fielding a youth team, but mixed with some experienced pieces in key positions.
It was like that in 1956, when Santos won the São Paulo championship after Lula took midfielder Jair Rosa Pinto to the club, who, at 36, was considered old.
“This business of Meninos da Vila, which would have started with Formiga (state champion coach in 1978), for example. He learned from my father, who was already doing that. Formiga was trained by my father”, completes the son of legendary technician.
Lula died in 1972, aged 50, from complications after undergoing a kidney transplant. For the family, her health started to deteriorate when she left Santos. His dream of returning to the club never came true.
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