When we look at the history of football, one nation stands out above every other. Brazil have won the World Cup five times, a record, and have produced not just some of the best players of all time, but arguably the greatest of them all. But they are more than just a successful side; they have defined the sport in the imaginations of generations of children across the globe. O Jogo Bonito – the beautiful game – the phrase that most emphatically defines football, was popularised by Pelé himself. When people think of the way the game should be played, they think of Brazil. So it may be surprising to learn that this journey began, just over one hundred years ago, in Devon. And it wasn’t supposed to happen at all.
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Brazil’s Little Bird
Manuel Francisco dos Santos is one of the greatest players to have ever put on the yellow shirt of Brazil, and yet he should never have been a footballer. He was born in 1933 with a deformed spine and one leg a full 6cm shorter than the other. He had crooked knees, with one bending inward and the other out. And, at a time when football was much more physical, he was small, leading his sister to give him the nickname that would stick for the rest of his life; Garrincha, or Little Bird. Despite his disadvantages, he showed immense talent at an early age, but worryingly for Brazilian football, little inclination to enter the sport professionally.
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