Ademir might be a forgotten hero right now, but very few
could match his ferocity and goal-scoring mojo even today. He was a predator in
the true sense of the word
Vasco da Gama Football Club of Brazil was regarded as one of
the more racially diverse clubs. In the past, football in Brazil was the sport
of elites and Vasco’s diversity did not sit well with them. They were
pressurized by the elites to ban some players, but Vasco did not care. Big
clubs like Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo along with others created the
Metropolitan Athletic Association and denied entry to Vasco.
The former President of Vasco, José Augusto Prestes, decided
to respond to such ignorance with a letter that became known as the “Resposta
histórica”, which revolutionised the practice of sports in Brazil. Gradually,
the barriers of racism fell from Brazil’s sporting culture and Vasco started to
bloom as the institution became one of the most forward-thinking clubs in the
40s and 50s.
With a mixture of players from all areas of society, Vasco
became the team to watch for more than a decade. Between 1947 and 1952, the
club was nicknamed Expresso da Vitória, as Vasco won several competitions in that
period, such as the Rio de Janeiro championship in 1945, 1947, 1949, 1950, and
1952, and the South American Club Championship in 1948. And such success hugely
depended on a player who is regarded as one of the deadliest centre-forwards in
the history of Brazil football.
His name was Ademir Marques de Menezes, who was popularly
known as “Queixada” which means “Jaw” due to his prominent underbite.
***
Recife is the fourth largest city in Brazil and the centre
of love, music, festival and joy. It also gave birth to Ademir.
The people of Recife love the Boa Viagem beach but the deep
blue sea is also the place for predators like sharks. If the tropical waters of
Recife can shower love, they can lead to shedding tears as well. Beauty and the
Beast live together in Recife’s tropical waters.
Someone like Ademir could also be this way when it mattered.
When he played football, his silky skills were a treat to watch, but the way he
destroyed the opposition, it was similar to a shark hunting its prey. The
beauty and the beast part of Ademir had been always evident on the pitch – the
fans loved it. And alongside, the legendary Zizinho, Ademir was regarded as a
legend in those days, when Brazilian football was making an impact globally.
***
Born on November 8, 1922, Ademir was supposed to become a
doctor. But he flirted with his professional career in medicine and chose to
become a footballer. In 1941, while playing for a regional sports club, he
scored an astonishing 11 goals to inspire them to victory and then in 1942, he
would lead his regional club to a win against Vasco da Gama. Vasco did not
waste time in recruiting him and since then the love affair of Vasco and Ademir
began.
By 1945, he was the vital cog in Vasco da Gama’s fabled
five-pronged attack comprising Djalma, Lele, Ademir, Jair and Chico. In 421
official matches for Vasco, he found the back of the net 301 times and won
titles regularly to raise Vasco’s reputation to the top.
For Vasco, Ademir was their prince and no one could
overshadow the impact he had on them.
As Fifa’s Official website says, “Such was Ademir’s
popularity that an inhabitant of Recife made the long trip to Boa Vista, where
the Seleção were based, to ask coach Flavio Costa to allow Ademir to attend the
delicate surgical operation due to be undergone by his son, who was refusing to
go under the knife without the presence of his idol. After Flavio Costa gave
him the green light, Ademir accompanied the adolescent into the operating
theatre and then awaited the surgeon’s reassuring diagnosis before returning to
the national team camp”.
***
Attack, attack and attack – this has been the mantra of
Brazilian football. They gave the planet the unique Samba style of play, which
led the world fall in love with their football. It is said, Leonidas had been
the starter of such an attacking and stylish brand of football and in the late
40s and early 50s, Zizinho, Jair, Chico and Ademir carried on the legacy of
Leonidas.
Ademir was thin, lanky and strong. He had dark, fastidiously
slicked-back hair, and a pencil-thin moustache. His eyes possessed a stare
which could put the devil to rest and the angels of hell would certainly feel a
bone-chilling sensation in their spines. His gigantic presence was enough to
give a psychological blow to the opposition and then after killing them softy
even before the game had started, he would leave them stunned with his
mesmerizing displays on the pitch.
“Ademir, in his era, was the greatest player in the world,”
stated Evaristo de Macedo, who faced off against Ademir in the colours of
Flamengo before going on to represent Barcelona and Real Madrid. “When he shot
on goal, he didn’t fail.”
Ademir was a two-footed centre-forward. He could hit the
ball powerfully from the tightest of angles and the most special thing about
him was his ability to appear from nowhere and find any hole in the opposition
defence. If he noticed the ball being passed into a space, he would run like a
hare to meet it. Such was his effect that it forced opposition teams to switch
to a back four rather than a back three.
***
By the virtue of imagination and the poise he exhibited,
Ademir was to build a lethal combination with Zizinho, Maneca, Jair and Chico
during the 1950 World Cup. Ademir and Zizinho would inspire Brazil to clear the
hurdle of the group stages, but in the second round, Ademir would unleash the
beast and beauty in him.
The Spanish and Swedish teams planned to mark him, but
Ademir paid them no attention as his spaghetti-legs left them clueless as soon
as he received the ball. At times, the Spanish and Swedish defenders crowded around
him like Jose Mourinho’s Inter did against Lionel Messi in the 2010 Champions
League final. Messi was halted, but not Ademir.
His great vision allowed him to receive balls and start a diagonal run like Eden Hazard from both flanks and score. If he noticed
players standing in front of him to spoil his plans, Ademir would shoot to the
utter astonishment of the defenders.
According to Jair, his teammate in 1950 World Cup, “He would
appear in midfield and out wide, and his incredible speed made him impossible
to mark. And he could score in so many different ways. He was one of the
greatest players Brazil has ever seen.”
In front of 160,000
spectators at Maracana on July 9, 1950, Brazil handed out a 7-1 thrashing to
Sweden. Ademir scored four times “before maintaining his dazzling scoring form
with a further double in a 6-1 rout of Spain four days later to bring his
running total to nine”.
With Ademir in such a goal-scoring mojo and the likes of
Zizinho and co in such a magnificent form, no-one in Brazil had the slightest
of doubts about Brazil claiming the World Cup for the first time.
In the decisive match against Uruguay, Ademir would set
Friaca free to net the opener, but Varela and his teammates would successfully
halt the predator from Recife. Either they would stop the ball from reaching
Ademir or target his feet, so that he was not able to move forward with the
ball. Ademir cut a frustrating figure and witnessed Uruguay celebrating in
front of a silent Maracana.
***
That defeat in Maracana in 1950 was devastating to Ademir.
What was supposed to be an absolute swan-song in a career, which had been full
of jaw-dropping displays and goals, was overshadowed by depression. The level
of depression was such, it made Brazilians forget about the heroes of 1950.
Brazil bounced back in Sweden eight years later and the emergence of Pele, Vava,
Garrincha, Romario and Ronaldo O Fenomeno has led all of us to forget Ademir,
who was the deadliest centre-forward in the history of Brazil.
Ademir may be forgotten and may not make the podium in the
pantheons of Brazilian immortals, but at Vasco, he is still the hero whom they
needed to outshine the elites of those days. Vasco were blessed to have the
likes of Bellini, Vava, Romario and Roberto Dinamite, but even those players
would not step back from accepting the fact that Ademir was the greatest of
all.
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
