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Roberto
Rivelino
(Brazil)
Born
in Sao Paulo, Roberto Rivelino made his name famous
world wide with his viscous cannon-like free-kicks,
long range shooting and dribbling skills. One
particularly famous move of his, called the elastic
dribble, is still imitated today. It consists of
running your foot over the top of the ball, making it
appear before going in another direction. He scored
many times with this move often leaving his opponents
open-mouthed and wrong footed in his wake.
Rivelino was 24 at the
time of the World Cup in Mexico. The Brazilian winning
team of 1970 is regarded by many as the best
soccerteam ever and it displayed some of the finest
soccer ever seen with Rivelino as one of the best
players. He scored three great goals including a
trademark thunderous free-kick against Czechoslovakia
in their first match. Four years later in West
Germany, the Brazilians lacked the flair of 1970, and
failed to shine thus had to settle for fourth place.
Rivelino was one of few Brazilians to play up to the
required level. In 1978, he was kept on the bench for
most of the time. Young players like Zico waited in
line to take over from the man with the moustache.
Rivelino was approaching the end of his great career,
but showed in a few flashes what he was capable of
doing. He was instrumental when Brazil came from
behind to beat Italy in the bronzematch.
Rivelino was one of the
greatest offensive midfielders in the world in his
prime and spent most of his career in Corinthians.
However, despite staying there for ten seasons,
Rivelino failed to win the domestic Sao Paulo
championship. His fans appreciated his loyalty and
nicknamed him Reizinho do Parque (Little King of the
Park). He had a three year spell with Fluminense
before going to El Helal in Saudi Arabia towards the
end to make some extra money. He retired in 1981 and
is today a respected TV commentator in Brazil.
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