Carlos Alberto Torres

Carlos Alberto Torres

Carlos Alberto in 2011.
Personal information
Full name	Carlos Alberto Torres
Date of birth	(1944-07-17)July 17, 1944
Place of birth	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Date of death	October 25, 2016(2016-10-25) (aged 72)
Place of death	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Right back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1963–1966	Fluminense	98	(9)
1966–1974	Santos	445	(40)
1974–1977	Fluminense	53	(4)
1977	Flamengo	28	(3)
1977–1980	New York Cosmos	80	(6)
1981	California Surf	19	(2)
1982	New York Cosmos	20	(0)
Total		743	(64)
National team
1964–1977	Brazil	53	(8)
Teams managed
1983–1985	Flamengo
1985–1986	Corinthians
1987–1988	Náutico
1988	Miami Sharks
1989–1990	Once Caldas
1991–1992	Monterrey
1992	Tijuana
1993–1997	Botafogo
1994	Fluminense
1998	Atlético Mineiro
1998–1999	Querétaro
2000–2001	Unión Magdalena
2000–2001	Oman
2001–2002	Flamengo
2002	Botafogo
2004–2005	Paysandu
2005	Azerbaijan
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Carlos Alberto "Capita" Torres (July 17, 1944 – October 25, 2016), also known as "O Capitão do Tri", was a Brazilian footballer. He was widely regarded as one of the best defenders of all time. He captained the Brazil national team to victory in the 1970 World Cup, scoring the fourth goal in the final, considered one of the greatest goals in the history of the tournament.^[1]

Carlos Alberto was a member of the World Team of the 20th Century, and in 2004 was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.^[2] He was an inductee to the Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame, and was a member of the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame.

In January 2013, Carlos Alberto was named one of the six Ambassadors of 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, others being Ronaldo, Bebeto, Mário Zagallo, Amarildo and Marta.

Personal life

Carlos Alberto was born in Rio de Janeiro. His son is fellow player Carlos Alexandre Torres.

Club career

Brazil

Carlos Alberto joined Fluminense at the age of 19. He made a name for himself in his first season, not only because of his great tackling and reading of the game, but also for his outstanding ball control, dribbling and playmaking abilities, which were quite rare at the time for a defender. In 1966, he moved to Santos, where he became Pelé's teammate. In 1974, he returned to Fluminense and helped the team capture two consecutive Campeonato Carioca championships. In 1977, he moved to Fluminense's arch-rivals Flamengo.

NASL

In 1977, despite his success in Brazil, Carlos Alberto Torres decided to move to the New York Cosmos. He arrived on the day of the New York City blackout where he was reunited with his friend and partner Pelé and helped the Cosmos capture two consecutive NASL titles in 1977 and 1978. After spending one year with the California Surf, he returned to the Cosmos in 1982 where he won his third NASL title. He played his farewell game on 28 September 1982 in an exhibition match between the Cosmos and his former club Flamengo. In 119 regular season games and 26 playoff games, Carlos scored a total of 8 goals and was an NASL All-Star five times.

International career

From 1964 to 1977, Carlos Alberto was capped 53 times and scored 8 goals. He was included in the 44-man training squad for the 1966 FIFA World Cup but did not make the final 22. As it turned out, Brazil were knocked out at the Group stage in England, and when João Saldanha was tasked with restoring pride and passion to the seleção, he recognised the leadership ability that Carlos Alberto was consistently demonstrating at Santos, and made him national captain. Thus, Carlos Alberto is remembered holding aloft the Jules Rimet trophy after Brazil secured the cup for good after an impressive victory over Italy in the final of the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. That squad also included Clodoaldo, Gérson, Jairzinho, Roberto Rivelino, Tostão and Pelé. Carlos Alberto's goal against Italy in the final is considered one of the best goals ever scored in the tournament.^[1] In 2002 the UK public voted the goal No. 36 in the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.^[3] 1970 would prove to be the only time he would play at that level. He was unable to participate in the 1974 World Cup due to a persistent knee injury. When he eventually regained match fitness, his speed had been compromised. However, his ability to read the game compensated for his loss of pace and when he moved to centre back, he found the form to warrant a recall to the national team. In 1977, he was selected by Claudio Coutinho to captain the national team for the first three qualifiers for the 1978 World Cup. He acquitted himself well despite those being the first competitive internationals he had played for almost seven years. He was approaching 33 years of age and retired from international football, immediately prior to joining New York Cosmos in the NASL. Today he is widely considered one of the finest Brazilian footballers of all time.^[2]

Coaching career

His career as a football manager started in 1983, when he managed Flamengo. He also managed several other clubs, like Corinthians in 1985 and 1986; Náutico in 1986, 1987 and 1988; Once Caldas on 1989, 1990; Monterrey in 1991, 1992; Club Tijuana in 1992; Fluminense in 1994 and 1995; Botafogo in 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2003; Querétaro F.C. in 1999; Unión Magdalena in 2000, 2001; and Paysandu in 2005.

He was also an assistant manager for national teams such as the Nigeria national football team and the Oman national football team. On 14 February 2004 he was appointed manager of the Azerbaijan national football team. He resigned on 4 June 2005 after losing a match against Poland, during which he assaulted the technical referee and ran on the pitch suggesting the referee was bribed.

Death

Torres died in Rio de Janeiro on October 25, 2016 due to a sudden heart attack.^[4] He was a sports commentator at a Brazilian channel SporTV, having appeared live on studio only two days before his death, which occurred exactly one month after his twin brother passed away.^[5][6]

Career statistics

^[7]

Club performance			League
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals
Brazil			League
1971	Santos	Série A	2	0
1972			20	2
1973			28	6
1974	Fluminense	Série A	16	1
1975			18	0
1976			19	3
1977	Flamengo	Série A	0	0
United States			League
1977	Cosmos	NASL	4	0
1978			25	2
1979	New York Cosmos	NASL	28	2
1980			23	2
1981	California Surf	NASL	19	2
1982	New York Cosmos	NASL	20	0
Country	Brazil		103	12
	United States		119	8
Total			222	20

Brazil national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1964	3	0
1965	1	0
1966	3	0
1967	0	0
1968	18	5
1969	9	0
1970	14	2
1971	0	0
1972	1	1
1973	0	0
1974	0	0
1975	0	0
1976	1	0
1977	3	0
Total	53	8

Playing honours

Fluminense

• Campeonato Carioca: 1964, 1975, 1976
• Taça Guanabara: 1966, 1975

Santos

• Recopa Sul-Americana: 1968
• Taça de Prata: 1968
• Paulista Championship: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1973

New York Cosmos

• NASL Soccer Bowl Championships: 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982
• Eastern Division, National Conference: 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982
• Trans-Atlantic Cup Championships: 1980

Brazil

• FIFA World Cup: 1970

Individual

• FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1970
• World Team of the 20th Century: 1998
• National Soccer Hall of Fame: 2003
• FIFA 100: 2004
• The Best of The Best – Player of the Century: Top 50^[8]
• Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carlos Alberto Torres.

• Sambafoot
• Carlos Alberto Torres – FIFA competition record
• nasljerseys.com NASL statistics for Carlos Alberto Torres at nasljersey.com