Tostão

Tostão (born 25 January 1947) is a former Brazilian football player. He has played for Brazil national team. A complete player, he was a natural left-hander able to fill various roles in an excellent way, from the attacking midfielder to the left midfielder up to the first striker and the second striker. His first-rate individual technique allowed him to jump the man with great ease and to have a very broad vision of the game. Moreover, as evidenced by his 303 career goals between club and national team, he had a great nose for goals. In the green-gold national team he held the role of center forward. He was widely considered as one of the best players in the world. He was named the first South American Footballer of the Year in 1971.
Early life.
Born in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Eduardo Andrade received, like the vast majority of Brazilian footballers, a nickname early into his football career, being dubbed 'Tostão' (little coin). Legend has it that as a six-year-old school boy he netted 47 goals in one game for his primary school football team.
Club career.
Eduardo Gonçalves De Andrade grew up in football in the América Mineiro of Belo Horizonte and, at the age of 14, entered the Cruzeiro youth academy, where he earned the nickname of Tostão (Monetina) due to his small physique, which also became his nickname. After a further year of apprenticeship at América, he returned to Cruzeiro on a permanent basis and made his debut as a first-team center-forward at sixteen. With the Cruzeiro shirt he won five consecutive editions of the Campeonato Mineiro, from 1965 to 1969, resulting in the best scorer for four consecutive editions (from 1965 to 1968), and a Taca Brasil in 1966, in fact the Brazilian national championship of the time, beating Santos di Pelé in both home and away finals. Furthermore, with 249 official goals, Tostão is still the best scorer in Cruzeiro history. In addition, he is the holder of the record for goals (143) scored at the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte, having the best average of goals in the stadium per year: 17,875; followed by Atletico Mineiro center forward, Reinaldo, with 11,692 per year. His move to Vasco da Gama in Rio de Janeiro, in 1972, was one of the most famous of the time and one of the most expensive in Brazilian football. However, Tostão did not have the opportunity to be very useful to his new team: already suffering from a detachment of the retina due to a ball in the face received in 1969 during a meeting with Corinthians, he spent a lot of time for medical consultations until, to safeguard his sight, he decided to retire in 1973 at the age of only 26, after five retinal surgeries.
International career.
In 1966 Tostão was selected to go along to that year's World Cup in England. He was only 19 years old at the time and one of the youngest players in the Brazilian squad. Tostão made his World Cup debut and scored a goal for the Selecão in the match against Hungary, replacing the injured Pelé. Brazil lost the match and Tostão later claimed that it was due to the too old selection. "Of the players who took part in the 1958 and 1962 World Cup, only Pele was fit enough," said the former attacker. "Djalma Santos, Gilmar, Bellini, Orlando and Garrincha were not fit enough for the tournament in England".
After the 1966 FIFA World Cup, preparations began for the next tournament, the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. During the qualifying matches, Tostão was Brazil's great hero. He was a striker who could do anything. He gave assists to others, but also scored many goals himself. Under the new national coach Saldanha, he did not play instead of Pelé, but together with Pelé. It seemed certain that Tostão was going to the World Cup in Mexico, but a match between Corinthians and Cruzeiro almost threw a spanner in the works. A defender of Corinthians, Ditao, shot a ball in the face of the attacker, who could not see for a while after this accident. In the end, it turned out that something was wrong with the retina, an injury that could prevent him from competing in the World Cup. Tostão sent for the best doctor from Belo Horizonte to operate on him, and on October 3, 1969, the whole of Brazil held its breath. Doctor Robert Abdalla Moura operated on Tostao in Houston and said after the operation that he was satisfied with the result. In the months that followed, it had to become clear whether Tostão could come to Mexico. On a Friday in April 1970, he awoke to blood pouring from his eye. It was a few days before he was to make his comeback in a match against Paraguay. His competitor Dario could hope again, as he was Tostão's replacement during this match. He failed to impress, however, as the game ended 0-0 and the new national team manager, Mário Zagallo, knew right away how valuable Tostão was to the squad.
In the end, Tostão recovered from his injury just in time and was able to compete in the tournament. On his appointment as national team manager, Zagallo said Tostao would fill in for Pele, but after missing the striker for a long time, he knew how valuable the "White Pele" was to the squad. Tostão started the tournament as a starting player and scored two goals and provided a number of assists. Brazil won the tournament with arguably the most beautiful football ever played. Italy was defeated 4-1 in the final.
Later life.
After the successful 1970 FIFA World Cup, Tostão played for Cruzeiro for two more years. He then left for Vasco da Gama, where his eye suffered again in his first season. The 1972–73 season was his last season as a professional footballer, he had to retire when he was only 26 years old.
After his career as a football player, he started studying again and became a doctor. Years later, he returned to the football world and became a sports journalist.
International career statistics.
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