Telê Santana

Telê Santana da Silva, also known as Telê Santana (July 26, 1931 – April 21, 2006) was a Brazilian football manager and former player (right winger). He was born in Itabirito, Minas Gerais.[1]

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Santana and the second or paternal family name is Silva.

Telê Santana
Telê Santana holding a São Paulo F.C. jersey
Personal information
Full name Telê Santana da Silva
Date of birth (1931-07-26)26 July 1931
Place of birth Itabirito, Brazil
Date of death 21 April 2006(2006-04-21) (aged 74)
Place of death Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Position(s) Winger
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1951–1960 Fluminense 557 (162)
1960–1962 Guarani
1963 Vasco da Gama
Managerial career
1969–1970 Fluminense
1970–1972 Atlético Mineiro
1973 São Paulo
1973–1975 Atlético Mineiro
1976 Botafogo
1976–1978 Grêmio
1979–1980 Palmeiras
1980–1982 Brazil
1983–1985 Al-Ahli
1985–1986 Brazil
1987–1988 Atlético Mineiro
1988–1989 Flamengo
1989 Fluminense
1990 Palmeiras
1990–1996 São Paulo
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Telê was the manager responsible for putting together the 1982 and 1986 Brazil national squads. The 1982 squad in particular is remembered as one of the greatest teams in football history not to win the World Cup. It included players such as Zico, Sócrates, Falcão, Júnior and Toninho Cerezo. He was also a highly successful manager of various club teams, including the legendary 1992 and 1993 São Paulo, and was also very influential with Atlético Mineiro and Fluminense.

Telê is often mentioned by the Brazilian sports press as being one of the most relevant football managers to ever work in the country.[2] His preferred style of play was very offensive-minded, and he believed in training athletes by using relentless repetition of elementary fundamentals of the game, such as passing the ball and set piece training.

Career

First experiences

Telê started playing for Itabirense Esporte Clube, headquartered near his home in Itabirito, and later played for América, from São João del-Rei.

Playing career

Telê played for clubs such as Fluminense, Madureira and Vasco da Gama. He was also a reserve player of the Brazil national football team. As a player, his preferred position was centre forward. However, he started his career as a goalkeeper.

Managerial career

His career as a manager started in 1967, coaching the Fluminense youth squad. Four years later, Telê led Atlético Mineiro to win its first Brazilian championship title. Regarded to have coached two of the best Brazil national squads ever in the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, he failed, however, to win the tournament in both occasions.

Besides the coaching of the Brazil national team, Santana returned to club management in 1988 at Flamengo, but enjoyed his palmiest days with São Paulo between 1990 and 1996. With an outstanding team featuring Zetti, Cafu, Raí, and Leonardo (all of the aforementioned players eventually made it to the national squad in 1994), the side won the Brazilian championship title in 1991, and then the Libertadores Cup in 1992 and 1993, the first time that a Brazilian club had won it in 10 years. In those same two seasons, São Paulo also claimed the world club title in Tokyo, beating first Johan Cruyff's FC Barcelona and then Fabio Capello's A.C. Milan.[3] The memory of this squad is still very much regarded by the fans as one of the most spectacular in São Paulo's history.[4][5]

Legacy

Santana is widely credited for the re-invention of the jogo bonito ("beautiful game" in Portuguese) by the vast majority of the Brazilian press. His full-attack mentality of play was best displayed with the 1982 Brazil national squad who fell 3–2 to Italy in the Second Round of the Cup.[6] Santana was criticized by many for refusing to switch Brazil's forward style of play versus Italy, since Brazil only needed to tie the game to reach the Semifinals due to the original World Cup setup at the time. Some pundits felt that Santana should have placed more emphasis on defence and a counterattack strategy due to circumstances of the match. Regardless of the fact that Santana never led the Brazilian squad to glory, he is still regarded as one of greatest managers and innovators in the history of Brazilian football.[7][8]

With regards to role models, Santana has mentioned in one interview that he had no idols, though: "my greatest satisfaction would be to manage a team such as 1974 Holland. It was a team where you could pick [Johan] Cruyff and place him on the right wing. If I had to put him in the left-wing, he would still play [the same]. I could choose Neeskens, who played both to the right and to the left of the midfield. Thus, everyone played in any position."[9] He said he tried to use a similar tactic strategy in 1992's São Paulo, by using versatile players in different positions according to what was required in a match.

He was once considered by the media the "last romantic of the Brazilian football",[9] and had always been a strong campaigner for the fair play and against violence in the game.[10]

Death

In 1996, he had to retire, after suffering a stroke.[11] He had part of his left leg amputated in 2003 because of ischemia in his left foot. He was operated at Hospital Felício Roxo, in Belo Horizonte.[12]

Santana died on April 21, 2006, due to an abdominal infection.[13] His body was buried at Cemitério Parque da Colina, in Belo Horizonte.[14] His wife Ivonete and their son and daughter survive him.

Managerial statistics
Team Nation From To Record
G W D L F A GD Win %
Fluminense  Brazil 1969 1969 442311106640+2652.27
Atlético Mineiro  Brazil 1970 1972 142764422223110+11353.52
São Paulo  Brazil 1973 1973 226972220+227.27
Atlético Mineiro  Brazil 1973 1975 138763626226119+10755.07
Botafogo  Brazil 1976 1976 2111462917+1252.38
Gremio  Brazil 1976 1978 13079312024986+16360.77
Palmeiras  Brazil 1979 1980 5630151110551+5453.57
Brazil  Brazil 2 April 1980 5 July 1982 3829637425+4976.32
Al-Ahli  Saudi Arabia 1983 1985 52321467429+4561.54
Brazil  Brazil 2 June 1985 21 June 1986 1711424512+3364.71
Atlético Mineiro  Brazil 1987 1988 8145251112653+7355.56
Flamengo  Brazil 1988 1989 623715107439+4564.71
Fluminense  Brazil 1989 1989 2896132435-1132.14
Palmeiras  Brazil 1990 1990 472212135431+2346.81
São Paulo  Brazil 1990 1996 39119111486603375+22848.85
Total 1,2696773462461,9941,042+95253.35
As of 11 July 2023

Honours

As a Player
Club

As a Manager
Club
Individual

Notes
  1. "El pacto que sellaron Telé Santana y Cruyff hace 25 años". December 12, 2017.
  2. Telê Santana escolhe as suas 12 feras Archived July 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Placar.
  3. "Telê Santana". Telegraph.co.uk. April 29, 2006. Retrieved June 21, 2010.
  4. "Toyota cups 1992 and 1993". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2007. Retrieved June 21, 2010.
  5. "Telê". SaoPauloFC.net. Retrieved June 21, 2010.
  6. "Murió Telê Santana artífice del Juego Bonito brasileño" (in Spanish). El Universal. April 22, 2006. Retrieved August 22, 2006.
  7. "Telê gosta de atacar" (in Portuguese). Camisa 12. Archived from the original on October 8, 2007. Retrieved August 22, 2006.
  8. "Tim Vickery column". BBC Sport. April 24, 2006. Retrieved June 22, 2010.
  9. "Memória Roda Viva (video clip and full written interview to TV Cultura)" (in Portuguese). Fapesp. June 22, 1992. Retrieved June 21, 2010.
  10. "Early Day Motion". Parliament. May 9, 2006. Retrieved June 21, 2010.
  11. "Brazil mourn passing of Santana". BBC Sport. April 22, 2006. Retrieved June 21, 2010.
  12. "Telê Santana tem parte de perna amputada" (in Portuguese). Revista Época. December 22, 2003. Retrieved August 22, 2006.
  13. "Morre em Belo Horizonte o ex-técnico da seleção Telê Santana" (in Portuguese). Folha Online. April 21, 2006. Retrieved August 22, 2006.
  14. "Telê será enterrado na manhã deste sábado" (in Portuguese). Estado.com.br. April 21, 2006. Archived from the original on May 15, 2006. Retrieved August 22, 2006.

References
  • Enciclopédia do Futebol Brasileiro, Volume 2 – Lance, Rio de Janeiro: Aretê Editorial S/A, 2001.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.