Zizinho

Thomaz Soares da Silva, also known as Zizinho, was born on September 14, 1922. He was a Brazilian football player, who played as a striker and a winger for Brazil's national team. Zizinho was born at São Gonçalo, a town in the world famous city of the carnival, e Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was a footballer of great skill and was able to play for several teams, Flamengo, Bangu and São Paulo FC, among others teams. He was the childhood idol of legendary Brazilian football player Pelé. When playing for Flamengo, the team won state championships in three occasions (1942, 1943 and 1944).

In the 1950 World Cup his playing style delighted the fans, and Zizinho was a great asset for Brazil to progress to the final, but their surprise 2-1 defeat to Uruguay tarnished his reputation (and perhaps he would have been remembered just like Pelé). Even though he was not directly blamed for the defeat, but being such a strong figure of that time he became one of its eternal reference points. Zizinho played a total of 53 times for his national team, scoring 30 goals. Zizinho retired in 1962 and he was given a local government job in a calm town over the bay from Rio. On February 7, 2002, Zizinho died of a heart attack by the age of 80.