[Archived] Eusebio RIP

[Stuart]

http://asia.eurosport.com/football/european-football/2013/eusebio-passes-away-aged-71_sto4074534/story.shtml

A sad day for football.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Too young to see him play but my dad said he was the one of the all time greats.

RIP

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I was lucky enough to see him play in the 1966 World Cup. Tremendous player second only to Pele at the time. I can't remember a player who could consistently hit the ball as hard. Who can forgot his 4 goal performance against North Korea.

[philduck]

Fantastic player---I named my pet cat (Pele Eusebio) after watching the '66 world cup---RIP

[dave birch]

TS, that game was at Goodison, if I remember.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't NK score first, and Eusebio played the house down to win it.

[Audax]

In my thoughts Eusebio.

http://www.marca.com/2014/01/05/futbol/futbol_internacional/1388911322.html

Marca says he was called "Pantera Negra" (Black Panther) but I've only heard him ever called Eusebio.

The "Black Pearl" in this article: http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2010/06/02/top-10-world-cup-games/slide/6-portugal-5-3-north-korea-1966/

[Tom]

One of the greats RIP

[AggyBlue]

RIP

Saw him in the European Cup Final in '68, not one of his better games.

Very much like Pele in that he was a modest man.

[glen9mullan]

The word legend is banded around so easily these days , but this mans achievements will forever cement his status as a true legend , a sad loss to football RIP

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

TS, that game was at Goodison, if I remember.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't NK score first, and Eusebio played the house down to win it.

Yeah, North Korea were 3-0 up in no time at all. The Portuguese didn't know what had hit them. Then Eusebio took over and more or less beat them on his own. One of the most impressive performances by an individual player I've ever seen.

I never forgave him for blowing that chance to beat the red rats in the European Cup Final. With the score at 1-1 and about 5 minutes to go he was clean through with only the goalkeeper to beat. He was a bit over confident and went for power from a fair way out when all he had to do was take the ball in and place his shot. His shot hit the goalie and put him on his arse but the chance was gone, United ran away with it in extra time.

[RevidgeBlue]

RIP

Saw him in the European Cup Final in '68, not one of his better games.

Very much like Pele in that he was a modest man.

Indeed, I was going to post the same about his personal attributes which seems to be a trait of sportsmen of all sports across that era.

Eusebio/Pele/Muhammad Ali/the likes of Palmer/Player/Nicklaus in golf great men as well as sportsmen all. The likes of Maradona and Tiger Woods, wonderfully talented but the less ssid the better imo.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Didn't his goalscoring record at Benfica work out at roughly a goal per game?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

It was a different world then. Anybody who had the pleasure of meeting Ronnie Clayton, Bryan Douglas, Tom Finney, Jimmy Mac etc would tell you that. I remember Dave Whelan telling the story of how he came up against Tom Finney in a pre-season friendly when Whelan was just coming back from a badly broken leg. Finney never took him on all the game and at the final whistle Whelan asked him why ? Finney said , " I thought you needed a lift up ". Most modern day players make me sick.

[K-Hod]

Saw a load of footage of him, and remember my Dad saying he was a cracking player, amd telling me all these stories.

R.I.P

[jim mk2]

"Greats" and "legends" are overused words these days but they apply in the case of Eusebio. He was a fantastic player, one of the very best, and was also a gentleman off the field. Different people, a different time, and the world is a worse place for their passing.

[RevidgeBlue]

It was a different world then. Anybody who had the pleasure of meeting Ronnie Clayton, Bryan Douglas, Tom Finney, Jimmy Mac etc would tell you that. I remember Dave Whelan telling the story of how he came up against Tom Finney in a pre-season friendly when Whelan was just coming back from a badly broken leg. Finney never took him on all the game and at the final whistle Whelan asked him why ? Finney said , " I thought you needed a lift up ". Most modern day players make me sick.

Absobloodylutely a few years ago me and the better half booked a ground tour with Ronnie Clayton. He'd come in specially to do them and I thought we'd have to wait a while until they got a decent sized party together. Anyhow we got a call back more or less immediately and we turned up the following day to find it was just us and him! Imagine that Ronnie Clayton coming in specially just to show us roumd the ground!

Unfortunately his faculties had started to fail slightly by then but he wss obviously doing it because he loved it so much and enjoyed telling his stories so much. God bless him.

Different class.

[thenodrog]

Too young to see him play but my dad said he was the one of the all time greats.

RIP

He was. And a gentleman to boot.

[Ianrally]

"Greats" and "legends" are overused words these days but they apply in the case of Eusebio. He was a fantastic player, one of the very best, and was also a gentleman off the field. Different people, a different time, and the world is a worse place for their passing.

I couldn't agree more Jim.

As an aside to an earlier post, I always thought Pele was "the black pearl" and Eusebio "the black panther".

Both legends and both gentlemen on and off the field.

In this day and age you probably couldn't refer to any footballer as "the black whatever"

RIP Back Panther. 733 goals in 745 matches. That's Greatness.