Tostão

This is a Portuguese name; the first family name is Gonçalves and the second is de Andrade.

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.

Tostão
Tostão (Eduardo Gonçalves de Andrade, 1970).jpg
Tostão in 1970
Personal information
Full nameEduardo Gonçalves de Andrade
Date of birth (1947-01-25) 25 January 1947 (age 77)
Place of birthBelo Horizonte, Brazil
Height1.72 m (5 ft 7+12 in)
Playing positionForward / Attacking midfielder
Youth career
1961–1962Cruzeiro
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1962–1963América Mineiro26(16)
1963–1972Cruzeiro378(249)
1972–1973Vasco da Gama45(6)
Total449(271)
National team
1966–1972[1]Brazil54(32)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

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

[2]

Brazil national team
YearAppsGoals
1966 7 6
1967 3 0
1968 15 8
1969 9 12
1970 9 3
1971 6 2
1972 5 1
Total 54 32

International goals

No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Ref.
1. 5 June 1966 Mineirão, Belo Horizonte, Brazil   Poland 2–1 4–1 Friendly [3]
2. 3–1
3. 8 June 1966 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil   Peru 2–0 3–1 Friendly [3]
4. 30 June 1966 Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden   Sweden 1–0 3–2 Friendly [3]
5. 3–1
6. 15 July 1966 Goodison Park, Liverpool, England   Hungary 1–1 1–3 1966 FIFA World Cup [3]
7. 9 June 1968 Pacaembu Stadium, São Paulo, Brazil   Uruguay 1–0 2–0 1968 Copa Río Branco [4]
8. 16 June 1968 Neckarstadion, Stuttgart, West Germany   West Germany 1–2 1–2 Friendly [4]
9. 20 June 1968 10th-Anniversary Stadium, Warsaw, Poland   Poland 3–2 6–3 Friendly [4]
10. 4–2
11. 25 June 1968 JNA Stadion, Belgrade, Yugoslavia   Yugoslavia 2–0 2–0 Friendly [4]
12. 30 June 1968 Estádio da Machava, Lourenço Marques, Mozambique   Portugal 2–0 2–0 Friendly [4]
13. 17 July 1968 Estadio Nacional de Lima, Lima, Peru   Peru 3–0 4–0 Friendly [4]
14. 6 November 1968 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil FIFA XI 3–0 4–0 Friendly [4][a]
15. 9 April 1969 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil   Peru 2–1 2–1 Friendly [5]
16. 12 June 1969 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil   England 1–1 2–1 Friendly [5]
17. 6 August 1969 Estadio El Campín, Bogotá, Colombia   Colombia 1–0 2–0 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification [5]
18. 2–0
19. 10 August 1969 Estadio Olímpico, Caracas, Venezuela   Venezuela 1–0 6–0 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification [5]
20. 3–0
21. 4–0
22. 21 August 1969 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil   Colombia 1–0 6–2 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification [5]
23. 2–1
24. 24 August 1969 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil   Venezuela 1–0 6–0 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification [5]
25. 2–0
26. 3–0
27. 14 June 1970 Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico   Peru 2–0 4–2 1970 FIFA World Cup [5]
28. 3–1
29. 30 September 1970 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil   Mexico 2–0 2–1 Friendly [5]
30. 14 July 1971 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil   Czechoslovakia 1–0 1–0 Friendly [6]
31. 31 July 1971 Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina   Argentina 1–1 2–2 1971 Roca Cup [6]
32. 26 April 1972 Estádio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre, Brazil   Paraguay 2–0 3–2 Friendly [6]
  1. This match celebrated the 10th anniversary of Brazil's 1958 FIFA World Cup victory. In 2001, FIFA decided not to count matches involving its representative team as senior internationals, but the Brazilian Federation continues to recognise it as official.[4]

Honours

Club

Cruzeiro

International

Brazil

Individual

References

  1. Tostão – Goals in International Matches. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/tostao-intlg.html. 
  2. "Eduardo Gonçalves de Andrade - "Tostão" - Goals in International Matches". www.rsssf.com.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Leme de Arruda, Marcelo; do Nascimento Pereira, André (15 January 2017). "Seleção Brasileira (Brazilian National Team) 1964–1966". RSSSF and RSSSF Brazil. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Leme de Arruda, Marcelo; do Nascimento Pereira, André (3 March 2017). "Seleção Brasileira (Brazilian National Team) 1967–1968". RSSSF and RSSSF Brazil. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Leme de Arruda, Marcelo; do Nascimento Pereira, André (3 March 2017). "Seleção Brasileira (Brazilian National Team) 1969–1970". RSSSF and RSSSF Brazil. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Leme de Arruda, Marcelo; do Nascimento Pereira, André (3 March 2017). "Seleção Brasileira (Brazilian National Team) 1971–1973". RSSSF and RSSSF Brazil. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Tostao the visionary". FIFA. Archived from the original on November 25, 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  8. Bola de Prata Placar 1970 Archived 2015-10-09 at the Wayback Machine
  9. 9.0 9.1 IFFHS' Century Elections
  10. World Soccer: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time Retrieved on 28 November 2015