When Brazil lost, disappointed fans at home carried coffins through the streets. They were not only burying the World Cup title, but also the aura of footballing glory that had surrounded their team since their triumph in 1970. After their defeat against the new bearers of this aura, the Netherlands, the German-born President Ernesto Geisel cancelled the planned reception for the “Seleção”.
And the only one who still exudes something like magic is retiring – Mario Américo, the masseur who was much more than that, and in the end perhaps even the most famous member of the Brazilian delegation. With his boxer’s figure, bald head and his two constant companions – a plastic bucket and leather belt with the usual miracle cures – he was part of the world football inventory for decades.
He is in all the team photos before the Seleção’s big games, next to all the stars, always crouched at the front left, sometimes with a bucket, sometimes without. His seventh and last World Cup was the “busiest”, as he later said, because of the German cold, which made his muscles tight and vulnerable.
The evil forces are chased away
He always had something of a medicine man about him; someone who not only kneaded muscles and stirred potions, but also cared for souls. In addition to sprains and bruises, he also drove away evil forces. In the match against Zaire, the former boxer shouldered the injured Leivinha in his typical manner like a sack of cement and looked so angry that the Congolese preferred to look away.
Masseur Mario Americo is present in all team photos, always crouched in the front left.picture-alliance / dpa
His motto: “You have to talk to the injury, it’s ninety percent psychology.” But Américo didn’t just talk to the injury. The players called him “pombo-correio”, the carrier pigeon. When the coach had a message, he would give a signal, a player would fall, the masseur would rush over, rub the pain away with a sponge, and talk to the poor guy, who would then recover quickly. And now he knew exactly what the coach wanted.
So Américo kneaded and talked Brazil into winning three world championships. The Coupe Jules Rimet, which they were allowed to keep afterwards, was stolen and probably melted down. But they still have another trophy, one that they owe solely to Américo. After the final whistle against Sweden in 1958, Brazil’s first World Cup victory, he ran onto the field, snatched the match ball from referee Maurice Guigué, darted into the dressing room, came back out and – it was only a joke – gave the ball back laughing. Or rather a deceptively similar copy. Pelé & Co. brought home the trophy. But only Américo took the ball.
