الرئيسية
By Tatiana Ramil, Reuters
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's 1982 World Cup captain
Socrates, the "Golden Heel" renowned as one of the great playmakers of
his generation, died in hospital Sunday of septic shock at the age of
57, his doctors said in a statement.
A smoker and drinker even in
his playing days, Socrates had been on a life support system in Sao
Paulo's Albert Einstein Israeli Hospital since Thursday when he was
admitted suffering from food poisoning.
"The (hospital) announces
with profound sadness the death of ex-player Socrates Brasileiro
Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira at 0430 (local time) as a result of
septic shock," the statement said.
It was signed by doctors
Fernando Luis Pandullo and Ben-Hur Ferraz Neto and the director of
medical practice Oscar Fernando Pavao dos Santos.
Socrates, who
had a degree in medicine himself and was known at the height of his fame
as 'Dr Socrates', had been taken to hospital three times since August,
when he spent nine days there due to a digestive haemorrhage caused by
excessive drinking.
The former attacking midfielder, who played
for Brazil at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, spent 17 days in the
hospital in September with liver trouble and had been recommended for a
transplant.
BIG SKINNY
Born on February 19, 1954 in Belem,
a northern city on the banks of the Amazon river, Socrates started out
at Botafogo-Ribeirao Preto where he became their top player despite also
studying at the local university.
He joined Sao Paulo club Corinthians in 1978 and stayed for six years.
Bearded,
thin and popularly known as 'Magrao', or the Big Skinny One, Socrates
was part of a golden Brazilian generation that included midfielder Zico,
Junior, Falcao and Eder.
The brilliant Brazil side of 1982 was
regarded as one of the best never to win the World Cup title after they
were upset by eventual champions Italy in the second group phase of the
tournament in Spain.
An astute passer and reader of the game, he
earned his nickname of 'The Golden Heel' with a uniquely nonchalant
playing style, using the backheel to telling effect and scoring
memorable goals with both feet.
His languid penalty-taking style,
eschewing the traditional run-up to merely step up to the ball and lift
it into the net, backfired at the 1986 World Cup where Brazil lost to
France in the quarter-finals on penalties after one of his lazy efforts
was saved.
Winner of 60 caps with Brazil, Socrates scored 21 goals and was also known for strong views on both football and politics.
At
Corinthians, during a time of military government, he was a leading
figure in the Democracia Corinthiana movement where everything was
decided by a vote of directors, technical staff and players.
The
team would send messages to the country's government by taking to the
field with banners demanding 'Direct elections now' or "I want to vote
for President'.
Socrates had a short and unhappy playing spell in
Italy with Fiorentina and, shivering from the cold in a bizarre
postscript to his career, also made a brief appearance in 2004 as a
substitute for English non-league side Garforth Town.
Latterly,
he gave seminars about leadership and human relations while also
practising as a doctor and working on a fiction book about the 2014
World Cup due to be held in Brazil.
His younger brother Rai, also
a midfielder and a Sao Paulo favourite who spent several seasons at
Paris St Germain in the late 1990s, was a member of the Brazil squad
that won the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
(Writing by Rex Gowar in Buenos Aires, editing by Alan Baldwin)
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's 1982 World Cup captain
Socrates, the "Golden Heel" renowned as one of the great playmakers of
his generation, died in hospital Sunday of septic shock at the age of
57, his doctors said in a statement.
A smoker and drinker even in
his playing days, Socrates had been on a life support system in Sao
Paulo's Albert Einstein Israeli Hospital since Thursday when he was
admitted suffering from food poisoning.
"The (hospital) announces
with profound sadness the death of ex-player Socrates Brasileiro
Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira at 0430 (local time) as a result of
septic shock," the statement said.
It was signed by doctors
Fernando Luis Pandullo and Ben-Hur Ferraz Neto and the director of
medical practice Oscar Fernando Pavao dos Santos.
Socrates, who
had a degree in medicine himself and was known at the height of his fame
as 'Dr Socrates', had been taken to hospital three times since August,
when he spent nine days there due to a digestive haemorrhage caused by
excessive drinking.
The former attacking midfielder, who played
for Brazil at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, spent 17 days in the
hospital in September with liver trouble and had been recommended for a
transplant.
BIG SKINNY
Born on February 19, 1954 in Belem,
a northern city on the banks of the Amazon river, Socrates started out
at Botafogo-Ribeirao Preto where he became their top player despite also
studying at the local university.
He joined Sao Paulo club Corinthians in 1978 and stayed for six years.
Bearded,
thin and popularly known as 'Magrao', or the Big Skinny One, Socrates
was part of a golden Brazilian generation that included midfielder Zico,
Junior, Falcao and Eder.
The brilliant Brazil side of 1982 was
regarded as one of the best never to win the World Cup title after they
were upset by eventual champions Italy in the second group phase of the
tournament in Spain.
An astute passer and reader of the game, he
earned his nickname of 'The Golden Heel' with a uniquely nonchalant
playing style, using the backheel to telling effect and scoring
memorable goals with both feet.
His languid penalty-taking style,
eschewing the traditional run-up to merely step up to the ball and lift
it into the net, backfired at the 1986 World Cup where Brazil lost to
France in the quarter-finals on penalties after one of his lazy efforts
was saved.
Winner of 60 caps with Brazil, Socrates scored 21 goals and was also known for strong views on both football and politics.
At
Corinthians, during a time of military government, he was a leading
figure in the Democracia Corinthiana movement where everything was
decided by a vote of directors, technical staff and players.
The
team would send messages to the country's government by taking to the
field with banners demanding 'Direct elections now' or "I want to vote
for President'.
Socrates had a short and unhappy playing spell in
Italy with Fiorentina and, shivering from the cold in a bizarre
postscript to his career, also made a brief appearance in 2004 as a
substitute for English non-league side Garforth Town.
Latterly,
he gave seminars about leadership and human relations while also
practising as a doctor and working on a fiction book about the 2014
World Cup due to be held in Brazil.
His younger brother Rai, also
a midfielder and a Sao Paulo favourite who spent several seasons at
Paris St Germain in the late 1990s, was a member of the Brazil squad
that won the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
(Writing by Rex Gowar in Buenos Aires, editing by Alan Baldwin)
