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| Wednesday, 25 January 2012 08:33 |
Portuguese football salutes Eusebio on 70th birthdayFPF prepare surprise video for “The King” Eusebio da Silva Ferreira turns 70 years old today. Legend is an overused word to describe football heroes past and present, but the epithet sits well with the former Benfica and Portugal striker. The Portuguese Football Federation marked the occasion by preparing a surprise video where a multitude of footballing figures from Portugal and abroad send “The King” his birthday wishes. The alarm caused and the exhaustive media coverage of Eusebio’s health situation during his recent hospitalisation illustrates how warmly he his held throughout Portugal and beyond. In a football-obsessed country Eusebio was largely responsible for hauling the game in Portugal to a level where it could compete with the best in the world. Blessed with exceptional power, speed, acceleration and a cannonball of a shot, Eusebio was the driving force behind Benfica’s rise to become one of Europe’s most feared teams in the 1960s. The Eagles reached no fewer than five European Cup finals in the decade, winning two of them. Goal machine The Mozambique-born marksman remained at Benfica until 1975, finishing his spell at the Lisbon club with the barely believable statistics of 638 goals in 614 matches!Eusebio was also the chief culprit behind Portugal’s stunning participation in the 1966 World Cup in England, where his nine goals won him the golden boot and shot the Seleccao to a third-place finish. Since hanging up his boots Eusebio has performed ambassadorial roles for both Benfica and the Seleccao, where his easy smile and straightforward outlook on life have maintained his phenomenal popularity. And his advancing years have taken nothing away from his passion for football. “What I’d really like as my birthday present is for Benfica to become champions,” he told RTP in a special interview to be screened tonight. Parabens King! Watch the FPF video by clicking on the image below.  by Tom Kundert Follow PortuGOAL on Twitter and Facebook |
Força EUSÉBIO e que DEUS te dè muita saúde.
I have posted many times that Eusebio is the greatist figure in Portuguese soccer (people can argue about who the best player is) as he transcends football and is a hero/myth type figure like Babe Ruth in Portugal. People need to remember the context and time he came on the scene to give Portugal confidence and hope as a nation.
Wishing him a Happy Birthday and many healthy years as a living legend.
It's silly to have to defend or even explain Eusebio, so I won't bother.
I don't want to take away from this article, but;
Figo has reached out to Sporting's hierarchy, but has been ignored or left out. The powers at be in Sporting are most likely afraid to have such a large presence in their midst.
He's also earning a nice living working for Inter.
Figo is also back in the news (Quote of the Day), due to the horrific attack he went through when he went back to Barca as a Real player. Pep fears that Pepe just might receive the same treatment.
Forever 29!!!
Happy birthday Eusebio 70 years it really is a milestone its thanks to him Porutgal was put on the map
Also R.I.P Feher forever our ANGEL 29 is forever yours cant believe its been 8 years
Everything Eusebio did was fantasitic and to think that he only started playing for the national team in his mid-20’s, if he had played for our national team like Figo, Ronaldo, etc… have done since a young age, his stats could have been even more ridiculous. He will always been a legend and over 40years since he started playing no other Portuguese player has done anything close to what he has.
Let me add that Portugal became the Brits adopted team in the 1966 World Cup. Even Brits themselves have stated that if the match vs England hadn't been moved to Wembley, the odds were that Portugal would have beaten them in Liverpool, where the match was originally scheduled.
Eusebio has gone on and been a great Ambassador not only for Portugal and Benfica, but for the game of football as well.
Wish him and his family only the best.