Dener: the lost wonderkid
Brazil’s early- 90s sensation wowed Diego Maradona and was poised for a big move to Europe, only for a cruel car accident to make his a tragic tale of what might have been. FFT recalls an icon- in- waiting
As dawn was breaking on Tuesday April 19, 1994, curious passers- by started to gather on 2225 Borges de Medeiros Avenue, in the south of Rio de Janeiro. Near the beautiful Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon was a white Mitsubishi Eclipse – number plate DNR- 0010 – contorted around a tree. From the passenger door just ajar, the scene was bleak: there rested Dener’s limp body, reclined all the way back in the seat that had been transporting him to training only a few hours earlier.
At 5.15am the footballer’s pal, Otto Gomes de Miranda, had fallen asleep and lost control of his car while driving the hefty 434km from Sao Paulo overnight, crushing both of his legs. A year later, he was murdered. The prodigious boy alongside him, aged just 23, died instantly after being strangled by his seatbelt.
Romario, Rivaldo and Ronaldo all excelled in an era of samba superstars, but if it wasn’t for a tragedy that shocked Brazil, another name could easily have nestled next to those three world- renowned Selecao heroes.
Dener Augusto de Sousa – or simply, Dener – captured the imagination of a nation which treasured joga bonito. With his smooth skills, mind- boggling dribbling talent and magnetic ball control, the pint- sized attacking midfielder ( all 5ft 5in of him) had tongues wagging in the early- 90s, earning him the first of two Brazil caps as a 19- year- old in 1991.
It wasn’t like his rapid rise to greatness had been overlooked in Europe, either. Only three days before Dener’s death, Portuguesa – one of Sao Paulo’s most traditional sides who had received $ 600,000 for loaning him to Vasco da Gama in 1994 – sold him to Bundesliga outfit Stuttgart for $ 3 million.
The hype was definitely real. Less than three months earlier, his debut for Vasco – a friendly against Diego Maradona’s Newell’s Old Boys – had even made headlines down in Argentina. While the game finished goalless, 33- year- old Maradona was open- mouthed watching the diminutive dynamo in action at El Coloso del Parque, where Dener’s staggering skills tied his opponents in knots – Mauricio Pochettino included. In one passage, the Brazilian picked up possession on the right wing and dribbled past four players like a sidewinder, jinking with seemingly limitless swagger. Only goalkeeper Escarbone prevented a certified golaço.
“Diego’s jaw dropped,” Ricardo Rocha, then Vasco captain who played at the 1990 and ’ 94 World Cups for Brazil, tells Fourfourtwo. “A few years later, I played for Newell’s and people in Rosario still talked about that game. I also met Maradona another time and he lamented the lad’s death. ‘ What a player,’ he said.”
But Maradona went beyond that. Dener was taken by surprise after the game when ‘ El Pibe’ walked into Vasco’s dressing room asking who the boy was – he wanted to shake hands.
“Dener used to joke that Maradona insisted on greeting the ‘ little black man here’,” recalls Tico, a close pal who first encountered Dener at Portuguesa’s academy aged 12, and keeps his friend’s final match- worn jersey held dear.
“He liked to take the piss out of us all, saying, ‘ Has Maradona ever come and said hi to you?’”
Born in Vila Ede, a humble neighborhood at the northern edge of Sao Paulo, Vasco’s No. 10 had gone home to see his family, having been sent off against Fluminense at the Maracana in Rio’s state championship.
“Dener was a lovely, playful boy who spread happiness in the dressing room,” Jair Pereira, his last manager at Vasco, explains to FFT. “He was a little undisciplined, however, and I told him not to be absent from our Tuesday training session. So instead of taking the risk of getting a delayed flight, he asked a friend to drive him all the way back. Unfortunately the worst then happened. As soon as I received the phone call with the news, I rushed to the lagoon and saw him. I was completely devastated.”
Fans, team- mates and camera crews fought for a last glance of the lost wonderkid, coming to terms with the fact they would never get to see what he would become.
True to form, Dener’s national breakthrough had arrived in style. Aged 20, the starlet helped
Portuguesa to Copa Sao Paulo glory in 1991, the club celebrating its first success in Brazil’s acclaimed under- 20 competition courtesy of nine consecutive wins.
Promptly promoted to the first team, Dener set about justifying new nickname ‘ Reizinho do Canindé’ ( Little King of Portuguesa’s stadium). During a 1- 0 win against Inter de Limeira in the Sao Paulo state championship, he ran from the centre circle and outmanoeuvred half a dozen opponents before finding the net.
“Dener was my biggest hero,” admits Bayern Munich legend Ze Roberto, an ex- Portuguesa academy player who grew up admiring an idol three years his senior. “When I lived under the stand of the Canindé [ where the youth team’s rooms were], I often skipped school to watch him play. I was also a ball boy many times, just to see him up close up.”
In 1993, Dener provided another contender among Brazilian football’s greatest- ever goals, against Santos. After winning the ball 50 yards out, the first touch – a smooth half- pirouette – fooled his marker into thinking he could tackle him… until the second took it through his legs. Dener’s driving run took him into the penalty area where, using only his body movement, he bamboozled the goalkeeper before bobbling home a finish with the outside of his right foot. The masterpiece sealed his team’s 4- 2 victory.
Watching from the sidelines was Portuguesa manager Pepe, a two- time World Cup winner and Santos scoring legend second only to Pele, having plundered more than 400 league goals.
“Dener is in my top five of all time alongside Pele, Garrincha, Lionel Messi and Pep Guardiola, who I coached in Qatar,” he reveals to FFT. “He could win a game all by himself, the same way I saw Pele doing countless times at Santos and for the Selecao.”
Dener’s two Brazil appearances both came in friendlies under fabled midfielder Falcao, but there could have been so many more. In total, the twinkle- toed showman scored 42 goals in 116 club games, winning the Rio Grande do Sul state championship with Gremio in 1993 and Taca Guanabara with Vasco the following year. In 2019, the Sao Paulo state FA paid tribute to him by launching the annual Dener Award, for the best goal of its youth championship.
However, numbers and honours alone can’t do justice to one of the most talented Selecao youngsters in their history. Dener will forever belong to the category of Brazilian footballers held in the highest regard – those who played the game beautifully.
ZE ROBERTO: “DENER WAS MY BIGGEST HERO. I USED TO SKIP SCHOOL TO WATCH HIM PLAY”