‘We had a samba session on the bus to the game – we had fun’
well and I left. The final, as incredible as it might seem, was much easier than the route there. Mario Zagallo [the coach] was so intelligent that other coaches would come and watch our side train to find out how we were going to play.
To find out if the Italians were really man-marking, as soon as we started Zagallo took Jairzinho off the right wing and put him on the left wing. He took Rivelino off the left wing and put him on the right wing. If their markers followed them, then we knew they really were man-marking. So, he switched them again – Jairzinho on to the right wing and Rivelino on to the left. So for us this game was easier because we knew what they would do but they did not know what we would do.
The game was at midday which we knew would suit us better than it did the Europeans. It was hot. At 34 degrees we would have a party at the beach, but the Italians would suffer in the heat.
We had a pagode [celebratory samba] session on the bus on the way to the stadium. A tambourine, samba drum, a shaker. We always did this. We would have some fun. I mean, we were the band.
It was 1-1 at half-time, but in the second half, like Zagallo told us, Jairzinho switched position again. He came off the right and went to the left. He received a ball and came on the diagonal. He brought his marker with him. He would pass to me and leave me the ball, or he would pass with the ball and I would distract his marker. So what happened was he came with his marker. I came in for a dummy. I took the ball. He passed and took his marker with him. I laid the ball out and hit it into the net.
When the final whistle sounded it was chaos. The fans lifted up Pele. They grabbed at Tostao’s clothes. He just had his underpants on and they wanted those. They carried him to the dressing room. It was total euphoria. People say it is the greatest team ever. Before, I was just a kid playing football on the beach.