- Roberto Dias
Roberto Dias Branco or simply Roberto Dias (born in 7th January 1943 in
São Paulo , died in 26th September 2007) is former soccer player for São Paulo FC inBrazil . He was considered byPelé to be the greatest Brazilian central defenders of the 1960s and 1970s. He was known for his finesse on defense--a player who didn't need to show a rough side. He just knew how to cover and always seemed one step ahead of the forwards he covered--includingPelé . In fact,Pelé admitted that Roberto Dias was the only central defender who could truly mark him. In one memorable game between Pelé's Santos FC and São Paulo FC in the 1967 edition of theCampeonato Paulista , which would ultimately end in a 3-3 draw, Dias, kept Pelé scoreless while scoring 2 goals in the process.Roberto Dias was on the 1960 Olympic football team in
Rome . Despite his stellar career, Dias was not given a spot on the1966 FIFA World Cup team, when Coach Feola opted to call up an ageingZito to the squad instead of one of the most dominating defenders in Brazil. Furthermore, in 1973, at the age of 30, he suffered a heart attack, which robbed him of the best years of his career. He was never quite the same.Despite these hiccups, there was no doubt that Dias is a phenomenal player. The São Paulo teams he played for were never really contenders--the board opted to spend their money in the construction of
Estádio do Morumbi instead of on players. It should come as no surprise then when Pelé was passed his prime...and the construction of Morumbi completed in 1970, São Paulo FC promptly won two Paulistas. He earned 27 caps for Brazil.After many years training and working as coach for the São Paulo FC youth team, Roberto Dias suffered a fatal heart attack and died in São Paulo. In honor to the its greatest defender the SPFC team played with a black arm band in the 2nd game against Boca Juniors for the 2007 Sudamerica Cup.
Clubs
* São Paulo FC (1959-1973)
*CEUB-DF (1973)
*Dom Bosco-MT (1973)
*Jalisco Mexico(1974-77)
*Nacional-SP (1978)References
[http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=323846&page=3&highlight=Arthur+Friedenreich Bigsoccer]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
