The Old Wolf bows out

Brazil's Mario Zagallo, who on Friday ended a 53-year playing and coaching career in which he won World Cup four times, is famous for once declaring: "I didn't play with Pele, he played with me."

The comment typifies the attitude of a man who is intensely proud of his achievements in the sport he still loves with a boyish enthusiasm.

Zagallo, a World Cup winner as a player in 1958 and 1962, coach in 1970 and assistant coach in 1994, brought the curtain down on his career when resigned as coach of Flamengo on Friday after they dropped into the relegation zone of the Brazilian championship.

The man known as the Old Wolf has never been bashful about reminding his detractors of his many achievement in the game.

"I was born on the right day. I was born with victory by my side. Let them keep criticising me because it brings me luck," he once said after commentators dared to criticise his Brazil team.

When the 38-year coach of a rival team Americano suggested more recently that it was time to call it a day, Zagallo retorted: "He's starting his career now and I hope wins as many titles as I have."

Zagallo's most famous outburst came at the end of the 1997 Copa America final in Bolivia, which Brazil won 3-1.

RED FACE

Red in the face, due to the rarefied air of the Bolivian commercial capital, Zagallo went up to the television cameras and shouted: "Now, you're going to have to swallow me."

But his passion for the game and sincerity have won over the sternest critics.

Zagallo wept openly as Dejan Petkovic's free kick won the this year's Carioca championship title with just two minutes to spare, just as he did after Brazil beat the Netherlands on penalties to win their semi-final at the 1998 World Cup.

Brazilians still remember the day in South Africa in 1995 when Zagallo, behaving like a teenager who had scored his first professional goal, charged onto the pitch and then ran around in circles with his arms outstretched like an aeroplane's wings to celebrate a 3-2 win in a friendly.

And while many Brazilian coaches have been caught in public telling their teams to foul the opposition, Zagallo's players have testified that he has never given such an instruction.

Zagallo, who began his playing with career with the small Rio de Janeiro club America, won his first World Cup in Sweden in 1958, alongside the 17-year-old Pele, and was in the Brazil which retained the title four years later.

"I was 27 and Pele was 17," he said. "That's why I say that I didn't play with him, he played with me."

THIRD TITLE

A left-winger, he spent most of his playing career with Flamengo and then Botafogo, both Rio de Janeiro clubs.

In 1970, he was became coach of Brazil shortly before the Mexico World Cup and led his country to the third world title with what many regard as the best team in the history of soccer.

Even today, controversy rages as to whether Zagallo built the team himself or merely inherited it from his predecessor, Joao Saldanha.

Zagallo led Brazil to fourth place at the West Germany World Cup in 1974, then set off for the oil-rich Middle East to make his fortune.

He amazingly managed to qualify the United Arab Emirates for the 1990 World Cup but was sacked in a row over unpaid bonuses before the tournament.

Four years later, Brazil won their fourth World Cup and Zagallo was again present, this time as assistant to Carlos Alberto Parreira. He had one last stab at the title again as coach in 1998, when Brazil finished runners-up to France.

LUCKY NUMBER

Throughout his career, Zagallo has been supersticious, believing that 13 is his lucky number.

He wears a number 13 shirt at matches, married on the 13th of the month and his car has a number 13 registration plate.

He claims to have won 13 titles as a coach and points out that the Portuguese word Tetracampeoes, meaning four-times champions, has 13 letters.

Ironically, he left Flamengo after 13 months in charge and one day after they had suffered their 13th defeat in the Brazilian championship.