Football that Comes from God (third edition) - The Art of Playing Soccer and Enchanting People

Title

Football that Comes from God (third edition)

The Art of Playing Soccer and Enchanting People

Author José Antonio Ribeiro Neto (Zezinho)

Copyrights

Copyright © 2022 by José Antonio Ribeiro Neto

All Rights Reserved ©Xnewdata Portugal

Book

Football that Comes from God (third edition)

The Art of Playing Soccer and Enchanting People

ISBN:

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of very brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Dedication

I dedicated this book to my father, Joaquim.

When he played soccer, they nicknamed him Lugano because he was fair and green-eyed, like someone who had arrived from Switzerland.

Father Joaquim (credit Author¹).

He was very fond of soccer and was a wholehearted supporter.

Wherever I would play, he was cheering.

He was a farmer with special gifts for dealing with the land and animals.

I learned from him that life doesn't always give you what you think you deserve. You have to plan for the future and run after opportunities.

One of the greatest feelings of pride is that we've never had a single argument in our lives, for my great respect and your way of conducting things.

I miss our in-depth conversations now that he's gone.

Do you know who asked about you? he inquired when I went to see him on vacation with my kids.

I responded. Who? So he'd talk about the conversations he'd had with my friends about the time that I played soccer.

He continues to protect me there in heaven, giving me the courage to develop my family.

I'd want to thank my wife Selma, my sons Germano and Isabelle, my daughter Camila, and my son-in-law Guilherme.

I'd want to express my gratitude to my mother, Narcisa, my sisters Fátima and Lucia, and my in-law brothers Edson and Odair.

Thanks to the in-laws, Mário Penha and Begelinda, who helped us in life with our children.

I thank God, our creator, for giving us the gift of life, time, and the ability to learn.

Author José Antonio (Zezinho).

Preface

Hello there, friends.

With great honor, I accepted my friend José Antonio's invitation to write the preface to his book "Football that Comes from God (third edition) - The Art of Playing Soccer and Enchanting People."

My name is Sérgio Luís Batista (Serginho) and I live in Bauru, SP, Brazil.

I played soccer in the 70s and 80s, playing as a right winger and left winger on youth, amateur, and professional teams.

I played for Noroeste of Bauru, Comercial of Ribeirão Preto, Matsubara of Paraná, and amateur clubs in Bauru and the region.

A strange fact inspired my nickname, Serginho Pelé. When I finished playing professional soccer at 23, I went to work in a credit bank, where there were five employees with the same name as me, Sérgio, in my department. It was a rare event, and they gave everyone a nickname to distinguish us.

1 - My soccer career

My father was passionate about soccer, and I would accompany him to watch the games.

As a child, my favorite sport was playing soccer with my cousins and friends.

I started playing soccer championships when I was 12 years old in the milk tooth team of Noroeste of Bauru when we were champions.

At fourteen, I began playing for the children's team, and at sixteen, I joined the youth team.

In 1974, at age seventeen, I was introduced to Mr. Luís Carlos de Oliveira, nicknamed Bolão, who was the supervisor of the professional players in the Noroeste de Bauru team and a future coach.

He was impressed with my soccer skills and invited me to join the Noroeste de Bauru amateur team, which was already training with the professionals.

I was receiving financial aid and a scholarship.

In 1977, coach Bolão was on the Comercial of Ribeirão Preto team and hired me from the Noroeste de Bauru. The following year, I went to play for the Matsubara of Cambará team, the new club of coach Bolão, where I became a professional soccer player.

Noroeste de Bauru 1976 - Paulista Youth Championship (credits Sérgio Luís).

Standing: Cabo Alcides, Cidinho, Iraldo, Claudinho, Toninho Costa, João Carlos Travain, Ademir.

Crouching: Sérgio Luís, Neivan, Pitico, Calão, and Bê.

I stopped playing professional soccer at 23, but I kept playing amateur soccer. Then, as a veteran, I took part in several championships held by clubs in Bauru City and the region.

2 - How I first met the author

Coach Bolão led the Noroeste de Bauru in 1975 to put together a top soccer team.

Besides star players from the primary team such as Lorico, Toninho Guerreiro, and Rodrigues, he was looking for talented players in the countryside to compose the Noroeste de Bauru of the future.

That's when I met Zé Antonio, who played as a defensive midfielder and had just arrived from Tupã City to join the team, and we became friends.

He was born and grew up in Duartina City, next to Bauru City (São Paulo State), and visited his cousins in our city even after he moved to Tupã City.

He was also our opponent playing for Tupã City in regional games.

Coach Bolão invited him because he was a very technical player.

Coach Bolão mixed with players of all ages, promoting over time the juveniles as amateurs and the professionals.

We had an excellent team with players like Baroninho, Valter Ferreira, Nelson Borges, Parraro, Toninho Costa, João Carlos Travain, Hélio Biguetti, and others who became professionals.

Zé Antonio was the reserve for midfielder Lorico, chosen by coach Bolão when Lorico could not play or by rotation among the squad members.

We often played together in the primary team, youth team, or amateur team, competing for the São Paulo championship, integration tournament, and state league matches.

I enjoyed playing with Zé Antonio because the ball arrived round. He disarmed very well and rarely missed passes, which is characteristic of technical midfielders.

Zé Antônio demonstrated modern soccer in the 1970s, with first-class touches and vertical launches, as coaches today demand.

In 76, due to knee problems, Zé Antonio was absent for surgery, later trying to return to soccer with Brazilian clubs like Tupã FC, São Carlense, Santos, Ponte Preta, and Matsubara.

We lose contact because our lives take us to other places.

Our reunion was made possible by his cousin José Carlos Ribeiro de Campos, nicknamed Pua, who lives in Bauru and brought us back together.

On the Internet, we've been talking about soccer, our old friends, and our families. This exchange of information and knowledge has been beneficial to all of us at this point in our lives.

3 - Precious informations on the book

Zé Antonio told me he was writing a book about soccer and asked me to write the preface, which both surprised and delighted me.

He devoted an entire chapter to the Noroeste of Bauru, including our coach Bolão, and all the players who had played with us.

While reading the book, I stepped back in time, recalling my previous career and some dormant concepts.

The book shows that a different kind of soccer is required, one that is less mechanical, more creative and intuitive, and more similar to the soccer we played in the 1970s.

It implies that, besides physical and technical aspects, we must prepare players on nine reference parameters, including dribbling, intelligence, intuition, gifts, and focus.

To help soccer stars develop, he suggests accompanying them to football art as well as proposing attribution of notes and data analysis.

As a democratic way of accompanying the players in the evolution of football art, it proposes measurements that the players, technical team, directors, journalists, head scouts, and collaborators can validate.

If the Europeans invented positional soccer, I believe that by applying the concepts in the book, we Brazilians could reinvent the football art.

4 - A special invitation

I strongly recommend you read this book.

Despite having been a professional soccer player for many years, I believe that if I had had this information at that time, I could have improved my technical quality by 40% or more.

If you like soccer or work in this field, it is worth reading the book, not only because the author has played soccer and is a friend of mine, but also because of the straightforward manner in which he approaches subjects.

He proposes improvements to the practice of a more artistic, less mechanical form of soccer than is currently practiced.

The book suggests a review of the soccer concepts used today, applying what we learned in the golden age of soccer.

I strongly recommend you read this book because the teachings can change not only a career but an entire soccer team.

Thank you very much.

Sérgio Luís (Serginho)

PART I

Book Presentation

A Different Soccer Book

Football Art and the Soccer Stars

Book Presentation

Welcome to the book "Football that Comes from God (third edition) - The Art of Playing Soccer and Enchanting People."

You never know why you decide to write a book.

Here, I wrote about the love of the sport. A feeling that appeared in my heart, saying that the time had come to talk about one thing that most enchanted me in this life, the football (soccer).

During childhood, adolescence, and part of adulthood, I played soccer intensively, and I considered it an art, a gift that God had given me to enjoy this period of my life.

Life comprises uncertainty. We frequently fail to be what we intended to achieve the expected level of success or to exceed expectations.

Injuries cut us out of the sport and change our destiny. But God is closing doors and opening windows, new opportunities for life.

1 - Soccer is a God-given gift

The first sentence I heard about soccer that enchanted me was from my cousin José Carlos (Pua), who visited us to play soccer at my grandfather's house.

He said, Soccer is not taught. You're born knowing. It is a God-given gift.

He liked to repeat this phrase to warn me, justifying that it was impossible to learn to play soccer; you had to be born knowing.

As a child and terrified, I thought: What will happen to me if I don't know how to play soccer? What if I wasn't born knowing? Will I ever learn? What will my life be like if I don't do what I love most?

2 - Confirming what I have heard

To confirm, I spoke with my father. He didn’t even wait to finish the question and answered it assertively.

- That's right. We do not teach soccer. Other sports, such as volleyball, swimming, and basketball, are also taught, but soccer is different. You have to be born with the gift, or you won't go ahead.

Being from a Portuguese family, Catholic, and having a lot of faith in God, I concluded they were right; the