Coutinho, the genius of the six-yard box | OneFootball

Guilherme Guarche, from the Memory Center

Piracicaba, an important municipality in the state of São Paulo, 157 km from the capital, is the birthplace of Antônio Wilson Honório, who was born on June 11, 1943, a Friday, and who would become famous by the nickname Coutinho, given to him by his mother, who called him “Little Stump of a Person.”

Coutinho was deeply loved by his friends and, above all, by Santos supporters, the club for which he played most of his sporting career. He was a center forward of refined technical quality, a star with quick, cool thinking, deadly in finishing, his shots always gentle and accurate.

Alongside Pelé, he formed a strike partnership that has never been surpassed, not only in Brazilian football but in world football as well. He was the ideal partner for the King, and together they immortalized the famous one-two on the pitch. Inside the box, he was all calm and efficiency, a genius at controlling the ball and at the art of scoring goals.

When he began his career with Santos’s first team, the starting center forward was his friend Paulo César de Araújo, Pagão, who, according to Coutinho, was one of the greatest players he ever saw in Brazilian football.

“I played against XV’s reserves, Lula liked me and invited me to train at Santos. When the opportunity came up, I got the money for the fare and went, I think, in May 1958. In the first practice match, I didn’t know who Pelé, Pepe, or Pagão were; I didn’t know any of the starters. I scored a goal and Hélvio said to Lula: ‘Sign him because he’s going to be a star.’ I didn’t even get to play for the youth team. I played for the reserves, amateur, and professional teams. Sometimes I came on in place of Pagão, until I took his spot.”

Coutinho is the youngest player ever to play for Santos’s first team. His debut came on May 17, 1958, in Goiânia, when Peixe beat Sírio-Libanês 7-1 in a friendly at Pedro Ludovico Stadium, in Goiânia, Goiás, with one goal from him in that rout. At the time, he was 14 years and 11 months old.

In Coutinho’s debut, Santos FC, managed by Luiz Alonso Perez, Lula, lined up as follows: Manga (Laércio), Getúlio (Pinduca) and Dalmo; Feijó, Ramiro and Fioti; Dorval, Álvaro, Guerra (Raimundinho), Jair (Coutinho) and Hélio.

Because he was injured on the eve of the tournament, he missed the chance to be a starter for the Brazilian National Team at the 1962 World Cup in Chile, losing his place to Vavá. For the national team, he played 13 matches and scored six goals.

The last time he wore the glorious seaside club shirt was on November 21, 1970, at Parque Antártica, in a Taça de Prata match (Brazilian Championship), a goalless draw against América of Rio de Janeiro, with Peixe lining up as follows: Cejas (Agnaldo), Carlos Alberto, Djalma Dias, Joel Camargo and Turcão; Clodoaldo and Léo Oliveira; Árlem, Edu (Coutinho), Pelé and Abel. The coach was Antônio Fernandes, Antoninho.

After ten years at Santos, Coutinho played for Vitória da Bahia in 1968; Portuguesa de Desportos in 1969; returned to Santos in 1969 and 1970; and ended his career at Saad in 1973.

Wearing the Alvinegro Praiano shirt, he played 450 matches and scored 368 goals. For the Brazilian National Team, he played 16 matches and scored seven goals. Managing Santos’s first team, he was in charge on 17 occasions in 1984, with five wins, seven draws, and five losses.

He worked as a coach in Santos’s youth divisions, then at Valeriodoce, Comercial, Operário de Campo Grande, Bonsucesso/RJ, Santo André, and Itaquaquecetuba. Coutinho was 75 years old when he passed away, on March 11, 2019.

This is how people spoke of him:

“Coutinho creates opportunities from which goals are born, sometimes his own, but more often goals for his teammates. Because Coutinho, without a penny of selfishness, tries to be useful to his teammates, certain that the whole and unity are the components of the force that generates triumphs.” (De Vaney).

“Coutinho was the most elegant goalscorer to ever play, because he placed the ball beyond the goalkeeper’s reach, so gently that it didn’t even touch the net. He was a phenomenon.” (Zito).

“Coutinho toyed with defenders like no one else, with the skill to give a touch that took the marker out of the play. It was him on one side and the defender on the other, in a very tight space inside the box. He didn’t need much to dribble. If he didn’t score with his usual class, he would set up Pelé, who returned the ball with precision. That’s where the famous one-twos came from.” (Orlando Duarte).

“We traveled a lot together, played together, and got to know a bit of the world and different cultures. But what I have to thank him for is that 50% of the goals I scored for Santos came in partnership with him. In the one-two and in the fact that he knew me. In this life, no one does anything alone; if you don’t have partners of the same level, nothing happens, you understand?” (Pelé).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.