Why winning was not everything for true VIP Socrates

Even Socrates regretted not getting to close the deal with the most beautiful woman in the world. But as he said, it can happen, and he could always say he at least got to dance with her

EVEN after Dino Zoff had lifted the trophy into the Madrid sky, it was still Socrates, Zico and Eder and not Rossi, Conte and Tardelli that we wanted to be in the back garden that magical summer of 1982.

All of us of a certain generation who played in the garden parks that summer got a little sentimental and nostalgic, and a little bit older too, last Sunday evening with the news that Socrates, the wonderfully graceful captain and fulcrum of that extraordinary Brazilian team, had passed away at the age of 57.