Starring for Santos, Cosmos and Brazil's national team, Carlos Alberto Torres enjoyed a career rich with success.
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from September 1996.
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It would seem that Torres would cite his World Cup glory or perhaps electric moments with Santos as most memorable, but he does not. "I enjoyed my years playing for the Cosmos best of all," Torres said. "It was, you know, the disco time [1970s] and New York was really a great place to be."
Torres played for the New York Cosmos of the now defunct North American Soccer League for six years, sharing the pitch with Pele, as usual. He contributed to four league championships there.
Brazil is easily the most successful team in the 15 World Cup tournaments held since 1930. They are the only team to have competed in all of the World Cup competitions, and they are the only nation to win it four times. Brazil has the best overall record in 73 tournament matches with 49 wins, 13 draws and 11 losses. They have scored 159 goals and allowed just 68. Torres says this consistent excellence has very little to do with natural talent and everything to do with intelligent preparation.
"We work very hard," he said. "We are more serious in how we prepare teams for World Cups than other countries. We practice extremely hard and we put the team together very early. That is the key. Many teams come together a couple of weeks before the World Cup. Something like that is not good for your chances."
Torres is a fit fifty-something these days. He never deserted his game, now running a respected soccer school in Rio de Janeiro. Currently, his son is busy ripping up Japan's professional league, supplying Torres with plenty of pride. "He is very good," he said. "They consider him one of the best young players in Brazil. He was born to play. That makes me happy."
