From saint to jester and a whole life spent rehabilitating for a game. For one bad match . Scapegoat for a collective debacle , yet the sights of the press, fans and people were all aimed at him. Valdir Peres is the human incarnation of the light and pungent words of the writer Eduardo Galeano who, in the novel “Splendors and miseries of the game of football”, says this to the goalkeeper’s voice. To read all in one go:
They also call him goalkeeper, number one, extreme defender, post guard, but they could very well call him martyr, paganini (in the Rio-Plateau area he jokingly indicates who pays the bill), penitent, circus clown. They say grass doesn’t grow where he goes. And when the team has a bad day, it’s him who pays the bill under a hail of footballs, atoning for the sins of others. The other players can make a big mistake once or even more, but they redeem themselves with a spectacular feint, a masterful pass, a sure shot: he doesn’t. The crowd does not forgive the goalkeeper. He went out empty
He made a duck
and the ball escaped
The hands of steel have turned to silk
With a single duck, the goalkeeper ruins a game or loses a championship, and then the public immediately forgets all his feats and condemns him to eternal disgrace. The curse will haunt him until the end of his days
Of him Valdir Peres was this. Simply victim . He was the extreme defender of the Brazilian national team during the 1982 World Cup , the one played in Spain and to us, Italians, who are as dear as they are immortal.
Wanted by coach Tele Santana to defend the goalposts, Valdir Peres found himself facing hurricane Paolo “Pablito” Rossi in the match won by Italy 3-2 against the verdeoro . It was July 5, 1982, the “Tragedy of Sarria”, the defeat was remembered by the Brazilian side, in Barcelona, ​​in the Estadio Sarria. Goalkeeper against goalkeeper: on the one hand, Zoff praised and blessed with a parade of the century with time out; on the other the ugly duckling.
That was also the last match for Peres in the national team: considered one of the biggest culprits, he will never again be called up in the Selecao. Upon returning home, he was laughed at by everyone : a little boy, at the airport, I gave him a drawing, a caricature of him with the words “Valdir Peres, a specialty chicken on a spit”.
Seeing and reviewing the images of that match, Peres made no blunder or gaudy about the three goals conceded. He had no responsibility,at least him . In reality, the whole World Cup was a pillory: on his debut against the USSR he intervened with a “soap” on a harmless shot by Bal that scored the advantage of the Soviets. And down with the criticisms that dragged on even after the review was over.

Valdir looked like a fish out of water in a team of first women all haughty , he bald at 25 along with companions with flowing hair. Yet before the 1982 World Cup, Peres was a winner : four Paulista championships, a Copa do Brasil and a national title in addition to winning, in 1975, the Bola de ouro , the Brazilian Golden Ball, the first goalkeeper to win the trophy and to open the doors to various Taffarel and Rogerio Ceni.
But that wasn’t enough. So from being a saint he became a jester. Yes, he was also called Sao Valdir : it was May 19, 1981, a prestigious friendly Stuttgart between Brazil and West Germany . Ten minutes from the end, with the green-gold ahead 2-1, the Germans benefited from a penalty and the specialist Breitner appeared on the spot . The first attempt was rejected by Peres, but for the referee the goalkeeper had moved ahead of time and the penalty had to be repeated. At the second attempt, Breitner changed the corner , but the Brazilian number one rejected again:
Upon returning to the hotel, the hotel staff take me in triumph. They had seen the game on TV and were impressed by my prowess. I was surprised at this emotional momentum. The Brazilian press the day after I speak openly about Sao Valdir
The revenge of the pelato against the long-haired.

He died on 23 July 2017 , at the age of 66, suffering from a heart attack during a birthday party in Mogi Mirim, in the state of Sao Paulo. He couldn’t leave until July. Splendors and miseries of the game of football.

Sources:
– Football stories;
–Calcioesteronews.it

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