Brazil pays rich tribute to World Cup heroes

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 26 (IANS)

Tributes flowed for Brazilian World Cup winners Gilmar dos Santos Neves and Nilton de Sordi following their weekend deaths.

Gilmar, who played as a goalkeeper in Brazil’s 1958 and 1962 World Cup victories, died at the Sirio Libanes hospital Sunday following a heart-attack. He was 83, reports Xinhua.

A day earlier, former defender Nilton de Sordi, a member of the 1958 squad, died from organ failure in the Parana-state city of Bandeirantes aged 82.

President Dilma Rousseff was among those to pay respect to the pair.

“Brazilian football is grieving,” Rousseff said in a statement. “At this time of pain I want to transmit my condolences to their family and friends.”

De Sordi’s former club Sao Paulo published a statement on its official website, describing the right-back-turned centre-half as “out of the ordinary”.

“He was so consistently good and his notion of covering space was unrivalled,” the statement said.

“Despite his small stature, he was good in the air. For that reason he ended up playing as a central defender for both club and country.”