Carlos Alberto Dies: Brazil World Cup-Winning Captain Dead At 72 After Heart Attack

Carlos Alberto Torres has been pronounced dead at the age of 72.

Torres passed away from a heart attack in his home city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is most famous for leading the Brazilian National Team to a FIFA World Cup championship in 1970 over Italy in Mexico City, Mexico. Carlos Alberto sealed the game when he scored an amazing goal in the 86^th minute of play. That was the only FIFA World goal the Brazilian defender scored in his career, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Pele scored the opening goal in that game.

Carlos Alberto will not just be remembered as the man who scored the final goal in the 1970 World Cup, but as an elite defender and a true team captain. “I’m very proud still to be the youngest captain of a World Cup-winning team,” he said at the time.

He would go on to appear in 53 games for the Brazilian National Team scoring eight goals in the process. After retiring as a player, Carlos Alberto would go on to manage several teams for more than 20 years and even making appearances on Brazilian television networks as a soccer analyst. Although he doesn’t hold many national team records, Carlos Alberto will always be remembered as one of the all-time greatest players and certainly one of the all-time great defenders.

An obituary by FIFA.com begins with a quick statement that reads “It is with tremendous sadness, that FIFA.com has learned that Carlos Alberto Torres died at the age of 72 on Tuesday 25 October 2016.”

Carlos Alberto went on to play for numerous senior clubs such as the Santos, Fluminense, Flamengo, California Surf and New York Cosmos.