The Greatest Goal Ever Scored!

Jayanth Kiran

It had been almost 43 years ever since Jose Luis Antonio or popularly called as ‘O Especial’ (The Special One) had ever played for the Brazilian football team. In his heyday, he was a goal-scoring giant. During the 50’s and 60’s, he singlehandedly carried all the clubs he played for to glory.

However, since the 70’s, he had never played the game but he opened an academy in the slums of Rio. No one other than him knew the reason that caused him to retire. At the beginning of the 70’s, TV companies were buying rights all across Brazil and the World to broadcast matches. Companies were sponsoring many players. If you wanted to be a professional football player, you needed to have a sponsor.

Jose, due to his poor background, couldn’t obtain a sponsor. As a result, he didn’t try to find a sponsor nor get any sponsor.

Therefore, he gave up his footballing career and started his own academy for poor children in the slums of Rio. It had been a success story for all the players who were a part of Jose’s academy. However, it was an unsuccessful time for Jose. When his players came into the spotlight, nobody talked about him. For a person who had inspired many players, how could a kind and respected person like him not get any respect?

Due to the players not appreciating him, he decided to commit suicide. However, before he could commit suicide, he decided to look at his old memories of his footballing friends and his clubs. Then, it happened. He killed himself without leaving any of his memories behind. Not even a single memory of him. It was as if he never existed.

After he died, lots of people finally talked about him. Some people were even talking about a film being made about him. Some were talking about why he wasn’t a famous player. Most people didn’t even know he had existed and now they were acting like they had known Jose all his life. However, everybody was talking about the memory that he had left behind. They were talking about the greatest goal ever scored. Some told it was in 1959 against Hungary, some told it was in 1964 against the Netherlands. However, nobody other than Jose Luis Antonio told that the greatest goal he had ever scored was none other than inspiring people through his academy.