Zagallo (above, with Ronaldo) is a symbol of one of the most important themes of Brazilian football - the quest to strike a balance between attack and defence
Sunday was the 50th anniversary of an important date in Brazilian football, the international debut of Mario Zagallo.
Brazil has produced many better players than Zagallo, but few more important figures.
As a player, he was part of the team that won successive World Cups in 1958 and 1962. He was the coach when they lifted the trophy again in 1970, and assistant coach for triumph number four in 1994.
Zagallo was also coach in 1974 when they came fourth, in 1998 when they reached the final before losing to France, and assistant coach of the 2006 side that fell in the quarter-finals.
It is a dazzling CV. But Zagallo's importance goes beyond any list of titles he has won. As both player and coach, he is a symbol of one of the most important themes of Brazilian football - the quest to strike a balance between attack and defence.
A lot of starry-eyed, romanticised nonsense is written about the Brazilian game, about how the samba stars play with a total disregard for defence and are happy to concede four goals because they will go out to score five.
In a low-scoring game like football, where goals are so precious, no one can afford to be so cavalier and Brazil certainly haven't been.
Their defensive record in World Cups is clearly superior, for example, to that of Germany. In order for this to happen, talented players have had to sacrifice themselves for the cause of the team.
On 4 May 1958, Zagallo marked his international debut by scoring two goals in a home game against Paraguay. They were important goals - they helped him win a place in the team for the World Cup the following month.
The 1970 Brazil side coached by Zagallo is considered football's greatest ever
He was in competition for the left wing slot with more eye-catching players - Pepe with his cannonball shot; Canhoteiro with his dribbling.
Although Zagallo was a left-winger who could score and create, what kept him in the side and made his name was the fact that he could drop back and defend as well.
By this time Brazil had pioneered the back four, giving themselves extra defensive cover, but playing this system with wingers left them with a 4-2-4 formation that left the central midfield pair with acres of space to cover.
Zagallo had the awareness to drop back and help them out when Brazil lost possession - as a player he created 4-3-3.
His was an important role when Brazil won the 1958 World Cup, and even more vital four years later, when Pele was injured early in the tournament and Brazil had an ageing side - left-back Nilton Santos was 37, for example, and would have been left exposed without a player such as Zagallo in front of him.
In 1966, it was as if England had a Zagallo on either flank
The versatility of Brazil's left-winger was highly influential in England's World Cup win of 1966.
They were called Alf Ramsey's "wingless wonders". But Martin Peters crossed from the left flank for Geoff Hurst's crucial quarter-final header against Argentina, and Alan Ball pulled back from the right to set up Hurst's hotly disputed second strike in the final against West Germany.
But in different styles, Ball with his dynamism, Peters with his technical excellence, they did so much else - closed down the middle of the field, ghosted into the box, attacked, defended.
It was as if England had a Zagallo on either flank.
Four years later, Zagallo was once more at the forefront of the game's tactical development. He was brought in to coach Brazil just two and a half months before the 1970 World Cup - but it was enough time to make radical changes.
Zagallo (right) scores during Brazil's defeat of Sweden in the 1958 World Cup final
His predecessor, the colourful and controversial Joao Saldanha, had qualified the team playing 4-2-4. That had to change.
"There's no way we could have won the World Cup using that system," Zagallo told me some two years ago. "If in 1958 we were already moving towards 4-3-3, how could you go back to 4-2-4 in 1970? We had to move forward."
He tinkered, found space for gifted midfielders Clodoaldo and Rivelino, who had been on the bench, and came up with something different.
"We played as a block, compact, leaving only Tostao up field," he said. "Jairzinho, Pel�, Rivelino, all tracked back to join Gerson and Clodoaldo in the midfield. We brought our team behind the line of the ball. I'm happy to see the team in terms of 4-5-1."
The 1970 Brazil side remain a byword for attacking brilliance, but there was a lot more to it than just instinctive natural talent.
They also had the benefit of scientific methods of physical preparation, plus a desire to balance attack and defence and the tactical awareness capable of transforming that desire into reality - the hallmark of Mario Zagallo.
You can put your questions to Tim Vickery every week on the World Football Phone-in on BBC Radio 5 Live's Up All Night programme from 0230 to 0400 BST every Saturday. You can also download last week's World Football Phone-in Podcast.
Got a question about South American football for Tim Vickery? Email him at vickerycolumn@hotmail.com
British people believe their qualities are, a sense of humour, modesty and determination, and to some extent this is reflected in their football. I was wondering in South America what different qualities people there believe they have and wherever these are expressed in their football or not? Lee Walsh
I suppose the big one would be improvisation. The history of South American football is full of improvised moves, deceiving the opposition by shaping to go left and instead going right, trying an overhead kick if the ball comes too far behind you, and so on.
Many South Americans will see a link between these moves and the quick wits needed to get by in difficult circumstances. As the great Argentine coach Cesar Luis Menotti once wrote, the South American game "is fed by the same sense of daring and sharpness that the kid from the poor neighbourhood needs to survive".
Which are South America's top 10 clubs? I guess Boca Juniors, River Plate, Flamengo and Sao Paulo should be in that list, maybe Corinthians and Atl�tico Nacional? But who else? Alain Grimaitre
I don't think there's any "maybe" about Corinthians - they're huge, although they have been relegated to Brazil's second division.
Other contenders - Uruguay has a small population, but the tradition of Penarol and Nacional can't be overlooked, and the same is true of Cerro Porteno and Olimpia in Paraguay.
Colo Colo in Chile and Alianza Lima in Peru deserve a mention, as do Barcelona of Ecuador, though they have been through some difficult times.
That's 13 already. And we haven't even mentioned Independiente - who might not have won much for a while, but even so can claim more Libertadores titles than anyone else. Or Santos, who represent a relatively small city and have a little stadium, but are so well known all over the world chiefly, of course, because of the Pele connection.
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