Former soccer player Antônio Wilson Vieira Honório, known as Coutinho, died on Monday night (11), at age 75. Coutinho played for Santos F.C during the "Pelé Years" and was a part of the Brazilian national team for five years.
Coutinho started to play soccer at a club in his native Piracicaba and 1958, at age 14, he made his debut at Santos' main team. He wasn't even 16 when he got drafted to play for the Brazilian soccer team.
He was twice world champion with Santos, in 1962 and 1963 and was part of the national team that won the 1962 Fifa World.
One of Santos' most important players in 1950 and 1960, Coutinho was known for his precise dribbles and plays. Many of his goals (with Santos alone he scored 370 times in 457 games) happened with the ball rolling so slowly it didn't even touch the net.
His chemistry with Pelé generated many legendary plays, which inevitably ended with a goal.
But outside of the field, his partnership with the great Pelé had its ups and downs -- Coutinho used to joke when they got it right, Pelé was responsible, but when they got it wrong, he took the blame. Even at the peak of their career together, they often argued during a game, and this love-hate relationship created some myths. One was that to stop being mistaken for Pelé, he started to wear surgical tape around his wrists -- but Coutinho has already declared that it wasn't true. He did wear surgical tape at a certain point during his games because he had an injury in both wrists.
Translated by NATASHA MADOV