Pinga (Portuguese footballer)

Born and raised in Madeira, Arthur di Souza began to play at Maritima , a club from the main city of the archipelago. Before moving to the continent , di Souza won the regional championship three times, became a defendant in several scandals and received the first call to the national team of Portugal. His exceptional talent was manifested when he was a player in a team from Funchal, the composition of which di Souza replenished at the age of seventeen. On June 23, 1930, di Souza had a great match against Porto , as a result of which the club from the city of the same name tried to immediately get a football player. However, di Souza refused the proposal for the transition, citing reluctance to leave the island and the decisive position of his mother. This decision nearly erased di Sousa's football career. Soon, due to disagreements with the leaders of Maritimo, he was sent to a 5-month “link” to the Azores island of San Miguel , which is much further than from Madeira to Porto ; di Souza became a member of the Union Mikaelénsé team representing the city of Ponta Delgada . At the end of November 1930, while remaining a soccer player of the more than modest Mikaeléns, Arthur first received a call to the Portuguese national team. On November 30, he made his debut in a game against the Spanish national team (0: 1), the eighth duel in a series of eleven friendlies. The match took place at the Campo do Ameal in Porto, and this fact brought di Souza closer to the football club of the same name. After the international match, Arthur was returned to Maritimo, but he no longer wanted to defend the colors of this club, and therefore returned to the Porto proposal. The club’s head coach from mainland Portugal , Jozsef (Jose) Szabo, personally insisted on acquiring di Sousa, whose capabilities he knew very well, as being a Nacional player, he had to deal with him directly on the football field, including in the framework of the Madeira Championship. Porto President Eduardo Vilares was in solidarity with the head coach and considered that the conflict around Di Sousa was the best time to pick him up. Negotiations lasted almost the whole of December and, since there was no discussion of the football player’s consent, they ended successfully.

On December 23, 1930, Arthur di Souza officially became a Porto player (by the way, Maritimo executives subsequently repeatedly declared the transfer of di Souza illegal, as they allegedly did not give consent, and accused Porto managers of falsifying the relevant documents), and December 25 - made his debut for him. This happened in the match against Salgeirush during the Porto Championship: in the Campo da Constituição home arena, the “blue and white” defeated the guests with a score of 9: 2 (according to other sources - 10: 2). But di Sousa scored his first goal for the new club not in this match, plentiful for goals, but in the next, more stubborn, which took place on December 28 at the same stadium: with a score of 3: 2, “Porto” defeated “Eirinash”. Arthur did not take much time to fall in love with the fans - an enviable technique, fantastic ball control, performance made him one of the most popular players in the eyes of fans of the Porto team. Over the next sixteen seasons, di Souza held 400 matches for Porto, in which he scored a record 394 goals. The legendary team, among other trophies, won the first gold medals of the national championship for the club. The defeats carried out by the Porto attackers di Sousa, Asasio Mesquita and Valdemar Mota of the football team of Budapest (4: 7) and the Vienna “ Forst ” (0: 3), one of the best European teams of that time, went down in history as “Noon of the Three Devils” ". This name first appeared after Christmas 1933 , a week after the match with the Hungarian team and shortly after the match with the Austrians, which took place just at noon. The name “three devils” was later often used in relation to the players of the Portuguese club’s line of attack, and di Souza personally contributed to the romanticization of this period, returning to him in his poetic interviews and performances.

I do not want to seem conceited, but the three of us combined and scored goals so quickly and easily that sometimes we ourselves did not understand exactly how a particular goal happened.

- Arthur di Souza

All participants of the “diabolical” trio - Mota, Mesquite, di Souza, as well as subsequently replacing the first two Alvaro Pereira and Avelino Martins, made their debut in the Portuguese national team on the same day.

Arthur di Souza came out with his captain's armband for his last match in a national team shirt. A friendly meeting with Switzerland took place on January 1, 1942 in Lisbon , and the 32-year-old di Souza was the only member of his team from the 1930 November draft appeal. In total, he played 23 matches for the national team, 11 of which were matches against Spain; Of the nine goals scored for the national team, three flew into the goal of the Spaniards. Di Souza also scored the national teams of Belgium , Hungary , Germany , Switzerland and Yugoslavia . The end of the club career was not long in coming, although it happened in connection with a series of tragic accidents, in particular severe knee injury and complications associated with an unsuccessful meniscus operation. On July 7, 1946, di Souza played in his farewell match. The rival of “Porto” was the united team, which included the players of “ Academician ”, “ Belenenscha ”, “ Benfica ” and “ Sporting ”; the match ended with a score of 5: 4 in favor of Porto, and moved by di Souza, without hiding tears, he left the football field forever with a standing ovation. Porto worthily played one of the best players in its history - the last match of di Sousa was held as part of a festival organized jointly with the Portuguese Football Federation and dedicated to him alone. A festive parade was held at the “Dragons” home stadium, in which more than 500 athletes from all over the country took part.

The above characterization of di Sousa by the “football artist” was given by Candido di Oliveira in April 1945 . It is interesting that the coach could not know about Di Sousa’s injury, however, he spoke about his former ward in the past tense: “Everything in him was excellent: technique, creation, intelligence, imagination. He played best in one touch, he chose the position better than anyone, he felt better than anyone else. He knew how to feel the game and understood it as subtly as possible. We have not yet had a player who understands football so deeply and comprehensively. ”

Coaching experience, Arthur di Souza recruited in the club from the lower division of “ Tiersense ”. With Tiersensee di Souza, he recalled himself, sensationally knocking out the Lisbon Sporting from the Portuguese Cup. The highest point in his coaching career is the 1949/50 season, which di Souza spent as the head coach of Porto. Having taken only 5th place in the championship, di Souza moved to the position of assistant coach. Then he worked in various children's and youth teams of this club. In 1963, he headed the team of the second division of Guweia, but worked in it for only a few months. Then he returned to Porto, becoming an assistant coach for the youth team. But he did not work long: a stomach ulcer and cirrhosis brought to the grave of a 53-year-old ex-soccer player, coach and teacher. Arthur di Souza was buried at the Agramonte cemetery in Porto.

Team

  Maritimo

• Champion of Madeira : ( 3 ) 1926/27 , 1928/29 , 1929/30

  Porto

• Champion of Portugal : ( 3 ) 1934/35 , 1938/39 , 1939/40
• Portuguese Cup Winner: ( 2 ) 1931/32 , 1936/37
• Iberian Cup Winner : ( 1 ) 1935
• Champion of Porto : ( 14 ) 1930/31 , 1931/32 , 1932/33 , 1933/34 , 1934/35 , 1935/36 , 1936/37 , 1937/38 , 1938/39 , 1940/41 , 1942/43 , 1943/44 , 1944/45 , 1945/46
• Silver medalist of the Portuguese Championship : 1935/36 , 1937/38 , 1940/41
• Portugal Cup Finalist: 1930/31

Personal

• Top scorer of the Portuguese Championship : ( 1 ) 1935/36

• Biography on Estrelas do FCP
• Portugal - Record International Players
• Article on Dragão sénior (Artur de Sousa “Pinga” nasceu há um século)