Brazil Says Goodbye To Late Football Great Mario Zagallo

Brazilians paid their last respects on Sunday to football legend Mario Zagallo, a four-time World Cup-winning player and coach who died at age 92 and was the final member of one of the country's greatest generations in the beloved sport. A steady stream of mourners -- dressed in black, and the yellow of the Brazilian national team or the colors of the numerous clubs where Zagallo played and coached -- filed past his coffin at the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), whose facade sported a giant banner in his honor.

On display near the lace-draped coffin were football-mad Brazil's record five World Cup trophies. Zagallo, a diminutive left-wing known for his tactical brilliance, had a hand in winning four of them, more than anyone in football history.

The "Professor," as he was known, played alongside Pele in Brazil's 1958 and 1962 World Cup-winning teams.

He then coached the 1970 world champion side starring Pele -- considered by many the greatest team in history -- and served as assistant coach when the "Selecao" repeated the feat in 1994.

"We've lost a sporting legend," said Bebeto, a member of the 1994 team.

"He was my second father," he told journalists -- a phrase echoed by fellow World Cup champion Cafu (1994 and 2002).

Others paying their respects included former Brazil coach Tite and CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues, who gave an emotional embrace to Zagallo's son Mario Cesar.

'Only one Zagallo'

Claudio Auvarenga, a 64-year-old driver, arrived early to be among the first to file past the casket.

"You can travel the world, you'll only find one Zagallo. No one else in history won four World Cups," he told AFP.

Zagallo's longtime assistant, Eliana Gaia, 66, called him a "human being without