April 19th marked the 70th anniversary of Garrincha – one of Brazil’s greatest players – appearing at Griffin Park.
He played for Botafogo in a friendly against Brentford, then in Division Three South; Botafogo won 3-2. According to the Daily Express, Botafogo needed 15 players (i.e. four substitutes) to overcome the Bees, eventually scoring the winner in the 80th minute.
The next day Garrincha and his teammates took a flight from London Airport (the previous name for Heathrow) to Hungary.
The team continued a European tour which also included France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.
Over two weeks in England, Botafogo also played Fulham, Plymouth and Burnley.
At the time Garrincha was 22 years old and on the cusp of greatness: two years later in 1958, he helped Brazil win its first World Cup in a team with three other Botafogo players, beating Sweden 5-2 in the final in Stockholm to become the first team to win the World Cup outside their own continent.
A news item from Brazil’s Globo newspaper via the United Press news agency confirms Garrincha was in the starting line-up at Griffin Park, and mis-spells a lot of Brentford player names!
I would be interested to know if any veteran Brentford fans remember the game.
Alex covered Brentford matches as a local journalist in the ’90s
