Vavá

Edvaldo Izídio Neto, known as Vavá (born 12 November 1934 in Recife; † 19 January 2002 in Rio de Janeiro), was a Brazilian footballer.

The striker was instrumental in Brazil's World Cup triumphs in Sweden in 1958 (5 goals) and Chile in 1962 (4 goals).

At the World Cup in Sweden, Vavá competed with young centre-forward Mazzola (who took to the field as Altafini for Italy at the 1962 World Cup) for the place at centre-forward. Mazzola scored twice in the first group game against Austria (final score 3-0 in favour of the Selecão) and therefore also featured in the second game against England (0-0 draw). But later world stars Garrincha and Pelé were also on the bench in those games.

The third group game against the Soviet Union then brought a breakthrough for the three great strikers Garrincha, Pelé and Vavá. Vavá scored both goals in a 2-0 win, Garrincha dribbled his way continuously into the back of the defence on the sidelines, and the super-talented Pelé demonstrated ball handling that had not been seen before. For the first time, the Garrincha - Didi - Vavá - Pelé - Zagallo attacking formation was able to show what magic football it was capable of.

The semi-final against France was one of the most spectacular matches of the World Cup. Kopa and Fontaine guaranteed a top-class attacking game on the part of France, and the ball artists from Brazil even surpassed them. After goals from Vavá, Didi and three times Pelé, they won 5:2 and thus entered the final.

Host nation Sweden, around senior Gunnar Gren in midfield and with two fine wingers Kurre Hamrin and Lennart Skoglund, were then almost a match ball for the Brazilians in the final. Again the score was 5-2, with Vavá and Pelé scoring twice each and hard worker Mario Zagallo, Vavá the determined enforcer, Didi, Garrincha and Pelé mostly the brilliant preparers.

In Chile 1962, Brazil fielded the same attacking line-up but were unlucky when the outstanding Pele, of all players, suffered an injury in the second group game that prevented him from playing in the World Cup again. His deputy Amarildo, however, performed well in all his appearances alongside the likes of Garrincha, Didi, Vavá and Zagallo, with Garrincha and Vavá scoring twice each in the semi-final to secure a 4-2 win over Chile. Vavá scored again in the final against Czechoslovakia (3-1 win). With four goals, he was one of the top six scorers at the 1962 World Cup (all four goals each). However, his team-mate Garrincha was chosen by lot as the official top scorer.

Despite these two major tournament successes, Vavá only managed 22 caps. Given that his first appearance came on 13 November 1955 and he played his last game for Brazil on 3 June 1964 in São Paulo against Argentina, 22 caps in nine years for such a prolific striker is a paltry total even by Brazilian standards. However, Vavá's name is inextricably linked with the era of the greats Garrincha, Didi and Pele, and with two World Cup titles in 1958 and 1962.

With CR Vasco da Gama he won the Rio championship in 1956 and 1958, and with Palmeiras São Paulo he won the unofficial Brazilian club championship in 1959.

He joins Pelé, Paul Breitner and Zinédine Zidane as the only players to score in two different World Cup finals.