José Augusto

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José Augusto Pinto de Almeida (pron. IPA: [ʒu'zɛ au'guʃtu]) (born Barreiro, April 13, 1937) was a Portuguese footballer and one of the top players on the legendary Benfica "Dream Team" and the Portuguese National team during the 1960s.

[edit] Playing Career

He first attract attention for his local team of Barreirense and he debuted for the National Team on May 7, 1958, in a friendly match with England that Portugal lost 1-2. The next year he moved to Benfica, where he played from 1958/59 to 1968/69, before ending his career at 32. As a Benfica player he achieved the status of one of the legends of the Golden Years of his team, like his team mates, Eusébio, Coluna, Costa Pereira and Simões. He played in the two Champions Cup finals which Benfica won (1961 and 1962), and in the lost finals of 1963, 1965 and 1968.

He had 45 caps for the National Team, scoring 9 goals, and played at the World Cup 1966 finals, were Portugal reached 3rd place. He had a brilliant career, only losing in an epic semi-final with England (1-2). He scored the two first goals in the debut victory over Hungary (3-1). His last game for the National Team on December 11, 1968 was a disappointment. At Athens the team lost to an inferior Greek squad (2-4) in the World Cup qualifyings. He was only 31, but decided to finish is career the next season to become a trainer.

[edit] Training Career

As a trainer, he led another legendary National Team, which reached the Independence Cup of Brazil final on July 9, 1972, after winning all the games, with Ecuador (3-1), Iran (3-0), Chile (4-1), Ireland (2-1), Argentina (3-1), U.S.S.R. (1-0), and an only tie with Uruguay (1-1). The Portugal National Team, which was largely composed of Benfica players, including veterans Eusébio and Jaime Graça, and youngsters Humberto Coelho and Jordão, lost the final only in the 89 m, when Jairzinho finally scored.

The possibility of returning to the World Cup 1974 finals, seemed open, but Portugal had a miserable qualifying. After two wins over Cyprus, Portugal tied with Northern Ireland (1-1) abroad, before losing to Bulgaria (1-2) and a dramatic draw in Lisbon (2-2), which ended hopes of returning to the World Cup finals (which was achieved again in 1986). José Augusto resigned after the last game, a 1-1 draw with Northern Ireland, but continued his training career, with minor results. He was later an assistant trainer of the National Team that reached the 3rd place in Euro Cup 1984 finals, and a U-17 National Team trainer.

	Portugal squad - 1966 World Cup 3rd place
1 Américo Lopes \| 2 Joaquim Carvalho \| 3 José Pereira \| 4 Vicente Lucas \| 5 Germano \| 6 Fernando Peres \| 7 Ernesto Figueiredo \| 8 João Lourenço \| 9 Hilário \| 10 Mário Coluna \| 11 António Simões \| 12 José Augusto \| 13 Eusébio \| 14 Fernando Cruz \| 15 Manuel Duarte \| 16 Jaime Graça \| 17 João Morais \| 18 José Torres \| 19 Custódio Pinto \| 20 Alexandre Baptista \| 21 José Carlos \| 22 Alberto Festa \| Coach: Otto Glória