Brandãozinho (footballer, born 1925)

Antenor Lucas, better known as Brandãozinho (born in Campinas, Brazil, June 9, 1925 – died in São Paulo, Brazil, April 4, 2000) was a former Brazilian football player. He has played for Brazil's national team. Brandaõzinho was widely regarded as one of the finest defenders and midfielders ever to play the game. He was renowned for his marking, tackling, dribbling, pressure, anticipation and his short and long passes. He also performs mainly covering and marking duties, positioning himself in front of the defensive line.

Brandãozinho

Brandãozinho in 1954
Personal information
Full name	Antenor Lucas
Date of birth	(1925-06-09)9 June 1925
Place of birth	Campinas, Brazil, Brazil
Date of death	4 April 2000(2000-04-04) (aged 74)
Position(s)	Defender, Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1940–1943	Campinas	60	(0)
1943–1949	Portuguesa Santista	253	(12)
1949–1956	Portuguesa Desportos	167	(7)
Total		480	(19)
National team
1952–1955	Brazil	18	(0)
Honours Men's Football Representing Brazil Copa América Runner-up 1953 Peru Panamerican Championship Winner 1952 Chile
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Brandanzinho began his career at the Campinas club in 1940, then in 1943 he moved to another São Paulo club, Portuguesa Santista. In 1949, Brandanzinho moved to Portuguesa Desportos, where he made his debut on September 1, 1949 in a friendly game with the Palmeiras club, which ended in a 1-3 defeat for Portuguesa. In an official match for Portuguesa, Brandanzinho played for the first time 10 days later: on September 11, in the São Paulo championship, Portuguesa met Corinthians”, the game again ended with the defeat of the Brandanzinho club with a score of 1-3, but Portuguesa had an excuse, his player was injured and left the field, and substitutions were not yet practiced in those years. On September 26, the first victory of Portugues came, with a score of 4-1, Brandanzinho's former club Portuguesa Santista was beaten, one of the goals on Brandanzinho's account, which became the player's first goal in Desportos. Brandanzinho played for Portuguesa Desportos for 7 years, winning two Rio Sao Paulo tournaments with the club in 1952 and 1955.

International career

In 1952, he made his debut in official matches as part of the Brazilian national team at the Pan American Games tournament, where the Brazilian team won. The following year, he played as part of the national team at the South American Championship in Peru in 1953, where he won silver with the team. In 1954, as part of the national team, he participated in the world championship in Switzerland, where he played 3 games. His last game was in 1955 during the Copa Oswaldo Cruz against Chile. During his career in the national team, which lasted 3 years, he played 18 matches in its uniform.

Later life and death

After finishing his performances on the football fields, Brandanzinho worked for some time in the police, and for 30 years he worked as a journalist for the newspaper "Detran de São Paulo". For a long time he worked as a mathematics teacher at school. Brandanzinho died on April 4, 2000 in the city of Sao Paulo.