Juvenal (footballer, born 1923)

Juvenal Amarijo
	Juvenal Amarijo in 1950
Personal information
Full name	Juvenal Amarijo
Date of birth	27 November 1923
Place of birth	Santa Vitória do Palmar, Brazil
Date of death	30 October 2009 (aged 85)
Place of death	Salvador, Brazil
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Center back (retired)
Youth career
1936–1940	Vitoriense
Senior career*
Years	Team
1940–1949	Cruzeiro-RS
1949–1951	Flamengo
1951–1954	Palmeiras
1954–1958	Bahia
1958–1960	Ypiranga-BA
Total
National team
1944–1950	Brazil
Honours
Men's Football
Representing Brazil
FIFA World Cup
Copa América
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Juvenal Amarijo (27 November 1923 – 30 October 2009) was a former Brazilian football player. He has played for Brazil national team. Regarded as one of the best defenders of all time. He was renowned for man-marking, stamina, tackling and he stood out for his leadership.

Club career

Juvenal made his adult football debut in 1940 with Cruzeiro, where he spent nine seasons until 1949, he won the Brasileira División five times in 1941, 1943 1944, 1946, 1948, he defended the colors of the team. With his game for the team he attracted the attention of the coaching staff of the club "Flamengo", which he joined in 1949. He played for the team from Rio de Janeiro for the next two seasons of his playing career. Most of his time with Flamengo, he was a key player in the team's defense and he was highly praised for his leadership, marking opponents and a ball-winner and he formed a formidable defensive duo with Bigode which was considered to be one of the best defences ever. In 1951 he signed a contract with the club "Palmeiras", in which he spent the next three years of his career as a player. Playing for Palmeiras, he also mostly played for the main team. From 1954 to 1958 he defended the colors of the Bahia club, and ended his professional playing career at the Ipiranga (Bahia) club, for which he played from 1958 to 1960.

International career

He made his debut on May 17, 1944 against Chile with 2-1 victory for the Brazilian national team. Despite being left out for two Copa América tournaments in 1945 and 1946, he was selected to play for Copa América in 1949 when Brazil won the tournament for the third time. During his career in the national team, which lasted 6 years, he played 22 matches and scored once. He was the main defender of the Brazilian national team at his home World Cup in 1950, taking part in all matches of the team in the tournament. In particular, he took part in the decisive match against the national team of Uruguay, in which the world champion was determined and in which the Brazilians were considered favorites, but unexpectedly lost 2-1 and received silver medals. He was blamed along with Barbosa and Bigode for the defeat and he retired from the Selecão, although his performance led him to be included in the "Team of the Tournament".

Later life and death

In the 1990s, Juvenal was left destitute, his legs were extremely sore due to arthritis in his right knee, which made him unable to walk, and survived only thanks to the help of his neighbors. Juvenal lived in a hut with holes in the roof without a toilet, kitchen or shower. Soon a telecast about the hard life of Juvenal was shown on Bailly's telecast. And after this report, many people responded to help the former football player, many helped with money, someone gave Juvenal a portable radio. He was transferred to a fee-paying clinic in Santo Antonio das Obras, and then began to pay for his trips to das Clínicas in Salvador, where a former football player and now a doctor, Luis Carlos Menezes, helped Juvenal learn to walk again. And in 2009, the government of the state of Bahia gave Juvenal a new house on Jahua street in the city Kamasari, consisting of a living room, two bedrooms, a kitchen and a small courtyard. On October 30, 2009, Juvenal, the last living Brazilian player to take the field in the 1950 World Cup final, died in the Camasari Public Hospital, where he had been sent 15 days earlier. The cause of death has not been determined.