Rildo (footballer, born 1942)

Rildo da Costa Menezes (23 January 1942 – 16 May 2021) was a Brazilian football player. He played for Brazil national team.

Rildo died in Los Angeles, California on 16 May 2021, aged 79.^[1]

Rildo began his career in the youth squad of the Ibis club, which he himself called "the worst team in the world". From the early days of his career, the footballer played on the left edge of defense, imitating his idol Nilton Santos. From there, he moved to the Sport Recife club.

In 1959, the Botafogo club played a friendly match with Sport. At the end of the meeting, the head coach of Glorioso, Joan Saldaña, invited Rildo to the team. The transfer of the footballer took place five months later in December 1959. Initially, the player played in the second team, training with the first squad. He confronted Garrinche for a long time in training, who constantly beat the young footballer. During this period, Rildo was drafted into the army, but he did not appear there. He was later caught and sent to the 8th Artillery Regiment, stationed in Leblon. There, as a deserter, he was in solitary confinement for two months. Later, Botafogo was able to return their player and achieve the cancellation of the draft. Shortly after his return, Rildo was inducted into the main squad as a reserve for his idol Nilton Santos. In 1961 and 1962, the defender won two Rio de Janeiro state championships with the club. In 1962, Rildo won the Rio-São Paulo tournament with the club, and then repeated this success in 1964 and 1966.

In 1967, Botafogo began to experience financial problems. And his teammate, Carlos Alberto Torres, invited Rildo to move to the state of his team - Santos. The negotiations between the clubs were very difficult and long. The defender even gave up 15% of the rights to the money from the sale of the contract, only for Santos to be able to buy it out from Botafogo. In the end, the clubs reached an agreement. The club provided the player with an apartment overlooking the ocean, and also paid half of the 15% that Rildo refused during the negotiation stage. The defender won three state championships with the club, the Roberto Gomez Pedrosa Cup and the Intercontinental Super Cup. He played 325 matches for the team and scored 11 goals. He then briefly returned to Botafogo, for which he made a total of 298 appearances and scored 3 goals. Subsequently, the footballer played for ABS and CEUB clubs. Rildo played only one official game for ABS and was suspended by the Brazilian Court of Sport, as he and two other players of the club were not allowed to enter the field without being officially players of the team.

From 1974 to 1976, the defender reportedly played for Mexico's América. In 1976, Pelé invited Rildo to play for the New York Cosmos, where he spent one season in which he won the North American Soccer League championship, then played in the United States for the Southern California Lazers and the Cleveland Force Showball Club of the Major Indoor Soccer League.

In the 1979 season, he played for the California Sunshine, and the next season for the Cleveland Cobras, both of the American Soccer League.

He finished his playing career with the Los Angeles Aztecs, for which he played during 1981. At the end of his career, Rildo stayed to live in the United States, where he coached the California Emperors, Los Angeles Salsa and San Fernando Valley Golden Eagles.

Rildo was called up to the national team of Brazil in 1962. He, having not played a single game for the national team, was a candidate to travel to the 1962 World Cup, but lost the competition to Altair. Four years later, the defender still went to the 1966 World Cup in England. There, the player played one meeting - with Portugal, in which he scored a goal, but his team lost 1:3 and dropped out of the tournament.

Rildo played all the previous matches before the 1970 World Cup, being a starting player for Joan Saldaña. After Saldaña's departure from the post of head coach and the appointment of Mario Zagallo to his post, Rildo was no longer called up to the Seleção; The reason was given by a medical examination, which revealed that the defender had heart problems. A few years later, Rildo demanded that the doctor of the national team, Lidio de Toledo, name the diagnosis according to which the footballer could not play for the national team. He could not say anything specific, only explaining that this disease sometimes manifests itself and sometimes does not. In total, Rildo played 49 matches for the national team and scored 1 goal.

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