Eusebio on fire in England.

England hires Scolari? Nuno Valente is out of the World Cup? Cristiano Ronaldo suspended for doping? No, no and no. I won’t spread any lies today. Actually I’m too sick to do it. So, I’ll leave you with an article wich I found at FIFAWorldCup.com about Eusébio.

Pele is not the only footballer who can lay claim to the nickname O Rei. In Portugal they have their own ‘King’ and his name is Eusebio.

Eusebio wrote his name in FIFA World Cup history by scoring nine goals as Portugal reached the semi-finals on their debut appearance on the world stage in 1966. Among his goals were the four he struck in arguably the tournament’s most dramatic match, as Portugal famously overturned a 3-0 deficit to defeat Korea DPR.

With a fearsome right foot, flowing control and lightning speed, Eusebio’s prowess was established long before the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Ferenc Puskas acknowledged the then 20-year-old’s scoring genius when he handed him his shirt after the 1962 European Champion Clubs’ Cup final, where Eusebio’s two second-half goals wrapped up a 5-3 triumph for Benfica against Real Madrid in Amsterdam.

Eusebio da Silva Ferreira – also known as ‘The Black Pearl’ – had arrived in Lisbon at the start of the decade from his native Mozambique and quickly made his mark. He scored on his debut for Portugal against Luxembourg in October 1961 and his goals proved pivotal to their qualification for the 1966 finals.

Starting as he intended to carry on, he struck his first hat-trick for his adopted country in a 5-1 rout of Turkey in their opening qualifier and then struck all four of Portugal’s goals in their ensuing three matches to secure narrow wins in Turkey and Czechoslovakia and at home to Romania.

Approaching the FIFA World Cup, Eusebio had finished the Portuguese season as the league’s top scorer – a feat he would achieve seven times overall – but as Portugal warmed up for the tournament, it was his Benfica colleague Jose Torres who could not stop scoring, netting eight goals in five friendly games while Eusebio managed three.

The 24-year-old registered a blank in Portugal’s 3-1 win over Hungary in their opening match at Old Trafford on 13 July, but three days later, he opened his account with the second goal as Portugal beat Bulgaria 3-0. Now the goals began to flow.

Eusebio struck twice in Portugal’s final group match against Brazil, heading them into a 2-0 half-time lead after Antonio Simoes’ early opener, and then lashing in a late third after Rildo had raised hopes of a Brazilian comeback.

Korea DPR lay in wait in the quarter-finals and, having eliminated the holders, Portuguese hopes were high. Yet they could not have made a worse start to the match at Goodison Park, falling 3-0 behind inside the first 25 minutes. Portugal now needed a miracle, and Eusebio provided it.

After pulling a goal back within two minutes, Eusebio then reduced the deficit further two minutes before the break, converting a penalty after a foul on Torres. He made it 3-3 after 56 minutes, sprinting through the North Korean defence to equalise, and three minutes later, after his electrifying run down the left was ended illegally, he netted Portugal’s fourth from the penalty spot.

Jose Augusto added a fifth goal but this was Eusebio’s day, the North Koreans left helpless in the face of his pace and power. His exploits meant he was a marked man, however, and in the semi-final against England at Wembley, he struggled to escape the shackles of England’s deep-lying midfielder, Nobby Stiles.

With their main threat subdued, England went two goals ahead through Bobby Charlton. Eusebio then converted an 82nd-minute penalty but it proved scant consolation at a stadium where he also tasted defeat in the European Cup finals of 1963 and ‘68. Still, there was one more goal to come, as Eusebio’s early penalty helped Portugal claim third place with a 2-1 win against Russia.

Read more about the 1966 FIFA World Cup

Eusebio ended 1966 by being voted European Footballer of the Year but despite the great swathe of silverware he collected during his long stay at Benfica – including two European Golden Shoes – he never again graced a major international tournament.

Fittingly it was in England that he scored his final goal for Portugal, in a FIFA World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland in August 1973. He left the international stage with 41 goals from 64 appearances – a record which survived until last year, when Pauleta struck his 42nd goal for the Seleção.

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Eusebio, whose career wound down in the mid-1970s with spells with Beira Mar and with clubs in North America and Mexico, remains Portuguese football’s favourite son – and an avuncular figure to today’s players.

After receiving a congratulatory phone call from Eusebio on breaking his record, Pauleta summed up the esteem in which the great man, now the Portugal national team ambassador, is held when he declared: “Eusebio will always be unique and I can’t be compared to him in any way. He will remain the greatest Portuguese player of all time.”