International football's band of brothers: Part - 1

The Souza Viera de Oliveiras – Socrates and Rai

Forget that family name, Socrates and Rai are the names that need remembering. Socrates is a legend in this game, just like his namesake from ancient Greece was in his own right (perhaps it’s in the name). Standing at 6’3”, he was an imposing physical presence and one of the greatest playmakers to ever play the game. Socrates was superbly two-footed and was as skilled as they come – his signature move was the blind heel pass. Sporting a beard and headband almost always, he became a very recognizable figure on the football field and became the symbol of cool for an entire generation. Socrates represented the Selecao in 2 World Cups (1982 & 1986), including captaining the side in the ’82 edition.

Socrates was not just a great footballer, he was also a very intellectual one; he worked as a columnist for several newspapers and magazines writing on sport, economics and politics. He was also a qualified doctor, a very rare feat amongst professional footballers. What is even more astounding is that he earned that medical degree while parallely playing football. Socrates breathed his last on 4 December, 2011. He was one of the greatest footballers to have never won the World Cup.

Rai, his younger brother by 9 years, did manage that World Cup win – as part of the 1994 squad led by Dunga. He spent most of his footballing career with 2 clubs – Sao Paulo and Paris Saint-Germain. He won the intercontinental cup once, the Libertadores cup twice and the Brazilian league once with Sao Paulo and the French league once, the French Cup twice and the Cup Winners Cup once with Paris Saint-Germain.

Both received the South American Footballer of the Year award once – Socrates in 1983 and Rai in 1992.