Background
Mauro was born in Poco de Caldas, in Minas Gerais in 1830.
Mauro was born in Poco de Caldas, in Minas Gerais in 1830.
Mauro, otherwise Mauro Ramos de Oliveira, had made his international debut in 1949 in the south American championships, played that year in Brazil itself, using stadia in Rio and Sao Paolo. He was capped twice, but then, "I became known as the eternal substitute." Time and again he was chosen for the national squad over the next 12 years, but did not get another international game until 1961.
That year Brazil played in Paraguay for the Oswaldo Cruz trophy, and in Chile for the Bernardo O'Higgins Cup. In the first of these games, Mauro yet again stayed on the bench, but then he was picked and did so well that he was canvassed as first choice for the 1962 World Cup tournament. He had been non-playing reserve to Bellini when the previous World Cup was won by Brazil for the first time, in Sweden in 1958.
As a centre-half, Mauro was by no means a static stopper. Like many Brazilian stars, he believed in players using their own initiative, rather than following, robot-like, the instructions of the coach. In Brazil, he said, "Each of us has a theoretical zone of action, a sort of anchorage. But it is a starting point, not the finish. [Each player's] real scope of action is dictated by his own reading of the match, and his self-knowledge of his skill and physical possibilities."
In Chile, in contrast with Sweden 1958, Mauro said "Brazil worked more reliably, every player pursuing his function determinedly, and giving evidence of how valuable was the experience he had gained in four years of fight, observation and contact with the rest of world football. Like wise old boxers, we ducked or rode the punches according to how they were thrown."
He began his footballing career with the Sao Joao da Boa Vista club, was spotted by a former centre-half from the powerful Sao Paolo club, and joined them as a professional. Strangely for a country where technique is so prized, he was said to be "too technical, too classical" for the centre-half position. In later years, he wondered if this was why he had to wait so long for a regular place in the national team.
Meanwhile, he followed a parallel career as a civil servant.
He was married to Eny and had two children, Mauro junior and Sylvia.
