Waldo Machado

1954/62 Fluminense (BRE) 403 games, 319 goals

1962/69 Valencia CF (ESP) 296 games, 160 goals

(Spanish Championship: 216 games, 115 goals)

(Spanish Cup: 30 games, 13 goals)

(Cup Winners' Cup: 6 games, 1 goal)

(Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: 44 games, 31 goals)

1969/71 Hercules CF (ESP) 20 games, 1 goal

(Spanish Championship D2: 19 games, 1 goal)

(Spanish Cup: 1 game)

With the National Team :

4 caps, 2 goals

(Friendly matches: 3 caps)

(Copa del Atlántico: 1 cap, 2 goals)

1st cap: May 10, 1960 against Denmark (4-3)

Last cap: July 12, 1960 against Argentina (5-1)

Unofficial: 1 cap

Rio selection: 4 caps, 6 goals

Waldo Machado Da Silva

Born September 9, 1934 in Niteroi (BRE)

Died February 25, 2019 in Burjassot (SPA)

Brazilian, Striker, 1m79

Waldo Machado was born on September 9, 1934 in Niterói in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Coming from a modest family, he enlisted at the age of 18 in the navy under the advice of his uncle. Very athletic, he was spotted during a friendly match of his military team against the B team of Fluminense. During this match, he scored 5 goals and impressed the staff of the Brazilian club.

Waldo Machado was a striker ahead of his time, very powerful, he had a monstrous ball strike, if we compared him to a more modern player, it would undoubtedly be Adriano. A very effective scorer in front of goal, he dribbled only when necessary and favored efficient football over artistic football. A phrase from Dada Maravilha characterized him perfectly: "There is no such thing as an ugly goal. What is ugly is not scoring."

From his first matches with Fluminense, he established himself as one of the best players of the club and the country. In a very talented team, especially for its wingers and its goalkeeper, he imposed his cheerful personality and his desire to constantly improve. He will meet Didi in particular, a player with whom he will work many hours on his technique.

Forming a superb duo with Didi, he won the title of top scorer of the Rio championship in 1956 with 22 goals scored. The player who improved technically thanks in particular to Didi will continue to progress throughout his adventure with Fluminense, in 8 years spent at Fluminense, he scored 319 goals in 403 matches. He is then one of the best scorers in the history of Brazil.

But his adventure with the Brazilian selection did not take off, he was not selected for the 1958 World Cup and he did not play his first matches with Brazil until 1960, 4 small matches for 2 goals. Waldo would never be called up to play with Brazil again. Machado became an idol of the club for his enthusiasm, his joviality and his good understanding with his teammates.

Machado had superb years in Brazil, especially and curiously after Didi's departure. He notably won the Rio-São Paulo tournament in 1957, which he won undefeated. During the tournament, he scored one of the most beautiful goals of his career, which was described by Sylvio Pirillo, the team's coach at the time: "Waldo's last goal, one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, was initiated by a ball thrown back by hand by our goalkeeper. This victory, this goal, shows unequivocally that the Fluminense player does not give up on any result as long as there is time to win a match. Our way of feeling and living a match has helped our group a lot in this Rio-São Paulo tournament. »

Machado continues to win some trophies, including the Rio championship in 1959. The year 1959 is undoubtedly the best personal year of the player in terms of statistics since he scored 62 goals in the year, 69 counting additional friendly matches.

He wins the Rio-São Paulo Tournament again in 1960 and during the final between Fluminense and Botafogo, the player will make an unprecedented gesture of fair play. Indeed, the defender Pinheiro is injured and Garrincha pushes the ball into touch so that he can get treatment. Waldo will give the ball back to Botafogo.

Blocked in the selection by players like Pelé, Vavá or Coutinho, he will never taste the major competitions with the Seleção, a huge disappointment for the player.

In 1961, an event will forever change the life of Waldo Machado, Valter Marciano, a Brazilian player from Valencia, dies in a car accident. A match is organized between Fluminense and Valencia in order to financially help his widow. Machado finds Didi for this match and will also play alongside Evaristo.

Machado has an excellent match and will crack the president of Valencia Julio de Miguel. The latter sends Vicente Peris to negotiate the signing of the player in Brazil, a transfer signing is made around 6 million pesetas and Waldo leaves Fluminense in the shoes of the best scorer in the history of the club, the best scorer in the Fluminense-Botagogo classico tied with Heleno de Freitas. For the record, Waldo never took a penalty with Fluminense, so he would have scored his 319 goals without that.

Waldo Machado had his first match with the Spanish club against Real Zaragoza on September 3, 1961. During this match he remained silent, but the following week, he scored twice against Oviedo, the machine was launched. With Vicente Guillot, he would form one of the best duos in the history of La Liga.

During the 1960s, Valencia CF was an irregular team that very rarely played in the race for the title in La Liga. But with Waldo, Valencia CF would become a very good team in knockout competitions. In his first season, he participated in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

During this competition, Valencia and Machado successively eliminated Nottingham Forest, Inter Milan, MTK Budapest and FC Barcelona. One of the greatest epics in the history of Valencia. The final was a piece of cake with an easy 6-2 victory and an assist from Waldo.

The following season, Valencia repeated their feat and won the competition again after eliminating Celtic Glasgow, Dunfermline, Hibernian Edinburgh, AS Roma and Dinamo Zagreb in the final. The Spanish club won 2-1 in the final, with Waldo Machado equalising from a free kick before Urtiaga scored the winning goal.

Waldo continued his adventure in Spain, winning the Spanish Cup in 1967 when he was already 33 years old. This was his last great season, he finally won the Pichichi award with 24 league goals, 9 goals more than the second in the standings: Eleuterio Santos Brito. He also finished top scorer in the Spanish Cup with 8 goals.

The adventure with Valencia ended in 1969, he left the club after 7 years and 160 goals scored in 296 games. He then signed for Hercules CF before retiring in 1971 at the age of 37.

- Top scorer in the European Fairs Cup in 1962 (9 goals) (Valencia CF)

- Top scorer in the Spanish Championship in 1967 (24 goals) (Valencia CF)

- Top scorer in the Spanish Cup in 1967 (8 goals)

- Top scorer in the Rio Championship in 1956 (22 goals) (Fluminense)

- Top scorer in the Rio-São Paulo tournament in 1957 (13 goals) and 1960 (11 goals) (Fluminense)

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