Former striker Manuel Duarte, one of the players called up by the Portuguese soccer team for the 1966 World Cup in England, died this Friday at the age of 77, a family source informed Lusa.
Settled since 1972 in Fafe, in the neighborhood of Braga, the skinny one, international in two preparation matches for the World Cup, but without a single minute in the tournament in which the ‘quinas’ were third classified, suffered “a state of weakness of health that has deteriorated in recent days,” added the same source.
Born in Vale de Azares, in the municipality of Celorico da Beira, in the district of Guarda, Manuel Duarte ’emerged’ for football at Académica, a club where he made his debut in the main Portuguese championship at the age of 17, in the decade of 1962. /63 season.
The striker signed for Leixões in 1964 and, in the two seasons with the Matosinhos shield, he scored 14 goals in 38 games, having secured a call-up to the Portuguese national team at the end of his second year, in the summer of 1966.
Manuel Duarte loaned to Sporting in the 1966/67 season, in which he scored 11 goals in 21 games, before losing ‘space’ the following season and keeping the record of two goals in 14 games until the end of the 1969 season. / 70.
The striker represented FC Porto in the 1970/71 season, having played two ‘blue and white’ games, against Varzim in 1971/72 and AD Fafe, the city club where he would stay between 1972 and 1978.
Father of Jorge Duarte, a midfielder who represented Fafe, Tirsese, Desportivo das Aves, Vitória de Guimarães, Moreirense and Leixões, the former spearhead was a coach after finishing his football career.
Manuel Duarte’s funeral is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, in the parish church of Fafe.
Source: TSF
