Reaction Time — Goalkeeper Barbosa’s 100th Birthday

He played a lot of street football and soon became part of the São Paulo Laboratory of Biology (LPB) team, where he worked between the '30s and '40s. He played in amateur tournaments — at that time, still as right-wing. He also played for Almirante Tamandaré, a team coached by his brother-in-law, in the floodplain fields of Baixada do Glicério. It was there that he replaced the goalkeeper in a match and never more left the goal.

Upon arrival, a fright: Barbosa broke his hand and only became a starting player effectively in 1946. He stayed at Vasco until 1955 and then returned in 1958 playing until 1961. According to the club's statistics, there were 431 matches, 282 victories and 16 titles. In the audio, he talks about his beginnings at Vasco.

Barbosa was part of the Vasco team that became known as Victory Express. Coached initially by Ondino Vieira and, at its peak, by Flavio Costa, that team was the first Brazilian team to play with the 4-2-4 formation. Victory Express formed the basis of the Brazilian National Team between 1947 and 1950.

According to the testimony of journalist Duarte Gralheiro to Jornal dos Sports, Barbosa's style was impressive: "He was a lightning bolt. He traced a cat jump in the air and, with the body in a horizontal position, formed the parallel, and stopped. The ball was in his hands and the play was over."

Barbosa was the first goalkeeper to wear the number 1 jersey of the Brazilian National Team in a World Cup — before that, it was not mandatory to number players' uniforms.

Qualified to the final round, Brazil only needed a draw, but ended up being defeated 2-1 by Uruguay at Maracanã Stadium. Officials, the press, and intellectuals built a narrative that blamed Barbosa, Juvenal and Bigode, three of the black players of the Brazilian National Team.

The wooden goalposts of Maracanã were only changed in 1968. Barbosa even declared that he had burned one of them in a barbecue! Another version is that they ended up in Muzambinho (MG) — from where a piece was sawed and given to Tereza Borba.

Barbosa met Clotilde Melonio (1910-1997) when he was still playing for CA Ypiranga. They got married in December 1943 against the wishes of Clotilde's father, who did not want to see his daughter involved with a football player. They stayed together for 54 years until she died of cancer.

The exhibition presented jerseys and gloves of male and female goalkeepers from several countries.

At the Football Museum, the exhibition "Reaction Time — Goalkeeper Barbosa’s 100th Birthday" had three main axes: to remember the centenary of this football star, to tribute male and female goalkeepers in the 150th-anniversary of the foundation of this position, and to reflect on racism in football.

The exhibition ends with an antiracist manifest, calling on visitors to join the cause. "Reaction Time" is not only the technique developed by male and female goalkeepers but also the need for all of us to act right now for equality, in football and in life.