José Augusto Torres

José Augusto Torres ( born September 8, 1938 in Torres Novas, † 3 September 2010 in Lisbon ) was a Portuguese football player and coach. As a player, he was part of the heyday of SL Benfica in the early 1960s and won with the club in addition to numerous other titles two European Champions Cup. With the national team he finished third in the FIFA World Cup 1966 in England. As a coach, he led Portugal to attend the FIFA World Cup 1986 in Mexico.

Career as a player

José Augusto Torres started his career with the provincial association Torres Novas, before moving to Benfica in 1959 at the age of 21 years. There, in the late 1950s formed a team that would later gain great success in Europe. The first success with Benfica was winning the national championship in season 1959/60 with two points ahead of local rivals Sporting. Winning the championship meant for Benfica participation in the European Champions Cup in the 1960 / 61st There Benfica reached after beating Heart of Midlothian, Újpest Budapest, Aarhus GF and SK Rapid Vienna the final, in which the opponents FC Barcelona said. Barça was defeated with goals from José Águas, Mário Coluna and an own goal by Antoni Ramallets as well as hits by Zoltán Sándor Kocsis and Czibor for Barcelona 3-2.

Torres arrive at the 1960/61er-Saison of the European Cup of Champions no goals, but he also was not often in the squad of the Portuguese. In the following season, Benfica was able, after re- Portuguese champion, repeat the triumph in the European Cup. After FK Austria Vienna, the 1st FC Nuremberg and Tottenham Hotspur were defeated, it was again in the final, where the enemy this time Real Madrid said. Benfica won 5-3 at the end. But then it was with the successful passing time in the European Cup for Benfica. In the championship, however, the team secured from the capital of Portugal many more titles. José Augusto Torres scored 226 goals during his time with the Portuguese top club in 259 games.

José Augusto Torres played a total of 34 times for the Portuguese national football team. With this, he took part in England at the World Cup 1966. There, the Portuguese reached the semi-finals, where they were denied by the eventual world champions England. Then the Soviet Union was defeated in the match for third place. Here, Torres scored his third Turniertor. Previously, with his 2.04 meters Height very tall striker had met in the preliminary round against Hungary and Bulgaria. His last game in the selection of Portugal was a 2-2 draw in the World Cup qualifiers for Germany 1974 against Bulgaria.

After the active career

After his playing career, José Augusto Torres as manager was active. So he trained alongside Vitória Setúbal and Porto Boavisto the Portuguese national team. With the national team he created in 1986 for the first time since 1966 to qualify for a World Cup. In Mexico, however, Portugal dropped out after a win against England and defeats against Poland and Morocco made ​​in the preliminary round.