Juca's death saddens Portugal

Portuguese football is in mourning following the death of Sporting Clube de Portugal legend Júlio Cernadas Pereira, better known as Juca, at the age of 78.

Playing career
The first player to score a goal at the old Estádio José Alvalade, Juca started his playing career at Sporting de Lourenço Marques in his native Mozambique before joining Sporting in 1949. Before hanging up his boots in 1958, he played in 178 games for the club, winning five Portuguese titles and collecting eight caps for Portugal. He then became the youngest coach ever to win the Portuguese title, leading Sporting to glory in the 1961/62 season at the age of 33.

Portugal coach
Inbetween a number of other coaching posts with lesser sides, he would lead the Lisbon giants again in the 1964/65 and 1975/76 seasons, and having been part of the international coaching set-up since 1968, he was replaced José Maria Pedroto as Portugal coach in 1977, leading Portugal through their remaining 1978 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. A second spell in charge from September 1980 saw him fail to lead Portugal to the 1982 World Cup and he was hired once more between 1987 and 1989. In total, he led Portugal in 40 games - 17 wins, nine draws and 14 defeats.