The Greatest Game of All

The World Prepares for  the 2014 World Cup Finals in Brazil

K.V.Venugopal

The World Cup of football is around the corner. The moment people think of soccer, Brazil’s name will immediately jump to mind. The five - time World champion has created a lasting impact in the minds of football - hungry fans.  The month - long grand gala event, the most popular game in the world, begins in Brazil on the 13th of June 2014.  

“Brazil is a country built of stories, myths and Chinese whispers,” Writes Alex Bellos, in his introduction to Futebol. Those myths and stories have penetrated our perception of Brazilian football too. The team is regularly associated with sorcery and deception. Brazil’s five World Cup titles and participation in every tournament ensures it will remain the most storied team for a long time.

Yet, Brazil’s success story, like all positive tales, finds its origins in defeat. Even now, the country’s loss to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup final at home is recounted with much grief. As celebrated playwright Nelson Rodrigues noted, “Our catastrophe, our Hiroshima…” However, one would do well to remember that this was also the tournament that, at times, saw the apotheosis of the so-called ‘Samba’ football, indeed, after watching Brazil thrash Spain and Sweden, Brian Glanville was moved to write that the side played “the football of the future… tactically unexceptional but technically superb.”

Unfortunately, even though facts suggest otherwise, the cavalier and defensively fragile tag has stuck with Brazil. Hence, it is important to dilute this perception in 1958, when Brazil won its first title in Sweden by conceding only four goals in six matches and those strikes arrived in the semi-final and final. At the 1962 World Cup in Chile, only four goals were allowed in as many matches. Though the team performed miserably in 1966 at England, Brazil regained its glory when the team defeated Italy by four goals to one in the final at Mexico in 1970. It was the last tournament for the legendary Pele. He did not disappoint the fans and scored the first goal of the match in the 18th minute and the team surged ahead with goals from Gerson, Jairasingo and their captain Alberto in the 66th, 79th and 86th minutes respectively. Jairsingo had the distinction of scoring in all the matches of Brazil’s dominance over its opposition.     

While 1970 stands as a pillar of ultimate joy, the significance of 1958 and 1994 should not be understated. Only eight years had passed since the tragedy of 1950 when a 17 year old Pele embalmed those wounds through six strikes at the tournament, two of them in the final against Sweden. The successful campaign of 1994 is not regarded very highly for it was characterized by ‘defensive football’. Indeed, Brazil scored only 11 times in seven matches and required a penalty shoot out to win the final. Yet, the victory remains as significant as the others because it brought an end to a 24 year long drought that had borne painful failures, most notably in the 1982 World Cup at Spain when their ace striker Zico’s bungling of a penalty kick enabled Italy not only to win the quarter final, but to go ahead and lift the World Cup for the third time by beating Germany three goals to one in the finals. 

To read the full text online subscribe to the magazine

OR

Get a hard copy of the magazine for details contact at email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.