Pelé is dead: with three championships and an exceptional production at the World Cup

Pele went and made the Brazilian team great. Crack, who died on Thursday at the age of 82, left an enviable record for the generations of footballers who followed him.

The World Cup in Sweden in 1958 It would have been the first with live television of all games. Football has entered a new era. The knockout phase had left several surprises, mainly due to the elimination of powers such as Italy (at the hands of Northern Ireland) and Spain (impossible with Scotland).

The Soviet Union arrived for the first time, but the favorites were Germany, defenders of the title and who kept the basis of the consecration in Switzerland in 1954. England, for their part, had suffered the tragedy of the Manchester players. Argentina? He had a quality squad, but little friction with the Europeans. And he paid dearly.

After the 1-3 draw against Germany in their debut, and after beating the Irish 3-1, the match against the Czechs in Halsinborg arrived: 1-6. “The disaster of Sweden”, as it was remembered since then and which forced to rethink all of Argentine football, which only two decades later would shine again in the foreground at the national level.

Brazil dreamed of forgetting the Maracanazo insult, but it did not inspire confidence. Pedro Escartín summed it up like this: “Brazil cannot win, their players have quality but are undisciplined.”

The beginning of the glorious cycle of Brazil

Everything would soon change, the most glorious cycle of a national team at world level would begin, then under the technical guidance of Vicente Feola. The Brazilians started with a 3-0 against Austria in group 4 followed by a goalless draw with the English and the table was sealed with a 2-0 win against the Soviets where their goalkeeper, Yashin, was a figure. It was a historic day, Garrincha and Pelé made their debuts and Vavá sealed the victory with his two goals.

“When they called me up to the national team I was 17 years old. I was in doubt until the end about going to Sweden, as I injured my knee during the preparation friendly with Corinthians at the Pacaembú. I only had the confidence to travel when I was at the top of the plane,” he said.

And he added: “I wasn’t able to play the previous friendlies in Italy against Inter and Fiorentina, nor the first two Cup matches. My knee was still swollen, it hurt to tears. But Mario Américo, the masseur, not only he worked to heal me, but he contained and encouraged me at all times.”

A recovered and confident Pelé, forgetting those pains, scored the winning goal against Wales in the quarter-finals, Pelé’s first goal in the World Cup. In the same round, Germany eliminated Yugoslavia 1-0, Sweden beat the Soviets 2-0 and France beat Ireland 4-0.

The semi-finals offered two spectacular duels: one more technical and frantic between France and Brazil, another more bitter, tougher, between the locals and the Germans (Sweden won 3-1 against an opponent who finished in nine men). Brazil eliminated the French – where Kopa and the top scorer of the tournament, Just Fontaine shone – 5-2.

Soon after, for third place, Fontaine scored four of the six goals with which France defeated the Germans in a spectacular game (6-3) and thus totaled 13 goals in the tournament, a record unmatched to date.

Pelé’s goal and total euphoria: “Cry, we’re world champions”

On June 29, 1958 at the Rasund Stadium in Stockholm, 52,000 spectators attended the framing. Liedholm puts Sweden in front with just 4 minutes to go. But Didí in the centre, Garrincha on the right wing and an unstoppable Pelé turned the tables.

With two goals from Vavá (7′ and 32′), Brazil closed the first half 2-1, to then extend to the historic 5-2 (two goals from Pelé, the other match from “Lobo” Zagalo, while Simonsson discounted for Sweden).

“I couldn’t believe it. Américo ran onto the pitch and yelled at me: cry, baby, cry. We are world champions. And he got the ball,” Pelé recalled. A National Day has been declared in Brazil. “O Rei” was born, from world football.

The tear that left Pelé on the bench during the 1962 World Cup

1962. (Partial) celebration in Chile The 1962 World Cup consolidated that Brazilian generation, with exquisite football. Even if Pele didn’t have to enjoy himself too much, as he only played the first two games: an adductor tear in his right leg ruled him out of the competition.

And from there, he could only encourage and inspire his teammates. Amarildo – after an outstanding career in Italy – was an excellent substitute, in a team in which Garrincha shone like never before, Vavá and Zagalo were unstoppable in attack, and Didí remained an efficient and luxurious playmaker, with Aymoré Moreira as DT extension.

The motto of that World Cup for the Chilean organizers was the phrase of its director Carlos Dittborn: “Because we have nothing, we will do everything”. Dittborn had died shortly before, aged 41, and had not been able to see his work.

In their group, Brazil beat Mexico 2-0, drew 0-0 with Masopust’s Czechoslovakia and finished with a 2-1 draw that eliminated Spain. This, under the technical guidance of “Wizard” Helenio Herrera, was the biggest fiasco of the World Cup. Arrived in a squad full of stars (Di Stéfano, Puskas, Gento, among them) did not pass the first phase. Not even Argentina – where only the presence of Silvio Marzolini survived – made it through that first round, losing 3-1 against England, drawing goalless with Hungary and beating Bulgaria 1-0.

In the quarterfinals, Brazil beat Bobby Charlton’s England 3-1, in the semifinals the local team (in their best world production) 4-2 to overcome, in the decisive match, Czechoslovakia 3-1 with goals from Amarildo, Zito and Vava. It was June 17, 1962 at the National Stadium in Santiago.

“Although he only appeared in two games, Pelé was the soul of his team, the inspiration for his teammates’ performances. From the place of spectator, he seemed to transfer all the wisdom of him to _Amarildo “, they wrote in the Chilean press. Garrincha, Didí, Vavá and Amarildo were the figures of him.

England, 1966

England 1966: Violent persecution The Brazilian streak ends four years later, on English fields. Although the “verdeamarelha” didn’t have the potential that had brought him to his previous two titles, he was still a candidate. And it was quickly evicted from the Cup due to the violence of its European rivals, with the complicity of the referees.

Brazil opened with a 2-0 win over Bulgaria, but Pelé was consistently beaten by their rivals, with the complicity of the German referee Tschencher. And O’Rei was unable to play the next match, where a Hungary inspired by Albert, Bene and Farkas – but also with frequent violence – beat Brazil 3-1. And the same thing happened in the other match, the final one, where Portugal beat the Brazilians 3-1.

Brazil went home and Portugal went to the semifinals, in a World Cup with some strange refereeing and pitch problems (like North Korea’s 1-0 win against Italy, which put them out of the game).

Argentina, with a closed and solid approach from its DT Lorenzo, managed to reach the quarter-finals and lost that memorable battle at Wembley against England 1-0, the day of Rattin’s sending off. The English, with Bobby Charlton in the picture, clinched their only title in history by beating Germany 4-2 in the decider, also with its share of controversy.

Mexico, 1970: the three-time Scudetto had already arrived

Mexico 1970: the highest expression of show football When we talk about the “big teams” – or those who showcased the best game – in the history of the World Cup, Hungary in 1954 or the Netherlands in 1974 immediately come to mind. Curiously, both succumbed to Germany in the decisive matches (and so Lineker patented his famous maxim: _”Football is a game of 11 against 11, where the Germans always win”).

But where there is almost unanimity is in considering Brazil of the 70 as the number 1 of that history. The Selection that has reached the fullness of football in terms of the conception of beauty: constant touch, display of skill, open football, offensive proposal. What some ironized as a “good game”, but which was so strong, so lethal, in that first World Cup on Mexican soil.

It is true that several unrepeatable talented players converged there, at the height of their careers: we are referring to the formidable striker Jairzinho-Gerson-Tostao-Pelé-Rivelino. Curiously, Brazil had gone through some tough times months earlier when controversial DT Joao Saldanha was due to be replaced by ‘Lobo’ Zagalo (which, ultimately, would lead to his third world title: two as a player and another as a DT) .

He managed to get several men to adapt to a common scheme who in their respective teams acted as the classic “10”, dribbler, game aces: Gerson, Tostao (he went there as a “false 9”), Rivelino (he moved like a left back winger) .

As soon as they came together and played, they drove their opponents crazy and created spaces for a finisher, usually Pele or Jairzinho, worthy heir to Garrincha on the far right. They were supported by two formidable uphill scorekeepers -Everaldo and Carlos Alberto- and, above all, by a classic 5 like Clodoaldo.

Also in that World Cup there were other highly respected teams (especially Germany and England, with the foundations of the previous 1966 final). And a recovered Italy which, like Brazil, coveted the three-time Scudetto to keep the Jules Rimet Cup. Argentina, on the other hand, did not qualify, eliminated in the South American phase by the best Peru in history, led by Didí and who would later play an important role during the World Cup.

Those Brazilian demonstrations were seen from the beginning, winning group 3 with successes against Czechoslovakia 4-1, England (1-0, it was the toughest and most difficult match of the Cup, it was resolved with a goal from Gerson) and against Romania 3-2.

In the quarterfinals, in a clash between two similar styles, there was a good match for Brazil’s 4-2 victory over Peru, which had a very inspired Teófilo Cubilla. And in the semifinals, 3-1 against Uruguay, which could have been a fourth in a masterful play by Pelé on Mazurkiewicz’s farewell. In that same round, and in addition to another great game, Italy eliminated Germany: 4-3.

The final was played on 21 June 1970 at the Azteca stadium: Brazil’s supreme display over Italy 4-1 with goals from Pelé, Gerson, Jairzinho and Carlos Alberto (discount from Bonisegna for a brief 1-1 draw in the first season). The traditional Italian defense was powerless against the power of Pelé and his team. The triple scudetto had arrived.