Brazil World Cup Team History: Part II (1958 – 1970, the Pelé Years)

March 1st, 2010 | by: Daryl |

Part I (1930 to 1954) – Part II (1958 to 1970) – Part III (1974 to 1990) – Part IV (1994 to present)

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In Part I of Brazil’s World Cup team history, we relived the years 1930 to 1954. Number of World Cups Brazil won in those years? Big fat zero. But all that changed from 1958 onwards with the emergence of Pelé and Garrincha. Two players so talented that as a duo they were literally unbeatable. That’s a fact. Brazil never once lost a game when Pelé and Garrincha appeared together. So prepare yourself for Brazil 1958 to 1970, and three World Cup wins out of four. The Golden Years for the canary yellow shirts.

1958 World Cup in Sweden

Contrary to the popular image of Brazil as a carefree, samba dancing football nation, the squad took the 1958 World Cup very very seriously. According to Wikipedia:

Brazil’s coach, Vicente Feola, imposed strict rules on the squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, held in Sweden. The players were given a list of forty things that they were not allowed to do, including wearing hats or umbrellas, smoking while wearing official clothing and talking to the press outside of allocated times. They were the only team to bring a psychologist (because the memories of 1950 still affected some players) or a dentist (for, because of their humble origins, many players had dental problems, which caused infections and also had negative impact on performance) with them, and had sent a representative to Europe to watch the qualifying matches a year before the tournament began.

It also helped that the 1958 Brazil squad featured a 17 year old Santos striker by the name of Edison Arantes do Nascimento (or Pelé, if you prefer) and the bendy legged dribbling genius of Garrincha. Brazil won their opening group game vs Austria 3-0, and drew the second game vs England 0-0. Incredibly, neither Pelé nor Garrincha started in either game. Before the all-important final group game vs the physically fit and imposing USSR, coach Feola was persuaded to give both Garrincha and Pelé their first World Cup starts. Here’s what happened:

Brazil won 2-0, with Garrincha’s dribbling tearing the Russians to pieces. Watch the last 30 second of the above video again. It’s like the ball is glued to his foot. With all respect to Yuri Gagarain and co., putting the first man in space looks easy compared to tackling Garrincha.

In the quarter-final vs Wales, Pelé scored his first World Cup goal as Brazil won 1-0. Not a bad goal to open his account wither either. Back to goal, chest, one touch to turn, and then bang, bottom corner:

In the semi-final of the 1958 World Cup, Pelé grabbed a hat-trick as Brazil won a goal-filled game against France 5-2.

At just 17 years and 244 days, that made Pelé the youngest scorer of a hat-trick in World Cup history. At time of writing he still is.

The final was yet another 5-2 win, this time over hosts Sweden. Pelé scored twice, making him the youngest goalscorer in World Cup final history. Again, he still is. To see footage of the 1958 final, follow that link. Vava also bagged a brace, with future seleção coach Mario Zagallo getting the other goal.

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So, eight years after the disaster at the Maracana, Brazil finally had their first World Cup. Even better, it was won on European soil. Believe it or not, Brazil is still the only non-European team to win the World Cup on European soil.

1962 World Cup in Chile

The years up to 1958 had been marked by inconsistency and turmoil. The 1962 World Cup was all about consistency. Though Brazil had a new coach, Feola departing in 1960 and Aymoré Moreira taking charge, Brazil entered the tournament with the same midfield that had triumphed four years earlier. The midfield was: Mario Zagallo, Didi, Zito and Garrincha. An awesome foursome that The Guardian Sports Blog picked as their #1 midfield of all time, using the following phrase as justification:

The only midfield to play in consecutive World Cup finals, never mind win them both. Next!

The now 21 year old Pelé was of course expected to shine in Chile, but after scoring in the opening 2-0 win over Mexico, Pelé was injured in the following game, a 0-0 draw with Czechsolovakia. Brazil still beat Spain 2-1 in the final group game, and then Garrincha stepped it up a gear in the group stages.

In the quarterfinal vs England, Garrincha scored two as Brazil won 3-1, including this beauty of a curled effort to seal the deal:

Semi-final saw Brazil encounter hosts Chile. Garrincha did the business again with a vicious strike into the top corner in the 9th minute (0:43 in video below), a header (the man looked surprisingly good in the air) for the second. Brazil won 4-2 with Vava getting the other two goals:

So to the final. Brazil’s second in a row. Believe it or not, the opponents in Santiago were Czechoslovakia. Want to see some more black and white YouTube footage? Of course you do!

Czechoslovakia took a 15th minute lea, but it lasted only two minutes as Amarildo equalized in the 17th with a torpedo of a striker from an impossibly tight looking angle. Zito scored Brazil’s second after some more genius widework from Amarildo left three Czechoslovakian defenders on their arses (2:25 into the vid) and finally Vava added the third, becoming the first man to score in two World Cup finals. Job done, and Brazil were now clearly the team to beat.

1966 World Cup in England

pele-eusebio Vicente Feola was back in charge for 1966, but Brazil’s preparation was a shambles. The national team’s popularity led to a lot of politicking, with Brazilian club sides apparently lobbying to have their players included in various sqauds. Under this pressur, Feola used no less than 46 players in the build up to the 1966 World Cup, which bred plenty of confusion and internal dispute. To make things worse, key players like Garrincha, Zito and Djalma Santos were well into their 30s (the latter was 37). Pelé and Garrincha both scored in the opening 2-0 win over Bulgaria, but Brazil failed to field both men again and went on to lose 3-1 to both Hungary and Portugal, with Pelé on the receiving end of multiple fouls in the latter game. The result was a surprise failure to advance beyond the group stage, and lots of lots of boot shaped bruises for Pelé.

1970 World Cup in Mexico

If you’re starting to feel sorry for Pelé, and the fact that he missed most of one World Cup through injury and then got savaged four years later, then you can stop now. Because it all came good for the great man in 1970, as the now 29 year old striker was the star of the Brazil team often held up as the greatest of all time.

The old guard (Garrincha, Zito, Djalma Santos etc) had retired, and 1968 & 1962 winner was now the coach. The starting XI, according to V Brazil was as follows:

Félix; Carlos Alberto (C), Brito, Piazza and Marco Antonio; Clodoaldo, Gérson and Pelé; Jairzinho, Tostão and Rivelino.

There are far too many 1970 highlights to post individually. Pele’s goals, Rivelino’s free kick, Jairzinhos dribbling. Even Pele’s misses were brilliant. There was the long range chip vs Czechoslovakia, and – my favourite – the opposite way to the ball dummy that nearly came off vs Uruguay. But feast your eyes on this short FIFA Fever piece about the 1970 team to get an idea:

Brazil’s results in 1970 were as follows:

Group 3:
Brazil 4-1 Czechoslovakia
Brazil 1-0 England
Brazil 3-2 Romania

Quarter-final: Brazil 4-2 Peru
Semi-final: Brazil 3-1 Uruguay
Final: Brazil 4-1 Italy

carlos alberto Six games, six wins. Jairzinho was second top scorer with seven goals, Pele finished with four goals. Most importantly, Brazil lifted the Jules Rimet World Cup trophy for the third time, which meant they got to keep it. An incredible achievement that no nation has ever equalled. The dominance of the Brazil teams of 1958 to 1970 are the reason we have a different World Cup trophy today. However, it would be 24 years before Brazil got their hands on the new version. More on that in the as yet unwritten Part III.

More Brazil World Cup History: Part I (1930 to 1954) – Part II (1958 to 1970) – Part III (1974 to 1990) – Part IV (1994 to present)

- For more on Brazil, read Duvel’s Brazil World Cup Blog.
- For more World Cup Team Histories click here.

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Seth

Once again, well-written!

But Pele is certainly overrated imo.
http://www.forexeasynow.com Efresh

I don’t think Pele is overrated. He was a great footballer, that brought world cups to Brazil. Very confident as compared to Michael Jordan. He was definitely not overrated.
Bill

Overrated? Sure football was different in those days but you still cannot argue with the achievements, the goals, the vision and the physical strength it took to be a skill player in the days when yellow cards were few & far between.
Black Matt

When two factions in a civil war call a cease fire to watch you play, you are not overrated.

Pele was doing things people had never seen before. The only true standard of measurement you can use when evaluating a player is how they fared against their competition. In Pele’s case, he dominated it to a level never seen before or since.

Time will eventually make people question Maradona too, and Ronaldo and Zidane and Messi and everybody. But it doesn’t change what they did. Pele is not overrated. He changed football. Period.
Cece

lol Seth