Brazil World Cup Information

Brazil are the most successful national football team in the history of the World Cup, with five championships (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002). A common quip about football is: "The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it." Currently ranked sixth by FIFA, Brazil is consistently among the strongest football nations in the world and is the only team to have played in every World Cup.

The Golden Era and Pelé (1958 to 1970)

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 1951 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.

Brazil were drawn in the toughest group, with England, the USSR and Austria. They beat Austria 3–0 in their first match, then drew 0–0 with England. The Brazilians had been worried about their match with the USSR who had exceptional fitness and were one of the favourites to win the tournament; their strategy was to take risks at the beginning of the match to try and score an early goal. Before the match, the leaders of the team, Bellini, Nílton Santos, and Didi, spoke to coach Vicente Feola and persuaded him to make three substitutions which were crucial for Brazil to defeat the Soviets and win the Cup: Zito, Garrincha, and Pelé would start playing against the USSR. From the kick off, they passed the ball to Garrincha who beat three players before hitting the post with a shot. They kept up the pressure relentlessly, and after three minutes which were later described as "the greatest three minutes in the history of football", Vavá gave Brazil the lead. They won the match 2–0. Pelé scored the only goal of their quarter-final match against Wales, and they beat France 5–2 in the semi-final. Brazil beat the hosts Sweden, in the final 5-2, winning their first World Cup and becoming the first nation to win a World Cup title outside of its own continent. A celebrated fact was that Feola would sometimes take naps during training sessions and would sometimes close his eyes during matches, giving the impression that he was asleep. Because of this, Didi was sometimes said to be the real coach of the team, as he commanded the mid-field.

In the 1962 FIFA World Cup, Brazil got its second title with Garrincha as the star player; a mantle and responsibility bestowed upon him after regular talisman, Pelé, was injured during the first group match against Mexico and unable to play for the rest of the tournament.

In the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the preparation of the team was affected by political influences. All the major Brazilian clubs wanted their players included in the Brazilian team, to give them more exposure. In the final months of preparation, the coach Vicente Feola was working with 46 players, of which only 22 would go to England; this caused lots of internal dispute and psychological pressure. The result was that, in 1966, Brazil had their worst performance in all World Cups. Of course, another perhaps bigger issue, was that Pelé (who may have been at the height of his career) was chopped at seemingly every opportunity in the group matches.

Brazil won its third World Cup in Mexico in the 1970 FIFA World Cup. Brazil fielded what has been considered to be the best football squad ever, led by Pelé in his last World Cup final, captain Carlos Alberto, Jairzinho, Tostão, Gérson and Rivelino. After winning the Jules Rimet Trophy for the third time Brazil were allowed to keep it for good.

More successes (1994–2002)

Brazil, to the surprise of many, went 24 years without winning a World Cup or even participating in a final or semi-final. Their struggles ended at the 1994 tournament in the United States, where a solid, if unspectacular side headed by the likes of Romário, Bebeto, Dunga, Taffarel, and Jorginho won the World Cup for a then-record 4th time. Highlights of their campaign included a 1-0 victory over the hosts in the round of 16, a sensational 3-2 win over the Dutch in the quarter-finals (often cited as the game of the tournament) and a 1-0 win over the Swedes in the semis. This set up a classic confrontation, Brazil vs. Italy, in the final. After a dour and unexiting 0-0 draw, penalty kicks loomed, and when Roberto Baggio lifted his spot kick over the crossbar, the Brazilians were champions once again. A new era of Brazilian dominance had begun.

World Cup 1998

Brazil finished runner-up in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. After a very respectable campaign, the team lost to hosts France 3-0 in a problematic final game. Brazilian marking at defensive set pieces was poor, and Zinédine Zidane was able to score two headed goals from France's corner kicks. Also, Brazilian star Ronaldo suffered a nervous breakdown or an epileptic seizure a few hours before the match. Many criticized the decision to reinstate Ronaldo into the starting lineup as he put in a poor performance.

World Cup 2002

Fuelled by the scintillating play of the "Three R's" (Ronaldo, Rivaldo, and Ronaldinho), Brazil won its fifth championship at the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in South Korea and Japan. When the groups were drawn, Brazil seemed to have been lucky; Their adversaries would be Turkey, China and Costa Rica. At the end, it turned out that Turkey finished the tournament in third place. Brazil went on beating all three opponents, scoring 11 goals and conceding only three, and topping the group.

In Brazil's opening game against Turkey, Rivaldo fell to the ground clutching his face after Turkey's Hakan Ünsal had kicked the ball at his legs. Hakan Ünsal, who had already been booked, was sent off while Rivaldo jumped to his feet and continued playing. Rivaldo escaped suspension but was fined £5,180 for play-acting, he became the first player to be punished in Fifa's crackdown on "simulation" and "diving".

Next they defeated Belgium 2-0, which had been the most difficult match for Brazil in the tournament. Against England in the quarter finals, Brazil won 2-1. Ronaldinho scored the winner with a remarkable lofted free kick and also assisted teammate Rivaldo for their first goal, but was sent off for stamping on the right ankle of England's full back Danny Mills. The semifinal was against Turkey, which Brazil had faced in their group. Again, this match was difficult, as Brazil won 1–0 with a goal by Ronaldo. Rivaldo had scored one goal each in all five game up to this one but did not manage to hit the target in the sixth. He had seemed all set to repeat Jairzinho´s great achievement in 1970 when he scored in every game of the World Cup.

The final was between two of the most successful teams in the competition's history: Germany and Brazil. Either Germany (or West Germany) or Brazil had played in all World Cup finals since 1950 - except 1978 (If the last game of 1950 is considered to be a proper final). German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn had been the tournament's best keeper, but could not maintain that level of play, as Ronaldo vanquished his France '98 demons, scoring both goals in the Brazilian 2-0 triumph.

Incredibly, these teams had never played each other in the World Cup before. There was however a match between Brazil and East Germany in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Brazil won 1–0.

2002–2005

On June 29, 2005 Brazil won the Confederations Cup for the second time with an emphatic 4-1 victory over arch-rivals Argentina in Frankfurt, Germany. They also won another championship, the 2004 Copa América in which Brazil defeated Argentina in a penalty shootout. Argentina had defeated Peru in the quarterfinals, and Colombia in the semifinals. In the 2002 World Cup, Brazil made it to the final to face the powerful German squad. The Brazilian striker Ronaldo scored two goals in the final, leaving Germany in the dust, as the experienced Brazilian captain Cafú lift the World Cup for Brazil a fifth time.

World Cup 2006

Entering the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Brazil were seen as heavy favorites to repeat their success at the previous cup. Brazil beat Croatia 1-0, Australia 2-0, Japan 4-1, the first two being hard-fought matches, to come out at the top of their group.

During the second round, they defeated Ghana 3-0. However, Brazil was eliminated in the quarterfinals against France by a score of 1-0 when Thierry Henry scored the winning goal. France was led by a rejuvenated Zinédine Zidane and by a strong defence which kept the Brazilian strikers under check for the duration of the game. Brazil were shut out, attempting just one shot at French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. The game was also notable for being the first time that the Brazil team had been shut out in consecutive matches against a particular team. France now has a 2-1-1 all-time record against Brazil in World Cup play.

After the result of 2006, the team was criticized by many Brazilians. Some, such as Pelé, blamed coach Parreira and Ronaldinho for the team's early elimination. The night after Brazil's defeat, vandals burned and destroyed a 7-meter tall fiberglass and resin statue of Ronaldinho in the Brazilian city of Chapecó, which had been erected in 2004 to celebrate Ronaldinho's first election as FIFA World Player of the Year. Roberto Carlos and Juninho Pernambucano each announced their retirement from the team and Juninho asserted that it was time for the players over 30 to retire from the team. Cafu, the Brazilian captain, made an infamous comparison between the team of 2006 and the team at 1982 World Cup, one that is remembered as one of the greatest teams that lost a World Cup. Two days after the loss, Ronaldinho and Adriano partied through the night in Barcelona, increasing the feeling of the Brazilians that they were betrayed by their national team. This reaction contrasted with other players such as Rogerio Ceni, who was ashamed of the game and said "some defeats are marked by struggle, but we lost in an infelicitous way, that wasn't what we had hoped for", and Zé Roberto, who cried and said that "the unity that we had outside the pitch, was lacking inside it". On July 19, Parreira resigned as the team coach.