Brazil in the 1966 World Cup

Photo: Brazil Football Federation
Brazil in the 1966 World Cup - England

The team against Hungary:
Bellini, Gilmar, Altair, Djalma Santos, Lima, Garrincha,
Jairzinho, Tostão, Paulo Henrique, Alcindo and Gérson.

The team (line-up in the first match, against Bulgaria): Gilmar, Djalma Santos, Bellini (C), Altair and Paulo Henrique; Denílson and Lima; Garrincha, Alcindo, Pelé, Jairzinho.
Reserves: Manga (G), Fidélis, Brito, Orlando, Zito, Silva, Tostão, Rildo, Gérson, Paraná and Edu.
Coach: Vicente Feola.

The Matches:
Brazil 2 x 0 Bulgaria
Brazil 1 x 3 Hungria
Brazil 1 x 3 Portugal

The Preparation

In a way the success of the campaigns in the World Cups of 1958 (Sweden) and 1962 (Chile) was harmful for Brazil. Brazil was champion of those two cups much thanks to the professional way that Paulo Machado de Carvalho had organized the team and the comission: no external influences, no personal favouritism.
After the two championships, everyone wanted to be associated with the success of the Brazilian team. The President of the Brazilian Confederation, João Havelange, dismissed Paulo Machado. Havelange also dismissed Aymoré Moreira, coach in 1962, and called Vicente Feola, coach in 1958. All major Brazilian teams wanted to have their players in the Brazilian team, so as to give them more exposure.

So, in the few months before the Cup, Feola, responding to pressures, called nothing less than 46 players for evaluation. Feolla created four sub-teams, within the Brazilian team: green, blue, white and red. This created a lot of internal dispute and psychological pressure, as everyone knew that only 22 would be chosen to play the Cup.
In the end, the group chosen by Feola was composed of some experienced players from 1962, four years older (Gilmar, the goalkeeper, was aged 36; Djalma Santos was the eldest, 37; Zito was 34), some younger players, who were good promises in 1966 but became stars in 1970 (Gerson, Tostão, Jairzinho), the two main stars, Garrincha and Pelé, and many average players.
After the Cup was done, Brazilians understood that, after such bad preparation, the team could not have gone very far.

The Matches

Brazil's first match was against Bulgaria. Brazil won by 2 x 0, one goal by Pelé in the first half and other by Garrincha, in the second half.
This was the last time that Pelé and Garrincha played side by side (Pelé wouldn't play the next match, against Hungary, and Garrincha wouldn't play the following, against Hungary). In a total of 40 matches, they did not lose ONE match, when playing together.

Photo: Brazil Football Federation
Brazil in the 1966 World Cup - England

The team against Portugal:
Orlando, Manga, Brito, Denílson, Rildo and Fidélis;
Mário Américo (masseur), Jairzinho, Lima, Silva, Pelé and Paraná.

The next match was against Hungary. The Magyars were not as powerful as a few years earlier, but they were still respectable, having finished the Euro Cup of 1964 in third place.
Brazil could not count on Pelé, who got injured in the match against Bulgaria. Denilson had not played well, and was also replaced. The substitutes were good (Gérson and Tostão, important players of the Brazilian team in the Mexico 70 World Cup), but not enough to stop the Hungarians. The game was tight in the first half (1 x 1), but in the second half Hungary imposed their better football and won by 3 x 1.

To continue in the Cup, Brazil had to win Portugal.
The Brazilian coach, Feola, panicked. He changed the entire defense, including the goalkeeper. In the attack, he maintained Jairzinho and substituted the other two players. In the midfield, he returned to the formation of the first match, even knowing that Pelé was still recovering from his serious injuries.

Portugal, in 1966, was playing their best Cup. The team was coached by a Brazilian, Otto Gloria, and counted with Eusébio, from Mozambique, the main star of the 1966 Cup and one of the best players in Football History.
Portugal winning the game was not a surprise. Eusébio scored twice, Tostão scored for the Brazilians, the match resulted 3 x 1. However, what caused surprise was the violence to which the Portuguese team resorted. From the start, everytime Pelé touched the ball, he was put down by a Portuguese; in his last play in that Cup, the British television showed that Pelé escaped two fouls, but was violently hit by a third player; Pelé had to be carried out of the field.
Brazil returned home early, without getting past the first stage of the cup. For the disorganization and for the bad results, this is considered the worst performance of Brazil in a World Cup.

The Cup without Brazil. Portugal had a heroic victory over Korea, by 5 x 3 (recovering from a 0 x 3 loss, 4 goals by Eusébio), but could not get past England, which had beaten Argentina. The other finalist was Germany, which beat Uruguay and Soviet Union.
England and Germany played the final of the 1966 Cup. In the normal time, the score was 2 x 2. In the extension, England scored twice and won by 4 x 2. Even though FIFA, when talking about this match, says that's unknown for sure whether or not the ball crossed the line in the third English goal, movies show that the ball indeed did NOT cross the line (the ENTIRE ball must pass the line).
Anyway, nobody argues that England was the deserving winner of the World Cup 1966.

World Cup 1966 - Other Info

FIFA Archives of the 1966 World Cup.

This was the first Cup to be broadcasted live on television.
During the Cup, the Jules Rimet trophy was stolen; a police-dog found it a few days latter, in an alley in London. The Jules Rimet would be conquered by Brazil, in 1970; it was stolen years latter, from the Brazilian Confederation, and melted. Read more about the disappearance of the Jules Rimet.

The usage of red and yellow cards was introduced only in the World Cup of 1970, in Mexico. In 1966, in the match between Argentina and England, the Argentina's captain, Ubaldo Ratim, tried to complain to the German referee about the violence of the English players; to make himself understood, he started to ask for a translator; the referee misunderstood his acting and expulsed him; on his way out of the field, Ratim spit on a British flag.

Edu, the left-forward, was the youngest Brazilian player to ever go to a World Cup; born on August 6th 1949, he was only sixteen when Brazil was in England. Edu didn't play any match in 1966, but he went also to the 1970 Cup, and played a few minutes (he was substitute of Rivelino).

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