Brazil in the 1974 World Cup

Photo: Brazil Football Federation
Brazil 1974 Germany World Cup

Leão, Renato, Wendell, Clodoaldo, Marinho, Nelinho, Alfredo, L. Pereira, M. Antonio, Zé Maria and M. Chagas;
Ademir da Guia, Valdomiro, Jairzinho, Carpeggiani, Rivelino, César, Piazza, Leivinha, P. César, Edu and Dirceu.

The team: Leão, Zé Maria, Luis Pereira (C), Marinho and Marinho Chagas; Piazza, Leivinha and Rivelino; Valdomiro, Jairzinho and Dirceu.
Reserves: Renato (G), Wendell (G), Nelinho, Alfredo, M. Antonio, Clodoaldo, Ademir da Guia, Carpeggiani, César, Paulo César and Edu.
Coach: Zagallo.

The matches:
Brazil 0 x 0 Yugoslavia
Brazil 0 x 0 Scotland
Brazil 3 x 0 Zaire
Brazil 1 x 0 Democratic Republic of Germany
Brazil 2 x 1 Argentina
Brazil 0 x 2 Holland

The Preparation

Brazil, as champion of the 1970 World Cup, didn't have to play the qualifyings for the 1974 event.

Pelé would be aged 33, if he wanted to play the 1974 Cup; however, he decided not to go. The last official match of Pelé in the national team was played in Maracanã, on July 18th 1971, Brazil x Yugoslavia. Brazil won by 2 x 0, goals by Rivelino and Gérson; 138.575 people attended the match.

Pelé didn't play, but he went to the Cup, as special guest. Pelé participated of the opening ceremony, carrying the Jules Rimet, while German idol Uwe Seller was carrying the new FIFA Trophy.
Other players also decided not to go, particularly the ones who had been in the catastrophic campaign of 1966, and had redeemed themselves in 1970; Brito, Gérson and Tostão were in this situation.
The Brazilian team had still many good players left from 1970, though. Jairzinho, for example, the main striker and "Hurricane of the 1970 Cup" was there. Rivelino was also there, now playing at his original position, in the midfield (he had been displaced to the left-forward in 1970, because the midfield was already crowded with cracks). Piazza, Clodoaldo, Marco Antônio, Leão (goalkeeper, reserve of Felix in 1970, but better than him) were also there.
Besides, several of the new players were very respectable. Luís Pereira, center back, and Leivinha, mid fielder, would later help Atletico Madrid win the Spanish championship in 1976/77. Marinho Chagas was considered the best left-defense of those times; very offensive, he was pioneer in the concept of a defender helping the attack.
The coach was also the same: Zagallo.

Politically, Brazil was still under a dictatorial regime. To dodge attention away from their arbitrary acts, the Militaries tried to use the popularity of the Brazilian football team (read comments here). Also, in the early 1970s, Brazil was successful in a few other sports: Emerson Fittipaldi was Formula One champion in 1972, Éder Jofre was a boxing world champion in 1973.
The militaries inundated the Television and media with nationalist propaganda, reassuring how the Brazilian team was invincible, and how certain the victory in Germany was.
So, Brazilians considered themselves to be the favourite to win the Cup in Germany.

The matches

It didn't take long for Brazil to realize how much they would miss Pelé.
Not only didn't Brazil win the first two matches against Yugoslavia and Scotland, but the team was not even capable of scoring one single goal. It is true that the adversaries were playing defensively, but it was also true that this was more than expected.

Brazil started the third match against Zaire (African country which, in 1997, changed its name to its former denomination of Democratic Republic of the Congo) knowing that only a victory by a lead of three goals would keep the team in the Cup (Scotland had won Zaire by only 2 x 0, whereas the Yugs had done 9 x 0). Brazil won by 3 x 0; the third goal came only at 35' of the second half, when Valdomiro kicked from nearly the corner pole and the naive goalkeeper failed.

Brazil played next against the Democratic Republic of Germany (read about the Berlin Wall). In a free kick, Rivelino shoots, Jairzinho ducks, the ball passes through the gap left by Jair and deceives the German goalkeeper. Brazil won by 1 x 0.
Next, Brazil won their most traditional rival, Argentina, by 2 x 1. Brazil dominated the game, Rivelino and Jair scored, it seemed that Brazil was, at last, cranking up.

Brazil would face Holland next.

Tip and Tap
Mascots 1974

The Dutch were the biggest surprise of the Cup. In the Eurocup of 1972, out of six matches, Holland lost two (for Yugoslavia and the Democratic Germany). In the World Cup, they started somewhat easily (Holland 2 x 0 Uruguay, Holland 0 x 0 Sweden, Holland 4 x 1 Bulgaria), and gained momentum in the second stage (Holland 4 x 0 Argentina, Holland 2 x 0 Democratic Germany).
When asked about Holland, Zagallo acted arrogant. He said he was not worried; "they should be worried about us".
The first half was tight; Neeskens scored first at 5' of second half, and Cruyff scored the second at 20'.
Irritated, Zagallo left the field showing three fingers to the Dutch crowd, meaning "we are three times champions", as though it mattered anything that moment.

Brazil disputed the third place against Poland. Even winning, it would already be a bad enough campaign. Brazil lost by 1 x 0; Lato scored the Polish goal at 30' of second half. Brazil finished that Cup in fourth place.

After winning Brazil, the Dutch were acclaimed the new kings of football. "They played football in a way we hadn't seen before, with skill, strength, intelligence and attitude merged together into a mixture that was uniquely theirs". Read more about the Holland team of 1974.
Unfortunately for the Dutch, the Germans didn't care about the hype. If Holland had Cruijff, Germany had Beckenbauer. With help from fellows the caliber of Gerd Muller, Breitner, Overath and others, Beckenbauer led Germany to the victory by 2 x 1.
Many say that, in 1974, the best team did not win. Many say the same about the World Cup of 1982. Certainly, a little humbleness would have been helpful to the Dutch in 1974, and to the Brazilians, in 1982.

World Cup 1974 - Other info

FIFA Archives of the 1974 World Cup.

On return to Brazil, the team was received with boos and threatening.

Zagallo was considered the main culprit for the failure. Brazil would spend two decades without winning a World Cup; all through that period, even in moments when Brazil needed desperately a coach (read comments on the World Cup 1990), Zagallo was never considered to fill the position. In 1994, the coach was Carlos Alberto Parreira, who had worked with Zagallo in 1970 (Parreira was then physical instructor); Parreira invited Zagallo to be assistant coach. Brazil won that Cup, and Zagallo's presence made a difference.
Zagallo had to wait twenty years to regain the respect of Brazilian fans. Not even the failure in France 1998 stained his reputation. Being the only person in the world to have won four World Cups, Zagallo, a classic coach according to FIFA, is considered one of the greatest idols of Brazilian football (he will be, again, assistant coach in the 2006 World Cup).

In a historic match, the Democratic Republic of Germany won the Federal Republic of Germany by 1 x 0. This was the last match of the First Round. The Federal Germany knew that, if they won, they would be, in the Second Round, in the same group as Brazil and Holland. Rumours say that Federal Germany was not really interested in winning that match (they'd rather winning the Cup).
The Germans are not shamed of being pragmatic. In 1982, also in the last match of the First Round, Germany and Austria would meet. The Germans were in a tight situation, for they had lost to Algeria in their first match. A German winning by 1 x 0 or 2 x 0 would qualify both Germany and Austria to the next stage; an Austrian winning or a German winning by a lead of three or more would qualify Algeria. The match: Germany score 1 x 0 at 10' of first half; in the remaining 80 minutes, the two teams just rolled the ball around.

Ademir da Guia was son of Domingos da Guia, who played in the Brazilian defense of the 1938 World Cup. Domingos was black; Ademir was albino. Many people said that Ademir, who led Palmeiras to bi-championship of the Brazilian tournament in 1972 and 1973, should have played more in the Cup; he only played in the last match, against Poland.

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