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Brazil, Soccer, Brazil: Pele and the 1958 World Cup in Sweden (III)
Brazil, Soccer, Brazil: Pele and the 1958 World Cup in Sweden (II)
Brazil, Soccer, Brazil: Pele and the 1958 World Cup in Sweden (I)
Brazil, Soccer, Brazil: Pele and the 1950 World Cup
Brazil, Football, Brazil: Pele, Origin
Brazil on the eve of the 1958 World Cup in Sweden
men's soccer
The medical team diagnosed Pele as being out of action for a month, meaning that he would not be able to play in any of the warm-up matches in Europe, nor in the first two matches of the World Cup. The coaching staff discussed the matter at length and decided it was worth the risk to send Pele with the team, and when the Brazilians arrived in Gothenburg, Sweden, on June 2, they were only six days away from their first group game.
Brazil was placed in Group 4 of the World Cup, which included Austria, England and the Soviet Union, and as mentioned Pele had to sit out the first two matches and undergo a series of treatments that were by no means "comfortable". Brazil beat Austria 3-0 in the first group game, but in the second game against England three days later, Brazil had to settle for a 0-0 draw, making the third group game against the Soviet Union the most important game in the tournament in terms of whether Brazil would be able to win the tournament.
advancement
The key battle is now. Pele panicked when he learned that if he lost the next game, Brazil would have to call it a day - why is his knee still bad? But luckily (for both Pele and Brazil)
the national team
(for all intents and purposes), the team doctor gave the green light at the last minute that not only Pele, but also another young teammate, Garrincha, would be playing back-to-back!
In 1958, when the Cold War was in full swing, the Soviet Union was eager to show the world that the communist system was the best in every way. One year earlier they had sent the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into space, and now they were going to win the World Cup to show that they were unrivaled in sports competitions as well. In his autobiography, Pele would later say that one of the things that fascinated him about soccer was the fact that it was played from
the national team
You can often see its own national characteristics, that is, from the way of playing football, you can learn a lot about a certain country, for example, the German team is often regarded as a highly efficient team, they will not waste any opportunity to pass the ball; while the England
the national team
What if we follow the famous Englishman's example?
national soccer team
England's style of play, in keeping with its national character, has always been characterized by an occasional flair for the perverse in the routine, according to writer Brain Glanville! Of course, it's easy to fall into stereotypes, but as far as the Brazilian style of play was concerned - joyful, improvisational, non-conformist, individual talent and spontaneity - many people (including Pele himself) thought that it accurately reflected Brazil's 'mulatto' ethnicity... ...If we follow this logic, the Soviet Union called its style of soccer scientific, which probably reflected the confidence of the Soviets in their ability to send satellites into space, and their management of soccer data and training patterns, which were probably beyond the reach of Brazil's improvising "countrymen"! Lev Yashin, the famous goalkeeper of the Soviet Union, nicknamed the Black Spider, was 188 centimeters tall, taller than any other player on the field, and Yahin spent the entire game shouting orders to the field. Therefore, if we really compare the two teams according to their national characteristics, how can a country like Brazil, which plays happy and improvised soccer, beat a well-trained, well-planned, and affluent world power like the Soviet Union? How can a country like Brazil, playing happy and improvised soccer, beat a well-trained, well-planned and wealthy world power like the Soviet Union?
So the Brazilian coaching staff decided to go out on a limb, they wanted to make sure that the Soviet Union didn't find a familiar rhythm, and if Brazil could pull soccer out of the realm of what "science" couldn't cover, and into the realm of what "people" could do, then maybe they would have a chance! Maybe that's why Pele and Garrincha got the chance to play, Pele ran into the Göteborg stadium, there were about 50,000 people there, Pele said he was very nervous, and the crowd was probably a bit shocked to see this small, dark kid wearing Brazil's No. 10 jersey? Perhaps they initially imagined Pele to be some sort of mascot for the team? He and Garrincha took their respective positions, and perhaps because of the secrecy surrounding the arrangement, Pele noticed the confused looks on the faces of several Soviet players on the pitch, wondering what was going on. Then the game started, and Garrincha, who was born with short and long feet, got the ball, and on his way to the right, with what seemed like juggling fakes and stops at every step (which didn't appear in the Soviet science manuals), he got past the last defender and shot, which hit the crossbar, and then a few moments later the ball was guided to Pele, who also aimed at the goal, which hit the crossbar again! The ball hit the crossbar again! But the end of what French journalists later described as (at the time) "the best three minutes in the history of soccer", came when Brazilian midfielder Didi gave the ball to striker Vava, who kicked the ball into Yashin's goal, and from then on the pace of the game was completely controlled by Brazil, who played in a fascinating style of play. In the second half, the Soviet Union tried to counterattack the Brazilian goal, but Pele gave another assist to Vava for the second goal, and Brazil won the game 2-0 and got the ticket to the knockout rounds of the tournament.
The new stars of the match, Pele and Garrincha, have been the subject of a lot of attention, especially Garrincha, who has since been given the nickname O Anjo de Pernas Tortas, the Bent-Legged Angel, in Brazil, and a Swedish newspaper wrote this after the match: congratulations, Stadio Göteborg, because on Thursday. you're going to see Garrincha again!
