The
Brazil national football team is controlled by the CBF and represents Brazil in
international football competitions. They 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\".[1] which stems from the fact that English
players were the first to codify
the modern game of football. Brazil is generally considered to be the strongest football
nation in
the world and is the only team to have played in every World Cup. Brazilians refer to national football teams (from any
country) as \"seleção\", often capitalised when referring to the Brazilian team. The literal meaning is \"selection\" and can be translated as \"the selected\". A
popular nickname is \"
Canarinho\" (little canary), referring to the yellow
jerseys worn during
home games.
Early history The first
match of the Brazil national football team is generally considered to be a 1914 match between a
Rio and São
Paulo select team and the English
club Exeter City F.C., which the Brazilian team won 2–0.[2] In contrast to
future successes, the nation\'s
early appearances were far from
brilliant, partly
due to internal strife within Brazilian football over professionalism, which rendered the Brazilian Football Confederation unable to field full-strength teams.In particular, disputes between the São Paulo and
Rio de Janeiro state football federations meant that the team would not be composed of players coming from either of the federations. In both the 1930 and 1934 tournaments, Brazil were knocked out at the very first
stage. But 1938 was a sign of things to come, as Brazil finished a
strong third, with
Leonidas da Silva making history and being the first player to
score four goals in a World Cup match. Brazil hosted the 1950 FIFA World Cup which was the first tournament to be held after World
War II. It was the only
time Brazil hosted. The 1950 tournament was
unique in not having a single final, but rather a final round-robin stage of four teams; however, to all intents and purposes the deciding game between Brazil and Uruguay acted as that tournament\'s \"final\". The match was hosted at the Maracanã
stadium in Rio de Janeiro, watched by 199,854
people, and Brazil only needed a draw to win, but
lost the match 2-1 after being 1-0 up; this match has since been known in
South America as \"Maracanazo\". For the 1954 FIFA World Cup, in Switzerland, the Brazilian team was almost completely renovated, so as to forget the Maracanã defeat, but still had a group of good players, including Nílton
Santos, Djalma Santos, and
Didi. Brazil didn\'t
go very far though. The quarterfinals saw the
favorites Hungary
beat Brazil 4-2 in
one of the ugliest matches in football history, which would become infamous as the
Battle of
Berne. Pelé
era (1958–1970) World Cup 1958 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 40 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. 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\",[3] 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 (and only until today) 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. 1962–1970 In the 1962 FIFA World Cup, Brazil got its second title with Garrincha as the
star player, especially after Pelé was injured in the first group match against Czechoslovakia and unable to
play for the rest of the World Cup. 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. And even more surprisingly, while some of the fouls were brutal and seemed to cause serious pain, if not injury,
none of the opposing players who chopped him were sent off or carded. 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 with Pelé, in his last World Cup final,
Carlos Alberto, Jairzinho, Tostão, Gérson and
Rivelino. After winning the
Jules Rimet Trophy for the third time Brazil was allowed to keep it for good. The 1970 Brazil national team is considered by many as the best national team ever. 1974–1990 After the international retirement of Pelé and other
stars, Brazil was not able to overcome
Holland\'s
Total Football and could not defend its title in the 1974 FIFA World Cup, finishing in fourth
place. The 1978 FIFA World Cup was notoriously controversial. In the second group stage Brazil were competing with tournament hosts Argentina for top
spot and a place in the Finals. In their last group match, Brazil defeated
Poland 3-1 to go top of the group with a goal difference of +5. Argentina were only on a goal difference of +2, but in their last group match, they managed to defeat
Peru 6-0 and thus qualify for the final. Brazil was forced to
settle for the third place match, where they defeated
Italy 2-1. The controversy stemmed from the fact that not only was the Peruvian goalkeeper Ramón
Quiroga born in Argentina, but had only let in 6 goals in the previous 5 matches, whereas the Argentines had only scored 6 goals in the tournament up to that
point. Both Argentina and Peru have always denied any wrongdoing. Because of this and the fact that Brazil was the only undefeated team of the whole tournament, many Brazilians consider themselves the moral victors of this World Cup. In the 1982 FIFA World Cup, the team played beautifully, with talents such as
Zico, Falcão and Sócrates, under the coaching of the late Telê
Santana, considered one of the best Brazilian
coaches of all time. They won their group in the first round group, then beat Argentina 3–1 in their first second-round match. The tournament favourites Brazil could make do with a draw, but a 3–2 defeat to Italy, in one of the
classic games in finals history, eliminated them from the tournament.
Paolo Rossi scored all three of Italy\'s goals. The football-art, was defeated in the match they still refer to as the \"
Sarria\'s Disaster\", a
reference at the
Stadium\'s
name, and Telê would be much blamed for making an attacking system while the 2-2 drawn was enough. The 1982 squad is remembered as one of the greatest teams to be eliminated from the World Cup. After Brazil\'s quarter-final defeat in the 2006 World Cup, captain
Cafu compared his squad to the 1982 team. In 1986, Telê and several players of 1982 returned to play in the World Cup hosted by Mexico.
the players were older, and could not repeat the same enchanting performance. Brazil was eliminated in a penalty shoot out against France. But when the match still was 1-1, Zico,
hero of a generation, missed a penalty, what
made the \'memories of an afternoon at Sarria\'s\' came back to the crowd\'s mind. In the 1990 FIFA World Cup, Brazil was coached by Sebastião Lazaroni, who was hardly known before the Cup and became even more
anonymous afterwards. With a defensive scheme, whose main symbol was mid-fielder
Dunga, the team lacked creativity but made it to the second round. Against a weaker Argentinian side, the Brazillians applied heavy pressure and had numerous
chances to score, but it was
Claudio Caniggia who managed to
find Brazil\'s net and eliminate them. More successes (1994–2002) World Cup 1994 Only in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, 24 years after winning the World Cup in Mexico, were they able to win another title. The struggles ended in World Cup
USA with a final against 1970 opponents Italy. A
dour and defensive final finished 0–0 after
extra time, so Brazil and Italy competed in the first penalty shootout for a World Cup in the history of the tournament, and Brazil won when
Roberto Baggio missed the final penalty. Romário was acknowledged as the most important player of this Cup who lead Brazil to a
record fourth World Cup title, scoring five goals including
the game-winning header against Sweden in the semifinals. The Brazilians refer to this cup as the Cup that Romário won for Brazil. World Cup 1998 Brazil finished as 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
Zinedine 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.
The coach of the team at the time was Mário Zagallo, who won the World Cup as a player in 1958 and 1962, as the coach in 1970 and as assistant coach in 1994. 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; Brazil\'s adversaries would be
Turkey,
China and
Costa Rica. At
the end, it turned out that Turkey finished the tournament in third place, showing that
indeed Brazil\'s group was the strongest of all. Brazil went on beating all three opponents, scoring 11 goals and conceding only three, and
topping the group.
Next they defeated
Belgium 2-0. Against England in the quarter finals, Brazil won 2-1, which had been the most difficult match till then. 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. The final was between two of the most successful teams in the
competition\'s history: Germany and Brazil. 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. 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. 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. However, Ronaldo was heavily criticized by the press for being overweight and in poor fitness and did not find his scoring form until the match against Japan. During the second round, they defeated
Ghana 3-0. However, Brazil was eliminated in the quarterfinals against France by a score of 1-0. Led by a rejuvenated Zinedine Zidane and by a strong defense which kept the Brazilian
strikers under check for the duration of
The game, Brazil was 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.[4] 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.[5]
Roberto Carlos[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] 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\",[10] and Zé Roberto, who cried and said that \"the
unity that we had outside the pitch, was lacking
inside it\".[11] On July 19, Parreira resigned as the team coach. After the 2006 World Cup Dunga was
hired as Brazil\'s new team coach on July 24. His first match in
charge was against
Norway which was played in
Oslo on
August 16, ended in a 1-1 draw. His second match was held against
arch rivals Argentina on September 3 in
Arsenal F.C.\'s new
Emirates Stadium in
London, in which Brazil defeated Argentina by a 3-0 scoreline. On 5 September they defeated Wales 2-0 at
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.\'s
White Hart Lane ground. They later defeated Kuwait club, Al-Kuwait 4-0, Ecuador 2-1 and had a 2-1 away win against Switzerland. Unlike Parreira, Dunga has focused on the task of unemphasizing all players and treating them as equals. He did not just look for players in popular clubs such as
AC Milan, Barcelona,
Real Madrid,
etc., but looked at the whole scope of Europe, finding individual talents such as
Daniel Carvalho, Vagner
Love and Dudu Cearense of Russian club CSKA
Moscow and also Elano of Ukrainian club Shakhtar
Donetsk. Of the former \"
Magic Quartet\", Ronaldinho and Kaká were the only players who had a place in the Brazilian national side on those matches, untill
the next year when Adriano was called back in the squad for a
friendly against Portugal which Brazil lost 0-2. Dunga is
yet to select the last member of the \"Magic Quartet\" Ronaldo, who has been struggling with form and fitnes
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