How Brazil won the 1958 World Cup: A sleeping coach, tactical tweaks and 17-year-old Pele

New York Times

4 hours ago

This is the fifth in a series on The Athletic looking back at the winners of each men's World Cup. The previous four articles have looked at Uruguay in 1930, Italy in 1934 and Italy again in 1938, before Uruguay won it for a second time in 1950. West Germany followed in 1954 — what about Brazil?
It feels strange that it's taken until the sixth edition of this series to feature the most successful nation in World Cup history, Brazil, who probably should have won the 1950 tournament on home soil.
Going into the World Cup in 1958, they were considered the favourites, although there were concerns about whether they would cope with the unfamiliar surroundings of Sweden. At this point, the two World Cups played in South America had been won by sides from that continent, and the three in Europe followed suit.
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But Brazil were probably more prepared than any other side in the tournament, investing heavily in an extensive backroom staff at a time when other nations were content with a manager, an assistant and a physio. They toured Europe before to allow them to become accustomed to the climate.
Like all great sides, they mixed good organisation with top-class individuals. This Brazil side featured players who were not simply among the most dominant individuals at the tournament, but some of the most famous individuals in 20th-century football: Mario Zagallo, Garrincha and Pele.
Vicente Feola is a curious figure. He was clearly a hugely experienced manager, having taken charge of Sao Paolo on 532 occasions, more than anyone else, over six separate spells. He had been Brazil's assistant for the fateful loss in the 1950 'final'. But Feola is often considered to have lacked authority and delegated too much, and was sometimes accused of — literally — falling asleep in the dugout.
Clearly, Brazil were ahead of their time in terms of their off-field expertise. Their backroom staff is generally considered to have included a team supervisor, a fitness coach, a doctor, a dentist and a psychologist. The latter came in for most scrutiny, and appears to have indulged in some tests which made the players uncomfortable, including asking them all to draw 'a picture of a man' and then reporting to Feola on which players might make good partnerships. Still, it seems likely that he, and the others, played a role in Brazil's success.
Feola, meanwhile, was in charge at a time when Brazil made a significant tactical shift to a four-man defence, and he trusted in Pele when others insisted he was too young for a World Cup. There were reports that the players took charge after a couple of games and insisted on changes to the starting XI, wrote Brian Glanville in his book, The History of the World Cup, although these suggestions are denied by members of Feola's coaching staff.
Feola's reputation was harmed by his second spell in charge, for Brazil's disastrous 1966 tournament. But he deserves more credit than he is generally given for the 1958 success.
Brazil's popularisation of 4-2-4 was so innovative that it changed how people referred to formations. Whereas other sides had broadly shifted towards a roughly similar shape, systems had never been referred to in terms of 'numbers'. They were considered in terms of letters ('WM') or shapes (the pyramid).
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But now things became more technical: four defenders, two midfielders, four attackers. Some had concerns that Brazil were light in midfield, but their players were good enough to compensate for this perceived shortcoming.
'The most outstanding feature of the World Cup was provided by the confirmation of a new concept which might easily be called the 'fourth back' style,' wrote John Camkin in his book simply entitled World Cup 1958. 'The full-backs stayed wide on the touchlines and the centre-half and one wing-half, completely defensive, constantly guarded the middle … Brazil's success may well spread the 'fourth back' style into wider use.'
Brazil were notable for their use of width. In fielding Zagallo and Garrincha, they had a proper winger on either flank — even if Zagallo was a bit more workmanlike — with the use of four defenders allowing two to overlap, at this stage a relatively unfamiliar concept given defenders were accustomed to playing in a back three.
Notably, there were several changes to the starting XI throughout the tournament. Initially, Feola omitted Garrincha because he did not appreciate his lack of defensive effort, and so fielded the more disciplined Joel, until the players lobbied for Garrincha's inclusion and he came into the side for Brazil's third game, a 2-0 win over the Soviet Union.
That was Pele's first game of the competition, although his absence had been because of a knee injury. Within the first three minutes of that contest, Garrincha and Pele had hit the post, and Vava had opened the scoring. Brazil were a different side. Feola started the tournament with a front two of Jose Altafini and Dida, then tried Altafini and Vava, and ended up playing Vava and Pele.
There was a crucial change in midfield midway through the tournament, with Zito — a defensive-minded, positionally solid anchorman — coming in for the more adventurous Dino. As with so many other Brazilian sides, using a reliable holding player allowed the attackers to shine.
And for the final, right-back Djalma Santos — a rare survivor from the 1954 side — came in for his first start of the tournament, to keep Swedish left winger Lennart Skoglund quiet. Brazil popularised beautiful football — and astute tactical tinkering.
He may have missed the opening two matches, and various others had excellent tournaments too, but the star was 17-year-old Pele. No one else in football history has been on this level at the age of 17 — the closest is possibly Lamine Yamal with Barcelona and Spain.
Feola trusted in Pele despite the fact he was unfit for the start of the tournament. He was already being spoken about as the best footballer Brazil had produced, and he dominated proceedings from his first start against the Soviet Union. He looked decades ahead of his time: incredibly athletic, smooth when bringing the ball under control, brilliant at leaping for headers and a selfless team player.
After that instant impact against the Soviets, Pele scored the only goal in the surprisingly tense 1-0 quarter-final victory over Wales with a classic piece of control and a calm finish, which he later said was the most important goal of his career. Then came a hat-trick in the 5-2 semi-final win over France, and two more in the final.
This was the first of his three World Cup victories, something no other man has matched.
Brazil were nervous going into the final. They had collapsed in 1950, which was considered so disastrous that they changed the colour of their shirts, from white and black to yellow.
But now they faced Sweden, who wore yellow, so Brazil had to change to blue. Furthermore, stormy weather in Stockholm meant the muddy pitch would favour the hosts' more pragmatic style. And when Nils Liedholm opened the scoring within five minutes, Brazil might have panicked.
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But half an hour later, they had turned the game around — and done so with two near-identical goals. Both involved Garrincha, the gloriously unpredictable right-winger who bamboozled opposition left-backs throughout the tournament, in part because of his unusually misshapen legs. Here, the victim was Sven Axbom. Twice Garrincha dribbled past him on the outside. Twice he crossed low into the six-yard box. And twice Vava was on hand to score.
Brazil were 2-1 up by half-time, and in the second half they were almost completely dominant. Pele made it 3-1, then Zagallo put the game to bed with Brazil's fourth after his initial corner was not cleared. Sweden got one back, but Pele's brilliant, off-balance looped header — a little reminiscent of Lionel Messi's in the 2009 Champions League final for Barcelona against Manchester United — made it 5-2. The Times' report read that Sweden were 'bewildered by a brand of football craft beyond the understanding of many'.
It remains the World Cup final with the most goals, despite decent efforts from the last two, which have both featured six.
Pele's first (of two) in the final was a truly wonderful piece of skill. Collecting a cross on his chest, he not merely managed to control the ball under pressure from centre-back Sigge Parling, he also managed to beat Bengt Gustavsson, by popping the ball over his head. Gustavsson desperately tried to bring down Pele with a knee-high challenge, but Pele soldiered on and provided a neat dipping volley to score.
'I could say that I thought about it, but I'd be lying,' Pele later said. 'It was a spur-of-the-moment reaction, quick thinking. After I controlled it, I was going to hit it, but I managed to think quickly and changed. That was one of the strengths in my life, and in my football, my improvisation, to change at the last second.'
But it's interesting to read reports from Brazil's semi-final win over France, which mention how often he enjoyed knocking the ball over the head of defenders. It was one of those rare goals that was brilliant, but typical of the player's style.
At full time, the Brazil players paraded a flag on their lap of honour. But it was the flag of hosts Sweden, rather than their own.
Having wilted under the pressure on home soil eight years beforehand, Brazil loved their month in the calm surroundings of Sweden. They stayed in a small lakeside town named Hindas, close to Gothenburg, and spent their evenings fishing and enjoying the late sunsets.
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Sweden's hosting of the tournament was considered the best yet, and the host nation's decision to abandon their opposition to foreign-based professionals playing for the national side (which had cost them qualification for World Cup 1954) meant they enjoyed a surprise run to the final.
Brazil's decision to parade the Swedish flag was a recognition of their efforts as hosts and defeated finalists, and produced a standing ovation from the supporters in Stockholm. 'By the respective standards of the two countries, Sweden's triumph was at least as great as Brazil's,' wrote Camkin in his aforementioned book.
With the perceived injustice of West Germany's win over Hungary in 1954 still fresh in the minds, this was a popular victory. 'There was no doubt this time that the best, immeasurably the finest, team had won,' wrote Glanville in The History of the World Cup.
It often feels like tournament-winning sides play their best football in the group stage against weaker opposition, before becoming tighter and more cautious in the knockout phase. But Brazil became better and better, largely because of the line-up changes.
Having started with four clean sheets in four games — 3-0 v Austria, 0-0 v England (the first goalless draw in World Cup history), 2-0 v Soviet Union and 1-0 v Wales — they then thrashed France and Sweden 5-2 with scintillating attacking performances.
Although the 1970 winners are often hailed as the greatest World Cup side, it's generally agreed that they lacked a solid defence. In 1958, Brazil had no obvious shortcomings.
(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Thibaud MORITZ / AFP, David Ramos, Jeroen van den Berg/Soccrates, Mattia Ozbot – Inter/Inter /Getty Images)