Posts Tagged Pele
1958 World Cup Final ~ Brazil vs Sweden (Full Classic Match)
Posted by 4Dfoot in Full Classic Matches on February 3, 2012
For Brazilians, it had been a national disaster. “Our Hiroshima” as Nelson Rodrigues put it. Zizinho’s inconquerable Brazil had inexplicably lost the 1950 World Cup final. Eight years later, the moment had finally arrived for the Brazilians to restore their national pride.
With an innovative 4-2-4 formation, with the legendary sidebacks Nilton Santos and Djalma Santos, with the great Didi controlling play from midfield, and with the young wizards Pelé and Garrincha stealing the show, Brazil was infantry, cavalry and artillery all in one. They had demolished the European favourites for the title, France. Now only the sympathetic hosts of the 1958 World Cup remained: Sweden.
Sweden had arrived in the final on the back of victories over the Soviet-Union and defending champions West-Germany. By now it was obvious the Swedes were more than just a lucky home side. Former AC Milan stars Liedholm and Gren were old, but still excellent. The young Kurt Hamrin was also an excellent footballer.
Even so, it was clear that Brazil possessed more quality. But the same had been true of Brazil’s 1950 team… Read the rest of this entry »
1970 World Cup Group match ~ Brazil vs England (Full Classic Match)
Posted by 4Dfoot in Full Classic Matches on November 24, 2011
The game that should’ve been the final of the 1970 World Cup. Defending champions England, now perhaps even better than four years earlier, against the might of Pelé’s Brazil.
But there was more than just prestige on the line. Both teams had been successful in their opening group game. Whoever would win this epic battle, would end up winning the group.
Brazil had left a mixed impression in their first match against the Czechs. A brilliant forward line that could conjure up goals from nowhere, sure, with Pele, Rivelino and Jairzinho especially impressive. But also an extremely dodgy defense. Centre backs Brito and Piazza, and goalkeeper Felix were simply terrible. Nobody doubted that England would get plenty of chances.
So the big question was: can England, led by their great captain Bobby Moore, curtail the combined efforts of Pelé, Tostao, Rivelino and Jairzinho?
Bobby Moore vs Brazil 1970 (Player Video)
Posted by 4Dfoot in Player Compilations on November 18, 2011
Bobby Moore, in his day, was known as the best defender in the world. In this 1970 World Cup match, against the team with the greatest attack the world has ever seen, he showed why he deserved his reputation.
All-Time Brazil team
Posted by 4Dfoot in Best of All Time on November 15, 2011
Making an All-Time Brazil team is as enjoyable as it is difficult. You can’t field a team with 11 playmakers and forwards. So hard choices have to be made. We all love Socrates, but was he better than Zico? What’s more important: Romario’s longevity or Ronaldo’s peak brilliance? What to do with the old masters Zizinho and Leonidas?
Throughout the years, there have been several attempts to make an All-Time Brazil team.
Guerin’s Top 50 Best Players of the 20th Century
Posted by 4Dfoot in Best of All Time on November 13, 2011
In 1999, the Italian sports magazine Guerin’ Sportivo created a ranked list of the 50 best players of all time. I 50 Grandi del Secolo contains a clear Italian bias. 15 of the 50 players are Italian, and a further 15 footballers used to play in the Italian league. Meanwhile the likes of George Best, Romario, Ruud Gullit and Sandor Kocsis aren’t even mentioned.
But despite that, it’s still a wonderful list. Not only because it names a few forgotten Italians players, but also because it comes with a nice poetic description of every player, consisting of only a few words. Some of them really capture a player’s essence. What about The Champion that lived twice for Bobby Charlton – survivor of Manchester United’s Munich plane crash? Or how about Fragile and Indestructable for the injury prone yet resilient Roberto Baggio?
Two other poetic descriptions I like are Against the Ghost of Pelé for Zico. Nicknamed the White Pelé, Zico fought all his career against the shadow of Pelé’s triple World Cup triumphs, which Zico utterly failed to replicate. And what better way to describe Johan Cruyff and his continuous struggle to find new paths than The Champion of the New Frontier?
Here is the entire list with translated descriptions
11-11-11 ~ The Best 11 of all time
Posted by 4Dfoot in Articles, Best of All Time on November 11, 2011
In the near future, this website will add a page dedicated to lists and formations of the greatest players of all time. And to get a taste of what’s to come, what better way to celebrate 11-11-11 than by making a line-up of the best 11 of all time?
The challenge with ‘best ever’ formations is selecting the best players without creating a ridiculous team that has 11 strikers or playmakers. The objective is to make a line-up that can actually work.
That means making hard choices. You can’t have Zidane, Cruyff, Maradona, Platini, Zico and Di Stefano all in one team. Only retired players are included, so that, at least, saves me a head ache over Messi’s position.
So who made the cut?
1958 World Cup Semi-Final ~ Brazil vs France (Full Classic Match)
Posted by 4Dfoot in Full Classic Matches on October 21, 2011
If you want to know how football was played in the 50′s, this game is the perfect place to start. Super talented players dribbling from every position on the field, a complete absence of organisation on midfield, and oceans of space for attack after attack. A thrilling encounter played at a pace impossible in today’s world.
This game is also a great chance to see the legendary Garrincha in action. And a 17 year-old Pele. And the masterful Didi. and the French genius Raymond Kopa. Quite simply, this is a must-watch.
1970 World Cup Quarter-Final ~ Brazil vs Peru (Full Classic Match)
Posted by 4Dfoot in Full Classic Matches on October 15, 2011
No manager in the history of football could possibly have had a more pleasant job than Brazil manager Mario Zagallo during the 1970 World Cup. Since coaches tend to spend 90% of their time thinking about their next starting line-up, Zagallo’s mind must have been filled with daydreams about the greatest players on earth. The physically flawless Carlos Alberto. The visionary Gerson. The unpredictable Rivelino. The ever scoring Jairzinho. The genius Tostao. And that Pelé guy.
But despite all this ridiculous talent, Brazil would find a tough opponent in Peru. Coached by Zagallo’s former World Cup winning captain Didi, Peru featured the best player in its history: the superb Teofilo Cubillas. To further enhance the spectacle, the goalkeepers on duty that day were terrible. The result of all this is a match packed with action – perhaps the most entertaining one among all the classics produced by Brazil’s golden 1970 team.
Line-ups:
Brazil
Felix – Brito, Piazza, M. Antonio, Carlos Alberto – Clodaldo, Gerson – Rivelino, Tostao, Pelé, Jairzinho.
Coach: Mario Zagallo
Peru
Rubinos – Campos, Fernandez, Chumpitaz, Fuentes – Mifflin, Baylon – Challe, Leon, Cubillas, Gallardo
Coach: Didi
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