Chilie 1962

In Chile, at the foot of the Andes, Brazil took off with its second consecutive world title,even with Pele absent from the team. But this seventh World Cup is also remembered as the occasion when football became more “physical”.

 After two consecutive European-based tournaments – Switzerland 1954 and Sweden 1958 – the World Cup returned to South America twelve years after Brazil played host. FIFA’s choice of Chile, however, raised more than a few eyebrows as it was believed to be sorely deficient in many areas (stadiums, access roads, capacity) and incapable of playing host to such a large-scale event. Fifty six teams – a new record – took part in the qualifying rounds, which saw the elimination of France and Sweden, two of the big guns from the 1954 tournament. Many first-round games in this 1962 World Cup, such as USSR vs Yugoslavia, Chile vs Italy and West Germany vs Switzerland, were unfortunately marred by over-physical play.

The ugly side of football had reared its head for the first time in a World Cup competition: all the more apparent because the Brazilian world champions were not really able to deliver their usual scintillating style of play, having problems getting into their stride. And the injury sustained by Pele against Yugoslavia did nothing to make matters easier. The star of the 1958 World Cup finally limped out of the 1962 tournament for good following a muscle injury suffered against Czechoslovakia. Nevertheless, the Brazilians, led by Garrincha and Zagallo, though less devastating than in Sweden, managed to qualify for the quarter-finals, which was not to be the case for Uruguay, Argentina or Italy.

The Czech surprise
The tournament’s emotional high-spot came in the quarter-finals when the host nation Chile defeated the USSR (2-1) and the whole country took to the streets to celebrate. The Chileans’ joy was short lived, however, for in the Semi-final the Brazilians proved too strong for them. Brazil therefore qualified for its second consecutive Final. Its opponent for the title was to be Czechoslovakia, surprise winner over Yugoslavia in the semis.

The Czechs had already forged a draw (0-0) against the Brazilians in the first round and also miraculously beaten the Hungarians in the quarter-finals, the latter having struck the post no less than 4 times. Against all the odds it was the Czechs who took the lead in this Final, before the Brazilians equalised two minutes later and then went on to score two more to retain the title: a magnificent feat from a team including nine players who had taken part in the victorious 1958 campaign. Brazil therefore joined Italy and Uruguay in the honours list as the only nations to have won the Jules Rimet trophy on two occasions. For the moment, at least…