The Beautiful Team: in Search of Pele and the 1970 Brazilians - Garry Jenkins

‘Legendary’ is probably the most appropriate word I can find to describe the Brazilian team that lifted the Jules Rimet trophy for a record-breaking third time. They did it in the sweltering heat of the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, in the summer of 1970, and they did it in style. I wasn’t even a twinkle in the milkman’s eye (and, yes, before you ask, my Dad was a milkman!) back then, but I don’t know how many times ...
...move out of defence beings the ball to Pele, but instead of shooting, he rolls a sublime pass to his right. The Italian defence is completely wrong-footed, and as Carlos Alberto appears out of nowhere, the ball seems to skip up into his path. Without breaking stride he hammers it past the keeper and into the net. Pure, unadulterated, footballing brilliance, and it has never been surpassed.

That move has been seen countless times by ... more

‘Legendary’ is probably the most appropriate word I can find to describe the Brazilian team that lifted the Jules Rimet trophy for a record-breaking third time. They did it in the sweltering heat of the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, in the summer of 1970, and they did it in style. I wasn’t even a twinkle in the milkman’s eye (and, yes, before you ask, my Dad was a milkman!) back then, but I don’t know how many times I’ve seen the clip that encapsulates the very essence of that amazing team – a mesmerising move out of defence beings the ball to Pele, but instead of shooting, he rolls a sublime pass to his right. The Italian defence is completely wrong-footed, and as Carlos Alberto appears out of nowhere, the ball seems to skip up into his path. Without breaking stride he hammers it past the keeper and into the net. Pure, unadulterated, footballing brilliance, and it has never been surpassed.

That move has been seen countless times by millions of people all over the world, but it still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end! You know how it is going to finish, but the impact has not diminished over the years. That original impact was so great for a variety of reasons – that was the first World Cup to be televised world-wide in colour, bringing the emotions of the moment so clearly to the audiences back home, and those who watched it knew they were witnessing something momentous, a team playing at it’s peak and featuring some of the best players the world had ever seen, players who could take the field knowing that they enjoyed an almost telepathic understanding with their colleagues.

This ‘Beautiful Team’ certainly left their mark on Garry Jenkins, as he decided to make a pilgrimage to Brazil nearly thirty years after their glorious triumph, to try and seek out those famous players and discover what kind of lives they were living. Had they found success and fulfilment when the football finally stopped rolling, or had they succumbed to the temptations and pressures of fame and fortune like so many before them? The saddest example of such a decline is probably the great Garrincha, the ‘little bird’ who left stadia spellbound with his almost magical skills in the World Cup winning side of 1958. After that, however, his star was on the wane and his life dissolved into a bottle of cachaca a day, until his untimely pauper’s death.

Happily, the players of 1970 have managed to avoid such calamity, and the ones that Jenkins is able to talk to light up the pages of his book with reminiscences of their triumphs, and also their near-disasters! The qualifying campaign for the World Cup finals in Mexico was negotiated in imperious style but some eccentric team selections and rumours of discontent in the dressing room led to a change of manager at the last minute. The role of the ruling military junta in all this was not something that had ever crossed my mind before, but the generals badly needed the national team to do well, to boost the image of Brazil abroad, and were desperate for success (the parallels with Argentina in 1978 are uncanny...).

However, once the team arrived in Mexico to acclimatise at their training camp, recent woes were forgotten and the coaching staff were able to mould these skilled players into the most complete unit ever to have graced the game. Interviews with Gerson, Clodoaldo, Carlos Alberto, Tostao, Rivellino, Felix, and of course Pele reveal that the players knew just how good they were. Many of them were teammates at some of Brazil’s big clubs, and had a deep understanding of how their colleagues played. Regional differences between the men from Rio, Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais were put aside for the good of the team. The sentiment that is most strongly echoed is that these men were aware that this was their chance of glory, their chance to show the world that Brazilian football was the best.

There were only two teams that the Brazilians feared in this tournament, England and Uruguay. The latter remain fierce rivals to this day, and the semi-final against Uruguay was regarded as a sort of unofficial South American championship by the players – whoever came out on top in that battle, knew they would be champions of the world, and it was certainly a battle as the Uruguayans attempted to kick and foul their way into the final. The popular image of South American teams is that they have no spirit, no stomach for the fight, but the Brazilian players showed that they could give as good as they got, without ever abandoning the delightful carefree football that had brought them that far.

England, of course, were the reigning world champions, and were regarded by Brazil as the most technically astute team in Mexico – the group match against Bobby Moore’s men is remembered for Gordon Banks’ unbelievable save (which Pele is unlikely to forget either!), Moore’s perfect tackle on Jairzinho and Jeff Astle’s miss, but the Brazilians haven’t forgot Franny Lee’s contribution. One of the many obscure facts that crops up in this book is that Carlos Alberto was detailed to kick Lee after he got a bit too aggressive early on in the game! This game also saw Felix keep the only and one clean sheet he managed in the entire tournament, as the eccentric and unpredictable keeper pulled out all the stops to keep Brazil’s most dangerous opponents at bay.

What shines through in every chapter is the pure joy that these players experienced when they played the game well – they knew what they were capable of, and knew what was expected of them. Some players admit to staying up all night before the final, unable to sleep through nerves and pressure, but they refused to buckle under that intense pressure, and were able to play some of the most famous, fantastic football ever seen. Sadly, Jairzinho, who made history by scoring in every match of the finals, refused to talk to Garry Jenkins, unless he was paid a fee equivalent to the bonus he received for winning the World Cup in 1970, whereas all the other players gave their time for nothing. Since that day in 1970, the players’ paths have diverged somewhat – Rivellino runs a football school with his father, Gerson is in charge of a programme for underprivileged children, Pele is the Minister for Sport and Felix runs a car repair shop!

However, they are all still regarded as heroes in their homeland, and rightly so. These men played in the best football team of all time, the team that earned the right to retain the original World Cup for Brazil. What they achieved will never be bettered, I am convinced of that, but if you want to see how great footballers can be aware of their greatness and yet not become the pampered primadonnas that we see so much of on television today, then read this book. You might hear it sung in stadia across the land every week, but Brazil 1970 really was the greatest team the world has ever seen.

*** 04/04/02

Pele's famous no. 10 shirt, which he wore in the 1970 World Cup final, was auctioned at Christie's in London last week, and fetched the almost incredible sum of £157,000. Although this seems an unbelivable amount to spend on what is essentially little more than a heavily-stained piece of yellow and green cloth, it just goes to show that the legend of the 'Beautiful Team' has not lost its attraction...

 

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