In the previous two World Cups of 1950, and 1954,
the preceding British Championships had doubled
as qualifiers. This practise was brought to an end
as a result of widespread protests. Amusingly, all
four British Home Nations (England, Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland) qualified, thereby providing
exactly one quarter of the finalists in the 1958
World Cup. Nonetheless, the four teams were much
weaker than they could have been. England only sent
twenty players whereas the rules permitted twenty-two.
But the big disaster was the Munich Air Crash of
6 February 1958, which not only wiped out the guts
of the Manchester United team of the day (eight
players died), but deprived England of many players
(Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor and Roger Byrne spring
to mind) who would have been certainties for selection.
International politics still kept the game in its
thrall. The Soviet crushing of the Hungarian uprising
of 1956 occurred when the Hungarian team was abroad.
Many of their better players decided not to return
home. Thus the “Magic Magyars” were no more, their
vulnerable successors failing to progress from the
first round group games. The Suez Crisis of 1956
and the associated war between Egypt and Israel
had the footballing consequence that none of Israel’s
opponents in the Africa and Asia group would play
her in the qualifying tournament. Fifa arranged
a qualifying match between Wales and Israel which
was easily won by the Welsh. Wales had come second
to Czechoslovakia when qualifying and had won the
drawing of lots amongst the runners-up for the right
to contest this final place. In future World Cup
qualifying competitions Israel would have to face
European opposition, preventing a rerun. “Jaw-jaw
is better than war-war”, and at least teams from
both sides of the Iron Curtain were competing against
each other.
Fifa had still not adopted a system of rotation
between the two footballing superpower continents
Europe and South America. Hence Sweden became the
second consecutive post-war host from Europe. Although
the tournament was unable to grab the Swedish imagination
until it looked as if Sweden, seemingly incredibly,
might actually win. The flag waving by Sweden supporters
in the semi-final was considered excessive by Fifa,
who also banned any cheer leaders for the final.
A big boost to Swedish potential had been the decision
of the Swedish FA to rescind existing policy and
to actually employ Swedish professionals who plied
their trade abroad. Not to be overlooked, apart
from home advantage, was that Sweden had the oldest
selection of players available. The confidence and
organisation provided by their coach, the Englishman
George Raynor, made Sweden a formidable competitor.
The divisional system of 1954 was retained; however,
the disastrous seeding system in which the top two
played the bottom two was dropped in favour of an
all-play-all. There would be far more games played
than formerly. Deliberately playing to lose would
be riskier except possibly for the last of the three
first round games, if both teams had already qualified.
No system is perfect and this was definitely an
improvement, however, Pool Four was far and away
the strongest of the groups.
The geographical spread, because of Near Eastern
politics, was not as impressive as in previous World
Cups. From Europe were: England, Scotland, Wales,
Sweden, the Soviet Union, Hungary, West Germany,
Czechoslovakia, France, Yugoslavia, Austria and
Northern Ireland. From the Americas: Argentina,
Brazil, Paraguay and Mexico.
This was the World Cup in which Brazil would finally
realise her potential, the World Cup from which
would emerge a new star: Edson Arantes do Nascimento,
popularly known as Pelé, a name he had acquired
at the age of nine. Many a great footballer had
a particularly formidable arrow in his quiver; Pelé,
however, seemed to be without a weakness: he was
exceptionally fast and agile, his superb sense of
balance created an impression of grace no matter
what position his body adopted; he had a powerful
shot and a heading ability that was stunning, no
opponent was safe from being out jumped, outrun,
out dribbled, or being “nutmegged” (slipping a ball
between a rival player’s legs and running round
his back to collect it). Most important of all was
his sense of anticipation, the ability to be in
exactly the right position at exactly the right
time, a footballing brain par excellence. His accomplishments
on the field of football provide the measurement
that must be used should anyone claim to be the
greatest. Born on 23 October 1940 in Tres Corações,
Minas Gerais State in the east of Brazil. Perhaps
the high altitude helped Pelé become such an accomplished
athlete with superb stamina. The son of a professional
footballer, Pelé was discovered by the Brazilian
international Valdemar de Brito, who had featured
for Brazil in the 1934 World Cup. Pelé played professional
football for the Brazilian club side Santos for
most of his career, retiring in 1974. He briefly
returned to professional football, played for the
New York Cosmos, finally retiring on 1 October 1977.
Pelé was to play for Brazil in the 1958, 1962, 1966
and 1970 World Cups. At club level Santos won the
Sao Paolo State League eight times in eleven years.
A special act of the Brazilian Congress forbade
Pelé’s transfer abroad, a boon for Santos, and a
shame for European fans who were thus largely restricted
to watching Pelé play in internationals for his
country. That is to say, watching in the flesh,
for the age of television had arrived and this World
Cup was filmed.
The divisions were:
Pool 1: West Germany, Czechoslovakia, Northern
Ireland and Argentina.
Pool 2: France, Yugoslavia, Paraguay and Scotland.
Pool 3: Sweden, Hungary, Wales and Mexico.
Pool 4: Brazil, England, Soviet Union and Austria.
As previously mentioned Pool 4 was the most testing
of the groups. England, although weakened, still
provided tough opposition, even though they no longer
had available all of the players who had defeated
West Germany, the unconvincing champions of 1954,
by three-one on their home ground of West Berlin.
Hard though it is to believe, Brazil almost failed
to qualify, just scraping through at the expense
of Peru, yet they had many great players as well
as the incomparable Pelé, including Garrincha, Didi,
Nilton Santos, Zito and Vava. Indeed Pelé was not
introduced until their third match in the competition.
The Brazil-England game produced no goals, thus
England were to return as the only side not to concede
a goal when facing the Latin American giants; alas
the lack of punch in the weakened forward line meant
that there had been little threat to the Brazil
goal either, save for a penalty claim that should
have been allowed. The introduction of Pelé was
sufficient to dispatch the Soviet Union, absolutely
essential if Brazil were to go through to the next
stage; a measure of the Soviet’s footballing strength
can be given by mentioning that they were to move
on and capture the inaugural European Championship
in 1960. Austria, who had played so memorable a
part in the 1954 finals were no slouches either,
despite coming bottom of the group. Their solitary
draw at the expense of England was to cost England
dearly.
Pool 2 was perhaps the next most formidable of
the groups; Scotland having qualified at the expense
of Spain, many of whose players featured in the
formidable Real Madrid sides that dominated the
European Cup, which was open to the club sides of
Europe who had won their domestic leagues. France,
in Juste Fontaine, found a forward who seemed to
score almost at will, transforming an unfancied
side into deadly opponents, a team that only the
genius of Brazil was to defeat. Yugoslavia for a
long time had produced powerful sides playing neat
attractive football, the class of ’58 was to prove
no exception.
The hosts Sweden were lucky to be in the weakest
group of them all, Hungary being a pale shadow of
their 1954 selves. Wales, even with the redoubtable
John Charles, who was later to be revered by the
fans of Italy’s Juventus, were not expected to be
more than respectable opposition, given their difficult,
and lucky, qualifying method. Mexico had still to
even avoid defeat in the many World Cups they had
played in, this time they made a difference, their
draw with Wales forcing a play-off match between
Magyar and Welshman for the second qualifying spot.
Pool 1 was by no means weak, although if there
was a weak team in it it would have to be Argentina,
cruelly quartered in effectiveness by Italian poaching.
Not that this did Italy any good as Northern Ireland
still managed to qualify at their expense. One should
not underestimate this Northern Ireland team, for
it included Danny Blanchflower, the captain of the
great Tottenham Hotspur double winning side of the
1960-61 season. A warning to the other members of
Pool 1 was additionally provided by a one-nil away
win over England in 1957, in which goalkeeper Harry
Gregg had played one of his greatest games. The
Northern Irish players played as a team and with
great determination. Their spirit was such as to
dispose of the highly fancied Czechoslovakia. The
Munich air disaster deprived the Irishmen of the
services of Jackie Blanchflower, the injured brother
of Danny. Yet Manchester United’s goalkeeper Harry
Gregg had survived Munich and played (for that matter
he had turned out for Manchester United just three
weeks after Munich). Northern Ireland were only
able to send out seventeen players, a significant
five short of the permitted twenty-two. Beaten three-one
by Argentina, Northern Ireland bounced back to hold
the reigning world champions West Germany to a draw,
a match in which Harry Gregg had defended his goal
playing with only one leg functioning properly,
only a very late West German equaliser prevented
an upset. Northern Ireland were therefore forced
to play Czechoslovakia in a playoff for the second
qualifying spot. Surely their luck had run out,
for not only was Gregg injured, forcing the Irish
to put the unfancied Norman Uprichard in goal, but
they were missing Tommy Casey too. This, coupled
with Czechoslovakia’s six-one crushing of Argentina,
made the Czechs firm favourites to go through. An
impression that was not diluted when Czechoslovakia
when one-nil up as a result of a goal from the unmarked
Zikan in the twentieth minute. Northern Ireland
refused to give up, their no-surrender mindset enabling
the prolific goal scorer McParland to equalise with
less than a minute to go before half time. Norman
Uprichard, who had already twisted an ankle in the
first half, broke a bone in his hand, a terrible
handicap for a goalkeeper; trouble comes in twos,
so left half Bertie Peacock complemented Uprichard’s
injury by straining a muscle. Somehow the Irish
prevented Czechoslovakia from scoring a goal. So
the game went into extra time. It was then that
Billy Bingham Northern Ireland’s outside right demonstrated
a masterful understanding of human nature, he persuaded
his exhausted team mates to engage in gymnastic
exercises. The Czech players, hardly less exhausted
than the Irish, couldn’t believe what they were
seeing; the worm of doubt gained a hold on them.
The Czech catastrophe was complete when McParland
scored in the one hundredth minute from a beautiful
Blanchflower cross. The Argentine players, who had
come bottom, were greeted with sackfuls of rubbish
when they returned home.
Sticking to the script of the 1954 World Cup the
competition now entered a knockout stage. West Germany
won a rather uneventful quarterfinal one-nil against
a subdued Yugoslavia. Northern Ireland, following
their heroics against Czechoslovakia collapsed four-nil
against France. A stubborn Welsh team, playing without
the injured John Charles, managed to hang on grimly
until the magisterial Pelé finally broke their resistance
after seventy-two minutes. The Soviets lost rather
tamely to Sweden by a two nil score line.
The tournament now began to attract much more interest
in Sweden, as the belief started to enthuse the
home crowds that their team might actually win.
Perhaps the increased liveliness was engendered
by the presence of cheerleaders on the pitch in
Gothenburg before the match against West Germany
had begun. At first it looked as though home advantage
would count for nought when Schäfer scored for West
Germany; but then the Swedish crowd started to roar
and chivy their side. Liedholm of Sweden illegally
handled the ball when passing to Skoglund for the
equaliser, an offence missed by the referee which
incensed the West German players. An injury followed
by a sending off would have finished all but the
greatest of teams in an era without substitutes;
yet the score remained at one-one until the eight-second
minute, after which the Swedes quickly scored again.
The match left a sour taste, so it occasioned no
surprise when Fifa banned the appearance of any
cheerleaders in the final.
Brazil were now functioning as a team, which made
them irresistible, even though Juste Fontaine of
France opened the scoring in the ninth minute. A
second half hat trick from the matchless Pelé finally
put the game out of reach. The five-two score line
was not at all flattering to the South American
titans.
The 1958 World Cup final was to be between the
oldest and slowest team, Sweden, and the most exhilarating,
Brazil. The ever optimistic George Raynor, Sweden’s
inspirational manager, enthused his players with
the observation that Brazil had yet to go a goal
down in a match in the 1958 Finals; the path to
victory was simple, just score first. Then the drawbacks
to Brazil’s 4-2-4 formation would lead to panic
and a Swedish victory. Twenty-four hours of rain
before the final only helped to encourage this optimism,
as such weather traditionally helped European sides
in their battles with South American teams.
On the sodden field Gunner Gren passed quickly
to Nils Liedholm who threaded his way past one defender
and the weak challenges of two others. One-nil to
Sweden, perhaps Raynor was right? The crowd, far
quieter than in the semi-final, would see. But Brazil
summed to more than Pelé, Garrincha on the right
wing skipped past his marker to the base line, quickly
whipping in a pass that Vava is able to ease in,
one each now. And the demolition of the theory that
Brazil would fold after going behind. Pelé then
piled on the pressure thumping the goal post with
a hard shot from distance, it was clear who was
on top now. After more than half an hour’s play,
Garrincha links up with Vava in a reprise of the
first goal. Thus the Swede’s themselves were one
down, would they panic? No, there would be no more
goals before half time. Cometh the second half,
cometh the man; Djalma Santos passed the ball diagonally
to Pelé who has his back to the goal and two defenders
behind him, ten minutes of the second half had been
played; the Brazilian maestro, only seventeen years
of age, controlled the ball with his chest, letting
it fall onto his right foot, swivelling to his right
he then flicked the ball over the Swedish defenders,
charging in to collect it as it dropped, he then
smashed the ball past a helpless Svensson in goal
for Sweden. A two goal cushion and a time for Brazil
to show-off their skills, a battered Sweden were
forced to chase the ball to comical effect; Zagalo
of Brazil then put paid to any lingering dreams,
his powerful drive increased the lead to four-one.
Yet Sweden did not collapse, Simonsson’s industry
finally resulting in a consolation goal, four-two.
A back heel from Pelé and a quick run into the penalty
area left him beautifully place to head home the
last of the Brazilian goals. Perhaps for the first
time the World Cup had a convincing winner, and
the winner’s name was Brazil. Brazil also showed
great sportsmanship and vision; after the match
was over the Brazilian players saluted their hosts
by doing a lap of honour with the Swedish flag.