Brazil 1970: the perfect team

Ask anyone who saw it to name the greatest team in history and many will give the same answer: Brazil, Mexico, 1970. It was the first World Cup broadcast in colour around the world, and the yellow shirts seemed made for it.

A team of number tens

Coach Mário Zagallo, a World Cup winner as a player in 1958 and 1962, faced a luxury problem: too many playmakers. His solution was to play them all. Pelé, Tostão, Rivellino, Gérson and Jairzinho were packed into the same side, trusted to find space for each other.

It worked. Jairzinho scored in every match of the tournament, seven goals in total. Pelé, at 29 and freed from the injuries that had wrecked his 1966 tournament, produced moments that are still replayed: a shot from the halfway line against Czechoslovakia, a dummy that left Uruguay’s goalkeeper stranded, and a header against England that Gordon Banks somehow turned over the bar.

The final and the goal

In the final at the Estadio Azteca, Brazil beat Italy 4–1. Pelé headed the opener. The fourth goal became the most celebrated team goal ever scored: a long passing move that began in Brazil’s own half, ending with Pelé rolling the ball calmly into the path of captain Carlos Alberto, who struck it first time into the corner.

What it meant

With their third title, Brazil kept the Jules Rimet Trophy for good. Pelé became the only player to win three World Cups, and Zagallo the first man to win the tournament as both player and coach. The team has become a byword for football played with joy as well as skill.