History of the Brazil national football team

In one of the biggest upsets in football history, however, Uruguay scored with only 11 minutes remaining to win the match, and the Cup, in a game infamously known as "the Maracanzo".

Brazil reached the quarter-final, where they were beaten 4–2 by tournament favourites Hungary in one of the ugliest matches in football history; it would become infamous as the Battle of Berne.

Also, a dentist accompanied the team because of the general player humble origins, many members performance's suffered negatively by infections by the lack of dental treatment.

After becoming the first player ever to score in three World Cups, with a direct free kick against Bulgaria, he had to rest due to fatigue for the match against Hungary, which Brazil lost.

It fielded what has since then often been considered the best football squad ever,[14][15][16][17] led by Pelé in his last World Cup finals, captain Carlos Alberto Torres, Jairzinho, Tostão, Gérson and Rivellino.

[18] In the second group stage of the 1978 World Cup, Brazil was competing with tournament host Argentina for top spot and a place in the finals.

After moving to a second round of round-robin matches held at the Sarrià Stadium in Barcelona, they then easily beat a demoralized Argentina 3–1, which effectively booted their South American rivals out of the tournament, having previously lost to Italy 2–1.

Brazil were slated to progress to the semi-finals, but a 3–2 defeat to Italy in one of the classic games in World Cup finals history, eliminated them from the tournament in the match that they refer to as "Sarrià's Disaster", referencing the stadium's name and the disappointment that followed.

Zico managed to score from his penalty, but Júlio César and Sócrates missed the goal in their turns, and though French captain Michel Platini sent his effort over the crossbar, Brazil was nevertheless eliminated from the 1986 World Cup.

With a defensive scheme, whose main symbol was midfielder Dunga, forward Careca and three full-backs, the team lacked creativity but made it to the second round.

They won all three of their group stage matches against Sweden (2–1), Costa Rica (1–0) and Scotland (1–0), during playing the latter, a hard free-kick taken by Branco hit Scottish midfielder Murdo MacLeod in the head, knocking him out cold.

Their struggles ended at the 1994 tournament in the United States, where a solid, if unspectacular, side headed by Romário, Bebeto, Dunga, Taffarel and Jorginho, won the World Cup for a then-record fourth time.

Brazilian marking at defensive set pieces was poor, and Zinedine Zidane was able to score two headed goals from France's corner kicks.

Nicknamed the "Magic Square" by Brazilian sport journalists, the attack was built around four extremely talented players: Ronaldo, Adriano, Kaká and Ronaldinho.

After a two-month injury lay-off earlier in the season, the Real Madrid forward had gained a noticeable amount of weight, and was not as sharp and quick as he had been in the previous decade.

Despite Perreira's reversion once again to a more balanced formation, with Ronaldo a lone striker supported by Kaká and Ronaldinho, Brazil was eliminated in the quarter-finals against France, losing 1–0 to a Thierry Henry goal in the second half.

The media circulated images of the left wing-back Roberto Carlos tying his shoes while Thierry Henry ran unmarked to score the winning goal.

After beating South Africa in the semi-final with a late free-kick, they went on to a rematch against the United States in the final, where they had a massive comeback and won 3–2 after lagging 2–0 at half-time, to seal their third Confederations Cup title.

After receiving much criticism from Brazil's failure at the Copa América, Menezes decided to call up the likes of Marcelo, Hulk and Ronaldinho, which appeared to signal a return to the old "Joga Bonito" style.

In preparation for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the new look Brazil team was on an undefeated streak since August 2011 until recently they lost back-to-back games to Mexico 2–0 and Argentina 4–3, both of which were played in the United States.

[citation needed] Although Brazil won the 2012 Superclásico de las Américas, on 23 November 2012, following poor results in 2012, coach Mano Menezes was sacked.

[33] The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) would announce a replacement by January 2013,[34] but on 28 November, Luiz Felipe Scolari was appointed as Brazil's new manager.

After a somewhat troublesome match against Uruguay, with Paulinho scoring the winning goal in the dying moments, Brazil went to face Spain for the first time in a FIFA tournament in nearly 27 years.

[39] Brazil comfortably won the final 3–0, sealing their fourth Confederations Cup title and ending their opponent's run of 29 unbeaten matches in competitive football.

Brazil prevailed 3–2, with Neymar, David Luiz and Marcelo converting their kicks, and goalkeeper Júlio César saving from Chileans Sánchez and Mauricio Pinilla.

Brazil faced further problems ahead of their semi-final against Germany, as Thiago Silva was to serve a one-match suspension for receiving his second yellow card of the tournament in the quarter-final.

[68] Needing only a draw to progress to the knockout stage of the tournament, Brazil suffered a controversial 1–0 loss to Peru, with Raúl Ruidíaz scoring in the 75th minute by guiding the ball into the net with his arm.

However, Brazilian perpetration for the tournament at home was hampered by the injury of Neymar in a friendly match where Brazil thrashed 2019 AFC Asian Cup champions Qatar 2–0.

With permission from the Brazilian Sports Confederation, the newspaper Correio da Manhã held a competition to design a kit incorporating the four colours of Brazil's flag.

[103] The use of blue as the kit colour dates from the 1938 (against Poland) and 1939 (in 1939-40 Copa Roca), but it became the permanent second choice accidentally in the 1958 World Cup final.