Review – O Jogo Bonito! Brazil's 1970 World Cup Samba Party by Gary Thacker

17/04/2024 09:00

O Jogo Bonito cover

The Brazilian team of the 1970 World Cup featured the incomparable skills of Pele, Rivellino, Gerson, Jairzinho and Tostao. It was their third success in four tournaments and meant that the Jules Rimet Trophy would for evermore be the property of Brazil.

Thacker's book looks at the trials, tribulations, and triumphs on the way to Mexico, and how the political backdrop of Brazil influenced events. He then goes on to look in detail at the Mexico World Cup, Brazil's reaction to the victory and then he considers the legacy left by Mario Zagallo's victorious team and how the national team's identity of 'O Jogo Bonito' became more myth than reality.

The narrative picks up pace when the Brazilian's arrive in Mexico. Zagallo claiming that Brazil would be the first team to arrive in Mexico (one month before the tournament started) and the last team to leave.

It was the first World Cup shown on colour television and to a worldwide audience. Despite the heat and altitude locations, the 1970 finals produced an abundance of attacking football and an average of 2.97 goals per match.

Brazil progressed through the group stages overcoming Romania, Czechoslovakia, and reigning champions England before overcoming Peru in the quarter-final and old rivals Uruguay in the semi-final. Thacker and others have commented that this Brazil team always felt that no matter how many goals they conceded they could always score more than the opposition.

Brazil's Samba party reached new levels when they reached the final against Italy.

Thacker comments, "The Samba rhythm, the regular accompaniment for the team on the way to the game, helped ease the tension. They played a pagoda (a celebratory Samba), not out of overconfidence, but fuelled by a belief that it would be their day and helped to keep the positivity topped up. All the players were involved. Jairzinho was on the drum, Gerson on the tambourine and Pele shook the maracas…. The party were all in tune, bound together by the Samba.''

The first half of the final was an even affair with Pele's majestic header giving Brazil the lead but a mistake by Clodoaldo allowed Boninsegna to equalise. 1-1 at half-time but the second half was a more one-sided affair with Brazil having a much sharper cutting edge.

Gerson dominated a lot of the midfield play and this was to prove crucial for the Brazilians. Thacker states, "Gerson was like a ringmaster, standing centre stage, inviting colleagues to perform in turn as he passed them the ball, a karaoke organiser handing around the microphone, and demanding, 'Now Sing!' Always available, always in control never hurried."

Gerson scored a stunning goal that turned the game in Brazil's favour, and it was probably the most important of the 19 that they scored in the tournament. Jairzinho added a third goal from Pele's cross and the Samba style football was in full flow when captain Carlos Alberto scored probably the greatest goal in World Cup history involving ten Brazilian players.

Thacker's book provides plenty of new insights and makes use of many important sources to re-examine arguably the greatest World Cup won by the greatest team.

You can stream The World at Their Feet – 1970 World Cup official film here

O Jogo Bonito! Brazil's 1970 World Cup Samba Party by Gary Thacker. Published by Pitch Publishing. Price £18.99.

This review first appeared in the May/June 2024 edition of Late Tackle magazine.