Pelé’s first World Cup memory is his father crying.
This was in 1950. Brazil received and crushed the teams 4-0, 7-1 and 6-1. Before the final match, against Uruguay, the Brazilian players received gold watches with the inscription “For the world champions”. O Mundo’s showed a photo of the Brazilian players under the headline: “These are the world champions.” To say that Brazil was the favorite would wrongly suggest that it was some kind of competition. It was just the way the future would play out at the Maracana, the world’s largest stadium, which was still an active construction zone.
The match was not televised. That would come four years later. This is how Pelé’s father heard it on the radio. Brazil lost.
Several people committed suicide. Pele’s father was crying.
It is known as the Maracanazo. The tragedy of the Maracanã.
Pelé: From adversity to a world champion
Nelson Rodrigues, the famous Brazilian playwright, wrote: “Everywhere has its irremediable national catastrophe, something like Hiroshima. Our catastrophe, our Hiroshima, was the defeat of Uruguay in 1950”.
Pelé made many more happy memories of the World Cup. He won it three times. 1970, the first broadcast of the World Cup in color, remains in his memory mainly because of his yellow shirt. Pele is pretty much the reason why number 10 is ‘The Dude’ in football.
World traveler with football in his heart
My initial memories of the World Cup are equally dizzying.
In 1994, I ran inside after playing in the woods behind my grandparents’ house to find my older cousins watching TV. “Who’s that boy?” I asked. It was, of course, Alexi Lalas. Americans wore denim shirts. The opposition wore yellow. It must have been the game against Colombia, when Andrés Escobar scored an own goal and signed his own death sentence. I ran to play downstairs in the basement.
In 1998, we lived deep in the jungles of Borneo. We had no TV, no internet, no ice cream. Every morning, I would get the local newspaper and try to read the World Cup news. Basically this involved having my parents translate every word and most of the time just looking at the goal tables. I remember Gabriel Batistuta’s hairstyle and his diadem.
In 2002, we went to Bali for part of the World Cup, and I would watch it in hotel lounges or on TVs in the back of restaurants. For the England-Brazil game, my dad took me to an outdoor bar. He had never been in one before.
The whole place was on its feet when Michael Owen scored. The rowdy Brits were lashing their half-drunk bottles over their heads. Spilled beer everywhere. He was sticky. Then of course they got a lot grumpier when. A handful of people dressed in yellow came forward and danced with a Brazilian flag. Everyone else booed. she was beaming. I had never seen other soccer fans before.
About all I remember from that World Cup is. An Indonesian man sits and bounces a soccer ball. “Kapan Indonesia masuk Piala Dunia?” he asks the camera. When will Indonesia reach a World Cup? He kicks the ball towards a billboard of a mullet-edged Alessandro Del Piero. The ball sucks the poster and Del Piero comes to life. They play one-on-one for a bit, and Del Piero says a few things in forced Bahasa. I’m still not sure what the ad is trying to sell. High fructose corn syrup, I guess. My brothers and I still quote him. Kapan Indonesia masuk Piala Dunia?
the american experience
Nowadays I watch the World Cup matches in 4K. I recently saw one on YouTube TV. On my phone. In a jet plane. Approximately 10,000 feet above the Gulf of Mexico. The future is wild.
But sometimes, it can feel like we’ve crossed over from analog to digital. It’s a little too slippery, too sterile. Remember when players used to have mullets? Those old games feel a little more tactile in memory. Like watching 35mm or listening to vinyl through a Marantz receiver. So what I tried to do, along with Exile Content Studios, iHeartRadio and my co-host Nando Vila with The Best Soccer Podcast in the World, was to dig into the nostalgia of the pre-photoshopped World Cups and revel in the arena a bit.
After all, Pelé’s father cried. Hopefully, the first memories of him from the World Cup were a little less traumatic.
The next episode of The Best Soccer Podcast in the World is all about Mágico González and how his fun approach to the game has made him a “cult hero”.
Get an exclusive first listen below, and be sure to tune in on Tuesday, December 13 to hear the full episode.
Photo credit: IMAGO / Sven Simon
World Cup 2022 Guide
Here are some resources to help you make the most of the biggest event in soccer!
