The 1938 tournament saw a change in the head coach of the squad and also gave the Brazilians hope for their national team, although the trophy that many expected the team to bring home again went home with another team.
They won their first game 6-5 over Poland thanks to three goals by Leonidas da Silva (see below), aka the Black Diamond, the pioneer of the bicycle kick, and Brazil‘s first international superstar.
In the second game Brazil tied Czechoslovakia and was forced to replay the Czech team two days later, this time defeating the team 2-1. Leonidas once again played the role of the hero, scoring the only goal in the tied game and the tying goal in Brazil’s victory in the replay.
Brazilian coach Ademar Pimenta foresaw an easy victory over underdog Italy in the semi-finals and decided to bench his star player in order to rest him for the championship match up, but was thrown for a loss when Italy burst out to an early 2-0 lead, ruining his strategy, and throwing the team into disunity. The Brazilians rallied for one goal, but couldn’t muster anything else, falling to the Italians 2-1.
The team did emerge victorious in the third place game with a 4-2 victory over Sweden with Leonidas playing and tallying two goals in the game, giving him a tournament leading seven goals, the Golden Shoe (MVP) for the tournament, and the Brazilian people hope for the 1942 tournament.
That 1942 tournament would never come, for the Brazilians or the rest of the competitors. With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, it was decided that the games be postponed until hostilities ceased. In 1942, instead of sending their soccer club to play Italy, Brazil sent 25,000 troops to Europe to help fight the aggression of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. After the defeat of the axis powers and the subsequent surrenders of Japan and Germany, thoughts could finally return to Brazil’s national sport.
Brazil was awarded the honor of hosting the 1950 World Cup, quite an honor and the only time that Brazil has hosted the tournament.
Better Luck in 1950
Brazil swept through the first stage, defeating Mexico, avenging their loss to Yugoslavia in the 1930 World Cup, and tying Switzerland. Behind the stellar play of Ademir Marques de Menezes, Brazil was one of four teams to advance to the final four round robin.
After clobbering Sweden and Spain by a combined score of 13-2, Brazil met Uruguay in the final. Attended by almost 200,000 spectators (a record), the game took place at Estadio do Maracana. Because of the round robin format of the final four, Brazil needed only a tie to win the trophy, but after taking a 1-0 lead, Brazil allowed two goals in the last twenty minutes of the game, and went home with a 2-1 loss, a second place finish, and plenty of disappointment.
The upset loss to Uruguay is known throughout all of South America as “Final Fatidica,” or the “fateful final.”
Still suffering from the psychological effects of the loss to Uruguay, Brazil put together a shoddy aged team for the 1954 World Cup. Disunity ruled once again, as Brazil could not find a rhythm, but still managed to somehow make it to the quarter finals before bowing out to Hungary in what was labelled one of the ugliest matches in the history of the World Cup.
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