Disclaimer: I wasn’t around to see most of these teams. This list was compiled based on a combination of research, testimony, YouTube and video archives. You’ll notice fewer recent teams and more from the past. It may be the old cliche of recalling the past through rose-tinted glasses, or it may simply be that in the last few World Cups, the outstanding team has actually won it all.
This isn’t about teams who were packed with talent and among the favorites going into the tournament but then stunk it up, like Argentina in 2002 or Italy in 1990. It’s about teams who performed exceptionally well but, for one reason or another, fell at -- and sometimes before -- the final hurdle.
Feel free to disagree. This is one person’s opinion.
Why were Brazil great in 1950?
It wasn’t just the team -- though we’ll get to it -- it was the occasion. This was the first World Cup after the ravages of World War II, and it was being held in the spiritual home of the game. Brazil were the overwhelming favorites, having won the Copa America the year before in stunning fashion, scoring 46 goals in eight games, including the decisive playoff against Paraguay, which they won 7-0.
Every game was a national event, every kickoff the beginning of a party where you felt anything could happen, but the ending would always be the same: a Selecao victory. Brazil pummelled Mexico 4-0 in the opener, hitting the woodwork five times along the way. And that was without Zizinho, the brilliant attacking midfielder, who would only return in the third group game.
When they traveled from Rio de Janeiro to Sao Paulo to face Switzerland in their second match, national team coach Flavio Costa changed the team, bringing in three Paulista players. Such a political gesture wasn’t unusual at the time. In hindsight it smacks of arrogance and foolishness -- what about chemistry and team spirit, and all that?
But in fact it only spoke to the overwhelming confidence of a nation. And it almost didn’t matter that the game ended 2-2, with Switzerland scoring on a defensive error and a counterattack, largely because of Brazil’s obsession with running up the score. A 2-0 win over Yugoslavia followed, and then the Selecao went into orbit.
1950 featured a final, four-team, round-robin tournament to determine the winner. If any doubts or warning lights had flickered in the group stage, they were quickly wiped away when Brazil dispatched Sweden with an emphatic 7-1 win before Spain, undefeated until that point, were slapped down 6-1.
Danilo, sitting at the heart of the team in what we might now call a deep-lying playmaker position, elegantly and accurately sprayed balls all over the pitch, while Zizinho was described as “the greatest player I’ve ever seen” by none other than Pele and, with eight goals, Ademir would end up as the tournament’s top goal scorer and go down in history as the first man to ever score at the Maracana.
The legendary English writer Brian Glanville called it “football of the future.” And it was.
What went wrong?
In a word, the Maracanazo: the moment the World Cup slipped into the twilight zone and Uruguay pulled off the ultimate, improbable come-from-behind upset in the tournament’s final match.
Was it karma? Ahead of the game, the governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro gave a speech referring to Brazil as “victors of the tournament” who “in a few hours will be acclaimed champions.”
Was it tactical adjustments by the Uruguayan coach, Juan Lopez? His scouts had studied the Switzerland game and rejiggered the defensive setup.
Was it individual errors? Left-back Bigode on the first goal and goalkeeper Barbosa on the second are most often scapegoated.
Was it a mindset? Brazil’s insistence -- obligation -- to attack played right into the hands of the Uruguayans. A first half that saw Brazil dominate and hit the post was followed by an early goal in the second. At that point, it should have been over. Brazil only needed a draw to win.
Instead, wave after wave of Selecao attacks made their way up the pitch, many of them orchestrated by Juvenal, the elegant centre-back who was far better at attacking than defending. And Uruguay, ultimately, preyed on the counter.
Was it selection? As great as the XI was, Nilton Santos -- considered by many the greatest left-back in history -- did not play a single minute, yet he would go on to star in the 1958 and 1962 World Cup-winning Brazil teams.
Maybe it was a combination of all this. Or maybe it was just fate.
What happened next?
Nelson Rodrigues, perhaps Brazil’s greatest novelist, explained that because his country had never experienced a war, this was their Hiroshima. Of course there is no comparison, but the sentiment does reflect the scale of what was considered a national catastrophe.
- Bennett: The ghost of Barbosa
- Forrest: Not his country's keeper
Certainly, the legends that emerged from that day are reminiscent of the fog of war, with truth and fiction intertwined. Bigode, Barbosa and Juvenal went from legends to (figurative) lepers. Barbosa would famously say, just before his death in 2000: “The maximum prison sentence in Brazil is 30 years. I served 50.”
It’s indicative that, of the 11 men who started the final, just one, Jose Bauer (who also -- legend has it -- happened to be the guy who discovered Eusebio) was still in the side for the 1954 World Cup.
Of course, before you feel too sorry for Brazil, bear in mind that, in 1958 a young man named Pele rocked up and they won three of the next four World Cups. And today they have five, more than any other nation.