World Cup History: Brazil makes world sway to samba; Moore arrested

This FIFA World Cup History feature is part of our build-up to the 2014 edition, which will chart the most special moments from previous tournaments. Today we have a look at the 1970 World Cup.

As defending champions England’s skipper Bobby Moore sat in house arrest, future champions Brazil prepared with their best ever World Cup winning side — oh the irony of it.

The dislike for England was already there, with most countries thinking that the World Cup in 1966 was fixed and it didn’t help matters when England sort of insulted their hosts by importing a whole lot of frozen meals to avoid Mexican food.

The English team took a stopover in Bogota, Colombia on their way to Mexico where Moore was arrested for allegedly stealing a bracelet and put under house arrest for four days (imagine this happening in the present day — Steven Gerrard placed under house arrest in Colombia for stealing a bracelet). Moore got bail and was allowed to play and the charges were dropped without much fuss.

To make matters worse, England had picked a base camp (Guadalajara Hilton) which was continuously surrounded by honking Mexican cars. Bad camp, no sleep, captain who got arrested = disaster.

Maybe this wouldn’t have made the news in previous editions — but World Cup 1970 was going to be the first to be shown in full colour on televisions around the world. Interest was immense and the viewing experience had dramatically improved. Oh and there was the other big news — Pele coming out of international retirement to play for his country.

Ultimately, the 1970 World Cup would be all about Carlos Alberto, Pelé, Gérson, Jairzinho, Rivelino and Tostão showing the world how to play football by winning all their matches at the World Cup (they had won all their qualifying games too), the brilliant Italy vs West Germany semifinal and England and Brazil being drawn in the same group. It was Brazil against Europe’s superpowers — it was magic vs method. They scored 19 goals in the competition and conceded seven.

The most memorable group match was certainly Brazil beating England 1-0 after peppering the goal only to see Gordon Banks deny Brazil’s attackers and pull of a particularly memorable save from Pele’s effort — regarded as one of the best ever in World Cup history (it’s the last save in the video below).

It was eventually Jairzinho who broke the deadlock and beat Banks with a powerful drive (he would score in every game), but England were still not down and out. That came when they were beaten by Germany — a victory the Germans will cherish because England’s side still had six of the 11 players who had beaten them in 1966 (Banks, Moore, Ball, Hurst, Peters and Bobby Charlton).

England were 2-0 up in 22 minutes before the Germans hit back through Franz Beckenbauer and Uwe Seeler. The match went into extra time where Gerd Muller scored in the 108th minute. England blame it on their second choice keeper Peter Bonetti (Banks was sick) and this was the game that probably also cost the Labour Party an election .

As Brazil cruised into the final almost effortlessly (defeating Peru and Uruguay in the knockouts), the other finalists Italy had a tough road. They needed to beat West Germany and what a match that was — the Italians led through Roberto Boninsegna until Karl-Heinz Schnellinger equalised in the 90th minute to take the game into extra time. This is where the drama started: Germany led 2-1, then Italy 3-2, then it became 3-3. Gianni Rivera finally scored the winner in the 111th minute.

The Italians were tired and the Brazilians in the form of their lives. Boninsegna did equalise after Pele’s opener but from then on, it was a rout which came to an end with one of the most famous lay-off passes and goals World Cup history. Pele got the ball outside the box, waited just enough for right-back Alberto to make the attacking run and then nonchalantly sent a perfectly weighted diagonal into the box. Alberto steamed in and thumped it. Some might have thought the net would rip apart. Brazil were world champions for a then record third time, allowing them to keep the Jules Rimet Trophy.