The Cursed Brazilian Generation 1949 - 1953

This rise in power of Brazil will be shown from 1949 during the Copa America. With a golden generation, the Seleçao counts in its ranks the incredible goalkeeper Moacir Barbosa of Vasco de Gama who has been a Brazilian international since 1945. In defense we find the players Augusto da Costa and Francisco Alves Wilson of Vasco de Gama also, Mauro Ramos of São Paulo and to name a new one, who will be a substitute, Nilton Santos of Botafogo who has just started his professional career the previous year.

In midfield, we find as defensive midfielders Noronha and Danilo Alvim of Vasco de Gama with also the presence of a new midfielder: José Carlos Bauer of São Paulo. To give creativity to this team, we find in the attacking midfield positions Zizinho who is certainly the best player of this team and Jair Da Rosa Pinto, both of Flamengo.

The attack line consists of two wingers and a striker. For the wingers we have Tesourinha who is a very effective winger in front of goal, he is playing at that time at SC Internacional. On the other side there is Simão de Portuguesa from Desportos. And at the forefront of the attack is Ademir Marques De Menezes, the famous Vasco de Gama striker and serial scorer for the Seleçao.

This team plays in WM, that is to say with 3 central defenders, 2 defensive midfielders, 2 attacking midfielders, 2 wingers and 1 striker. This is the most used tactic of this period. As for this Copa America, the defending champion, Argentina, is not participating in the tournament and Uruguay is suffering a players' strike and is fielding almost exclusively young players.

The format of the competition is as follows, 8 teams compete in a single group. The winner in terms of points wins the tournament, however 2 teams will be tied on points at the end of the tournament, thus forcing the 2 teams to play a final to give a winner.

The competition opens with a match between Brazil and Ecuador. Largely favored, Brazil plays a very offensive game that drowns the opponent. After only 3 minutes of play, Tesourinha opens the score. An avalanche of goals takes place, Ademir comes to score the last goal of the match in the 88th minute of play, final score 9-1. Brazil shows one of the most beautiful football of the last years and confirms its status as absolute favorite of the competition.

The second match is played against a Bolivian team that seems better than Ecuador, yet the result will be even more crushing. Nininho scores 3 goals and Zizinho scores a double, final score 10-1. 19 goals scored in 2 games in an official tournament, madness.

Only 3 days later, Brazil faces Chile who has one of the best goalkeepers in history, Livingstone. Zizinho opened the scoring in the 20th minute before Cláudio scored a penalty and gave Brazil a big lead, final score 2-1 after a penalty conceded in the last minutes of the match. The next match was against Colombia, an easy 5-0 victory with a double from Ademir. It was then Peru's turn to suffer the wrath of Brazil, final score 7-1 with a double from Jair Rosa Pinto who is excellent during this tournament.

Jair Rosa Pinto is also used in a second striker role, slightly higher than Zizinho who is the real conductor of the team. Brazil followed up against Uruguay in front of 45,000 spectators, an easy 5-1 victory, double from Jair Rosa Pinto. On May 8, 1949, while Brazil was the clear favorite to win the tournament, having 3 points more than its opponent of the day, Paraguay, who was second, to everyone's surprise, Brazil made a historic underperformance. First winning the match at half-time on a goal by Tesourinha in the 33rd minute, Paraguay scored 2 goals in the last 15 minutes of the match. Paraguay, winner of this match in front of 35,000 spectators, thus reached a surprise final, with both teams having won 12 points.

Only 3 days later, Brazil had the opportunity to take revenge on Paraguay in this final. And it was Ademir who would show the way forward, scoring a goal in the 17th minute, then a hat-trick in 48 minutes. Tesourinha scored a double, as did Jair Rosa Pinto. Brazil won this final 7-0, thrashing its opponent who could do nothing. Brazil is then for the third time in its history champion of South America. This ultra-offensive team scored 46 goals for 7 goals conceded, total domination.

For the year 1950, Brazil still has Flávio Costa as coach of the Seleçao. In the group, we can see the arrival in the squad of Juvenal Amarijo Amanso, central defender of Flamengo. Carlos José Castilho is the new substitute goalkeeper of the team, coming from Fluminense. João Ferreira Bigode becomes a regular in this defense, on the left. Augusto da Costa is still there.

Francisco Aramburu nicknamed Chico becomes a regular in this team again at the left wing position. Albino Friaça takes the place of left wing. And we still find the same talented players in the axis.

To prepare for the World Cup that takes place in Brazil during the summer, the Seleçao will begin a small series of friendly matches during the month of May against opponents from South America. This is how Brazil will play 5 matches against Uruguay and Paraguay. 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat including 2 wins and 1 defeat against Uruguay. During these friendly matches it is notably Zizinho and Ademir who shine.

The format of this World Cup is as follows, 17 participants originally but finally 14 because of forfeited nations. There are 4 groups that will allow each best team to play a final group stage, the 1st of this last group being thus named winner of the World Cup.

As recent winners of the World Cup, Brazil are among the favorites of the competition with Sweden and England or Uruguay. The competition opens with a match between Brazil and Mexico, an easy 4-0 victory for the host country which already sees Ademir score a double.

The next match comes to a halt, Switzerland creates the feat with a double from Jacques Fatton to hold off the Seleçao, final score 2-2. The match which will determine the winner of the group will therefore be the one opposing Brazil to Yugoslavia. It takes only 3 minutes for Ademir to open the score before Zizinho consolidates the victory, final score 2-0.

In this elite group, Brazil will take the lead by chaining 2 crushing victories against Sweden and Spain. Ademir thus signs a quadruple against Sweden in 59 minutes. Chico is also very impressive, he scores a double. Final score 7-1. The next match, against Spain, Ademir scores another goal and Chico another double.

The last match, between Uruguay and Brazil will therefore be a kind of final where Brazil only needs a draw to be crowned world champion. This match will break attendance records, in total, 173,850 are officially announced, in fact, there would have been around 200,000 spectators, a historic record.

Facing a great Uruguay team, Brazil seems favorite, even more so with this home match in the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. And it was quite logical that Brazil opened the score in the 47th minute, Friaça scoring on an assist from Ademir. But the exultation would very quickly turn into a nightmare.

Ghiggia would be the executioner of the Seleçao and an entire people, he first delivered an assist to Schiaffino before scoring the winning goal in the 79th minute. Uruguay had just turned the match around, final score 2-1 for Uruguay. This defeat which would be called Maracanazo would be experienced as a shame and a national drama. At the end of the match, 3 people had a heart attack in the stadium and another spectator committed suicide by throwing himself from the top of the stands. Throughout the country, suicides or heart attacks were observed, a shock that would have turned the country upside down. Ademir, author of his 9 goals, would not have been able to give his country victory.

This national drama was one of the greatest in the history of football. Finally, the Seleçao would not play in 1951, having to rebuild itself. Racism came to poison things and the performance of the "black" players of the Brazilian team in 1950 was criticized. Thus, Moacir Barbosa, although only 31 years old and still by far the best goalkeeper in the country was withdrawn from the team under the direction of Zezé Moreira.

However, Djalma Santos, the right back of Portuguesa, aged 24 joined the national team. Bigode left the team as did Juvenal Amarijo Amanso and Augusto da Costa. Julinho, Didi joined the midfield. Pinga became a regular player in the squad. Brazil returned to good performances, 5 matches, 4 wins and 1 draw during the year.

For the year 1953, Aymoré Moreira becomes the coach of the national team. Moacir Barbosa returns to the national team in the role of a substitute. And Gilmar joins the Seleçao at 22 years old in the role of 3rd goalkeeper. Nilton Santos and Djalma Santos become starters. Julinho and Didi become real important members of the team. In attack, Ademir loses his starting place to Baltazar. He will be supported by Pinga and Zizinho.

The year 1953 will be that of the Copa America. With the same format as in 1949, Brazil and Paraguay will again be the 2 best teams of the tournament, totaling 8 points each. For its first match in the competition, Brazil faces Bolivia by winning the match 8-1 with a quadruple of Julinho and Pinga a double. Then it is Ecuador who is beaten 2-0. Brazil takes its revenge on Uruguay in the 3rd match, victory 1-0.

But Brazil is then beaten 1-0 by Peru. A complicated victory 3-2 against Chile follows. Julinho scores one of the fastest goals in the history of the competition in the 1st minute of play. Then for its last match, once again Brazil loses to Paraguay, 2-1.

There will therefore be a final between these two teams. But this time it was Paraguay who started the match the best, scoring 2 goals in just 20 minutes of play. They then scored a 3rd goal before half-time. After the break, Baltazar scored twice and gave his team hope, but it was not enough, Brazil lost 3-2 to their opponent.

The Brazil of the early 50s was one of the most beautiful generations in the country's history. A cursed generation that certainly won the 1949 Copa America but suffered two disappointments in 1950 and 1953. Players like Ademir, Zizinho, Julinho, Didi, Nilton and Djalma Santos were notable faces of this team.