The World is a Ball: National sadness, Tragédia do Sarriá turns 40

I wouldn’t want to remember, but it’s impossible. Every year, when July rolls around, the memories come along relentlessly. The 5th is the day.

Because the 5th of July, year after year, since 1982, is a sad date for Brazilian football.

This year’s is more emblematic, as it marks the 40th anniversary of one of the biggest disappointments ever experienced by the Brazilian team, the Tragédia do Sarriá.

The following text, by me, was originally published on July 5, 2017, 35 years after Paolo Rossi (1956-2020) and company eliminated Brazil from the Spanish Cup.

The republication is valid so that those who watched that Cup, and the fateful match at the stadium in Barcelona, ​​which no longer exists (it was demolished in 1997), can remember how charming Telê Santana’s team was and how hurtful it was. the fall of Zico and great cast in the second phase (which was equivalent to the quarter finals).

It also helps young people to know the story and know the reason for the shock of thousands of Brazilian fans who, like me, cried for real on a Monday afternoon.

“Ephemeris. This is a word that is rarely heard in everyday life. It means an important event that occurred on a certain date.

My memory usually doesn’t help me remember anniversaries of relevant events.

But there is one glaring exception. Known as The Tragedy of Sarriá. Who forged the greatest executioner in the history of the Brazilian team. More than the Uruguayan Ghiggia in the 1950 World Cup final, Maracanazo. His name is Paolo Rossi, and he’s Italian.

Exactly 35 years ago, on a 5th of July, at the Sarriá stadium, in Barcelona, ​​Brazil was eliminated from the World Cup in Spain. They lost 3-2 to Italy (three goals from Paolo Rossi, who had not scored in four matches in the competition until then) in a game that could draw to advance to the semifinals.

Result that left Brazil in mourning. Not only the team, but an entire nation of 120 million people, cried – me, as a boy, included.

Waldir Peres; Leandro, Oscar, Luisinho and Junior; Cerezo, Falcão, Socrates and Zico; Serginho and Eder.

This is the best football team I’ve seen play live, on TV, in a World Cup, and I probably won’t see another that I consider superior.

In 1982, I was 9 years old and, from the second floor of an apartment on Conselheiro Brotero street, in São Paulo, on the color TV whose channels were changed in a selector, I was excited like the whole country, in the narration of Luciano do Valle , with the football magic of the team directed by Telê Santana.

Longing. If he hadn’t watched the team’s games at that World Cup, maybe he wouldn’t have come to like football so much. Influenced, and how.

A team that played forward, always, and that played beautifully, always. enchanted.

The midfield was brimming with talent. Cerezo (Atlético-MG), Sócrates (Corinthians), Falcão (Roma), Zico (Flamengo) – the latter, the best of them, as he is the top scorer.

I also liked the nicknames, which gave them an extra charm: Zico (who was already the nickname of Arthur Antunes Coimbra) was the Galinho de Quintino; Falcon, the King of Rome; Socrates the Doctor.

Aside from the fact that Cerezo had acted before playing as a circus clown, a background that made him a curious and beyond sympathetic figure.

Those four were aces. Skillful, intelligent, technical and engaging, they avoided hitting the ball more than twice. The movement was constant, and rival defenses were stunned.

In the midfield of this selection there was no defensive midfielder, a guard dog. Nobody gave a shit. On the contrary, they were often beaten by opponents, as they did not know how to contain them without grabbing or knocking them down.

The full-backs, Leandro and Júnior, both from Flamengo, had the inherent characteristic of supporting the attack. Light, agile and fearless, they provided the necessary offensive support for the star midfielders.

There was no right winger, and many charged for the lack of one. The scene from the program “Viva o Gordo”, by Jô Soares, in which the character Zé da Galera shouted into a pay phone, was famous: “Bota Ponta, Telê!!!”.

Well, right-wing for what? Within an hour Zico was there; in another, Falcon; one, Cerezo; in another, Socrates… And there was the support of Leandro, who appeared as a pointer to make accurate crossings.

But there was a left-winger. And it wasn’t just anyone.

Éder (Atlético-MG), for me, was what they said was José Macia, the fantastic Pepe, who had played in the same position a few decades ago, for Santos and the national team, and who had a “cannon” in his left foot. For Eder’s left-hander also emanated power. Any foul hit by him, even from far away, became a threat to the goalkeeper.

The team was completed by a classic soccer defender, Luisinho (Atlético-MG), who despite not being very tall had great power of anticipation, and a trio of São Paulo, Waldir Peres, Oscar and Serginho Chulapa.

This trio, in a cold analysis, was out of tune with the team.

Oscar? He was tall, tough, a good header, but he didn’t have the skills – for a defender, okay.

Serginho? He was tall, tough, good header, but lacked skill – for a center forward surrounded by talent, he didn’t look ok. (Bald would be the starter, but he had an injury before the Cup and was cut.)

Waldir Peres? He wasn’t tough, he wasn’t a good header and he didn’t have the skills – at the time, a goalkeeper didn’t need any of that; it needed to be unanimous, and he wasn’t. Not even tall for Waldir’s position was (1.81 m).

But I liked everyone in the starting lineup, without exception. And I started to like it more and more during the Cup.

The game summaries below show the whys.

Game 1 (USSR) – Cerezo could not play due to a suspension, and Dirceu started his debut match. The Soviet Union surprised and took the lead, in the 1st half, after Waldir Peres was kicked out of Bal’s area. Time passed, passed, and the goalkeeper Dasayev proved to be an insurmountable wall. Until, in the 30th minute of the 2nd half, Sócrates received the ball in the middle, passed laterally by two rivals and sent it into the angle. Dasaiev still slipped the ball, but it was a shot without defense. Brazil followed on top. Two minutes from the end, Paulo Isidoro, who had replaced Dirceu, rolled the ball from the right wing to the middle, Falcão let it pass between his legs and Éder appeared, who lifted it with a touch before firing a torpedo that left Dasaiev static. 2 to 1. Epic comeback victory.

Games 2 and 3 (Scotland and New Zealand) – These matches served to arouse in the players and fans an exacerbated confidence. Two hits. The first, against the Scots, showed once again the team’s power of reaction: 4 to 1, after losing. Zico made a foul, Oscar headed it, Éder covered the goalkeeper, and Falcão, kicking from outside the area. The second, against the fragile New Zealanders, was a devastating 4-0. It was only Brazil, all the time – it could have been 8-0. Zico added two more goals, Falcão, one more, and Serginho scored his first.

In the second phase, Brazil would face the world champions Argentina, from Maradona (then 21 years old), and Italy, discredited after qualifying with three draws in the first phase. The opponents didn’t matter. Anyone looked easy. The exaggerated confidence of Brazilians had already turned into an “already won”.

Game 4 (Argentina) – Brazil showed superiority from start to finish… and easily beat their arch-rivals 3-1. Zico took a free kick rebound violently charged by Éder on the crossbar and opened the scoring. In the 2nd half, Falcão crossed for Serginho to do what he knew best: head the net. And Júnior, in a surprise attack, received a beautiful pass from Zico to make the third – and celebrate with a sambadinha (a samba fan, the side recorded the hit “Povo Feliz” before the Cup; and we were). With the game lost, and the classification the same (the Argentines had already lost 2 to 1 to the Italians), Maradona appealed and, in the 40th minute, gave a flying ball to Batista, who had replaced Zico. He was expelled. Ramón Díaz’s goal, shortly afterwards, went almost unnoticed.

Game 5 (Italy) – Brazil showed superiority from start to finish… but lost, painfully and dramatically. Paolo Rossi, Azzurra’s number 20, played the game of life. Made it 1 to 0, Brazil drew (Socrates, in an exquisite table with Zico); made it 2 to 1, Brazil equalized (Falcão, after Cerezo attracted the marking of three Italians, in a half-moon kick; his vibration when celebrating is one of those chills); made it 3 to 2. However, two of the goals came from glaring failures. In the second, Cerezo ridiculously missed a pass on defense; in the third, after a corner, Luisinho, who was close to Paolo Rossi, inexplicably failed to mark him, and Júnior, static in the small area, gave the top scorer a game condition. In the final moments of the match, almost the 3 to 3 salvador, in a withering header by Oscar, to the ground, which the 40-year-old goalkeeper Zoff saved over the line.

At the final whistle of Israeli referee Abraham Klein, there was commotion and tears worthy of a funeral for a loved one.

I wanted to review this game, in its entirety, to analyze in detail, but I couldn’t find it available on YouTube. Then I saw “The Tragedy of Sarriá – A Life Lesson”, a 50-minute documentary directed and scripted by André Moreira Neves. It is a faithful and moving account of the events, with interviews with players and journalists and the memory of almost all the most important plays of the fateful match.

Among them, there was a goal scored by Brazil in the 1st half, when Serginho and Zico came face to face with Zoff, and the first was faster to kick with his right foot (the bad one), awkwardly, out. Also in the 1st half, there was an unmarked penalty for Brazil, because Gentile, Zico’s tick in the game, tore the yellow jersey 10, in the area. On the other side, Italy, already 3-2 on the scoreboard, had Antognoni’s goal ruled out for offside (this move does not appear in the film).

Among so many post-elimination phrases said in the documentary, I choose one, by Socrates, the team’s captain, which sums up everything that Brazilian team meant: “In this World Cup, although we didn’t win, Brazil taught a lesson from which is to play football”. I completely agree.

On the 5th of July 1982, the pragmatic but effective Italy, which would later beat West Germany in the decision, beat Brazil and also defeated a very valuable concept, which was dwindling until it practically disappeared in the years that followed: football-art.

In time: There will always be those who will say that Brazil lost because it was tactically naive, as it should have defended itself, managed the draw (which it had three times in its hands) against Italy. It’s an argument, but it wouldn’t work. That team didn’t know how to play defensively, attacking was in their DNA. The truth is this: the Brazilian team lost the 1982 World Cup playing beautifully, and that’s why it’s a passionate and unforgettable team.”