The eighth anniversary of the 7-1, this Friday (8), will not pass into oblivion, but a little overshadowed by two round dates: 20 years of the penta and 40 of the defeat of Sarriá.
Two recent books discuss Telê’s team: “Anatomia do Sarriá” (Piero Trellini, Ed. Grande Área) and “82, a Cup for Ever” (Celso Unzelte and Gustavo Longhi de Carvalho, Letras do Brasil).
Tostão was kind enough to preface “5 Stars – A Conquista do Penta”, by this author.
Since Parreira, Romário and Bebeto, 28 years ago, a question has been repeated in this five-time world champion country. “Would you rather win like 1994 or lose like 1982?”
As if it were a Brazilian dilemma. Or as if they were two unique options, like being a Mennottist or Bilardist, a supporter of the football-art of César Luis Menotti or the pragmatism of Carlos Bilardo, world champions for Argentina.
In Brazil, polarization is imposed when Lula or Bolsonaro is debated, but not 1982 or 1994. It is much better to win like in 2002. To win every game and with the best attack in the Cup.
The 1970 selection, the best of all time, is hors-concours.
The World Cup in Spain, 40 years ago, carries the enigma of his passion. Professor José Paulo Florenzano has a brilliant thesis. The selection of Telê marked the period of reopening. In a way, the return of joy. The serious and militarized selections of 1974 and 1978 were a portrait of the dictatorship, of the Medici and Geisel years. The Brazil of 1982 was as happy as the belief of a new country, three years after the amnesty.
So, if the 1974 and 1978 teams were ugly, Sarriá’s defeat did not cause the supposed adoption of a pragmatic style in Brazilian fields. It already existed before, as confirmed by the text “Brasil na retranca”, published in Jornal do Brasil, in February 1976, and reproduced in the book “As 100 Melhores Crônicas Comentadas de João Saldanha” (research by Alexandre Mesquita, organization César Oliveira) .
“I hear a lot about attacking football, incisive statements, live interviews, promises and always that phrase: ‘my team will play in attack.’ A little time goes by and the team plays in the boom, as almost all Brazilian teams are doing.”
It was 1976!!! All the teams were in the rebarca, six years before Sarriá, according to Saldanha. And, three years after the defeat, Brazil was celebrating the creative and joyful football of Menudos, São Paulo, Cilinho.
If Sarriá were to blame for the show’s end, there wouldn’t be a team so brilliant and celebrated three years later.
In the same collection of writings by João Saldanha, “The Limit of Stupidity”, published on July 6, 1982, the day after the elimination, is very cruel: “So many crimes against common sense, against common sense, could not go unpunished . […] They invented a tactic in Brazil, abandoning precious field spaces. Now, only a childish and stubborn primarism could think that the adversaries would not take advantage of the blatant error. […] There is something positive, which is the demystification of quackery.”
Saldanha called Telê a charlatan, for not climbing points and leaving the right side in the hands of Leandro! It’s amazing!
Almost as incredible as part of the chronicle saying, a year before the penta, after the defeat to Honduras without Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Cafu and Roberto Carlos, that Brazil had no more stars.
Lose like in 1982 or win like in 1994? Why, win like in 2002! The best option is for Brazilian football to have all these stories to tell.
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