Richarlison’s great goal in the game between Brazil and Serbia, held last Thursday (24th) at the World Cup in Qatar, inspired the Sheet to ask your readers: what was the most beautiful goal scored by Brazil in a World Cup?
The interaction, with almost 40 responses, ended in a technical tie. With six votes each, Pelé and Carlos Alberto Torres, the Captain, were elected owners of the best Brazilian goals scored in World Cups.
From Pelé, readers highlighted the goal of the 1958 World Cup final, “with a hat on the defender and a first-class finish”, as highlighted by teacher Marcelo Pacheco Soares, 43, from Rio de Janeiro.
At the time, Brazil beat Sweden 5-2 in the city of Solna, in Sweden itself, and became world soccer champions for the first time.
“At the age of 17, [Pelé] he demonstrated an incredible ability to dominate the ball with his chest in a beautiful shot by Nilton Santos, hatted Rafael Lins dos Anjos, the defender, and, with the ball still in the air, hit an unstoppable shot in the right corner of the Swedish goal. Painting”, writes businessman Rafael Lins dos Anjos, 40, from Campinas.
For teacher Jorge Ricardo Santos Gonçalves, 70, from Rio de Janeiro, the goal was the most beautiful “for having definitely rescued the self-esteem of the Brazilian people”. “After all, the first World Cup will forever be the most difficult of all, especially after the frustration of 1950!” he writes.
From Capita, the goal scored against Italy in the 1970 Cup in Mexico was highlighted. The bid, according to engineer Vital Romaneli Penha, 66, from Jacareí (SP), brought together “tactics, technique, talent, set and fundamentals”.
Rodrivo Vaz, 52, civil servant from Campinas, sums up the move that crowned the moment. “More than a goal that confirmed a victory in a game, more than the conquest of a Cup, it was Brazil assuming the hegemony in the sport, the conquest of a leadership that was never lost again. The crowd invaded the lawn at the end, going crazy , speaks for itself. It wasn’t football anymore, it was art!”
“That exchange of passes, the collective game, Pelé’s assist and the right kick by the captain of the tri perfectly summarize Brazilian football and football as a whole”, adds professor and historian Luigi Fernandes, 51, from São José dos Campos (SP). “Technique and team play. Guy from Brazil, football’s DNA.”
These, however, were not the only moves remembered by readers. There were those who mentioned Jairzinho’s goal in the same 1970 Cup, in a game against Czechoslovakia, and even those who remembered Nelinho’s kick, which scored Brazil’s second goal in the third place match in the 1978 Cup, against Italy. “A firecracker from outside the area that made an unbelievable curve until today”, recalls investment analyst Eládio Gomes, 54, who lives in Toronto, Canada.
Others cited were Falcão in the 1982 Cup, Ronaldinho Gaúcho in the 2002, and, of course, Richarlison, last Thursday. After all, with more than two hundred goals scored in World Cups, Brazil accumulates conquests and plays to the point of making any other team jealous.
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