Brazil World Cup 2014

Leônidas da Silva

2007-12-12T14:14:00.000Z

Leônidas da Silva was, probably, the first big star of the professional era in Brazilian soccer. Four times champion for Botafogo, already as a professional.

Leônidas was the son of "Dona" Maria and "Sr." Manoel Nunes da Silva. In his childhood he used to a fan of Fluminense, echanted he was with this tricolor champion of 1917, '18 and '19.

Know as the "Diamante Negro (Black Diamond)" or "Homem Borracha (Rubber Man)", Leônidas started his carrer in 1930, in São Cristovão from Rio. In 1932, with only 19 years old, he arrived the "selecção" due to his hability with the ball. He scored two goals in his debut for the Brazilian team.

In 1933, he went to Uruguay to play for Peñarol. After a year he was back in Brazil to play for Vasco da Gama, club he helped to win the "carioca" championship in 1934. His first major competition with the "selecção" jersey was the 1934 World Cup in Italy. Brazil campaign was awful, loosing their first game, being Leonidas the scorer of the only goal of Brazil in the competition.

In 1938, he was the striker of Brazil, scoring 8 goals, including 4 against Poland, making him the first player in World Cups to score 4 goals in only one game. Brazil managed his best participation in World Cups ever, standind in the 3rd position. Leônidas was elected the best player of that year's World Cup.

In all the clubs he played he managed to achieve success. Botafogo, Flamengo and Vasco da Gama were some of the clubs were he was successfull, mainly in Flamengo.

The Bicycle Kick

In 1942 he moved to São Paulo and acted in "São Paulo Futebol Clube". He was 5 times champion for "São Paulo", becoming one of the greatest idols of the "Paulista" club having a tribute at their headquarters with a replica of a bicycle kick, a kick that he proclaimed to invent and he first executed in the 24th of April 1932, in a match between "Bonsucesso" and "Carioca".

During the World War II, the 1942 and 1946 World Cups were cancelled, harming players like Leônidas da Silva, who never had the chance to be known and recognized around the World.

After quiting his soccer career in 1951, Leônidas maintained himself connected to soccer, first as the president of São Paulo and later as a sport commentator, being known as a direct and polemic one. He won seven radio prizes before his career had to be interrupted due to Alzheimer disease. For thirty years he lived in a house for aged people untill his death in the 24th of January 2004.

A biography was launched in 1999, called "O diamante eterno: Biografia de Leonidas da Silva" and his life is going to be pictured on movie.

References: Wikipedia, CBF

History of Brazil in Soccer World Cups - Italy 1934

2007-12-10T22:32:00.000Z

The second Soccer World Cup was hosted in Italy from the 27th of May to the 10th of June 1934. It was the first World Cup with a qualification stage. 32 teams participated in the qualifying stage and 16 went to the tournament finals. The 16 teams were Italy, USA, Brazil, Spain, Hungary, Egypt, Austria, France, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Netherlands, Switzerland, Argentina, Sweden, Germany and Belgium.

This World Cup had the particularity that it was the only World Cup in history where the cup holders didn't participate. Uruguay declined the invitation to participate for retaliation against European teams lack of participation in the previous edition. Another curious fact is that the hosts Italy had to qualify for the World Cup. Since that on a spot is automatically given to the country hosting the event.

The "Selecção" training on their way to the World Cup

In this World Cup, Brazil ended at the 6th position, while the champions were Italy, defeating Czechoslovakia by 2-1.

The story of Brazil in this World Cup is short as they lost their only game against Spain by 3-1. Leônidas was the scorer of the only goal of Brazil.

Historical instant of the 1934 World Cup: Leônidas kicks the ball into the net, but the Spanish defender, Juan Quincoces, saves the ball with his hand just over the goal line. The German referee, Alfred Birlem, said that he didn't see the play but this image doesn't lie as he was looking at it:

Brazil in action during the tournament:

Buy DVDs about the World Cups at our Online Store

Reference: Wikipedia

Preguinho

2007-12-10T10:19:00.000Z

João Coelho Netto, "Preguinho", son of the writer Coelho Netto, was a complete athlete.

He played nine sports, being, as a football player, one of the greatest figures of Fluminense and Brazil. He was the author of the first goal of the "selecção" in World Cups, at Uruguai, 1930. He was also the first Captain of the Brazilian national team.

"Preguinho" and Fluminense were born almost together at the beginning of the 20th century. Fluminense was born 2 years, 6 months and 17 days before "Preguinho", an athlete that would give this club 387 medals, most of them gold, and 55 titles in 9 modalities: football, basketball, swimming, water polo, rowing, ornamental jumps, athletics and roller hockey.

Even practicing all these sports, football, that he started playing by influence of his brother Emmanuel, was always his passion.

"That leather ball was the one that always attracted me the most, that used to give me the biggest thrills", he used to say to his more intimate ones.

But this pleasure started to diminish with the appearance of the professional football. "Preguinho", that always considered football a pleasure and a passion, never became a professional. And he suffered a lot when a law that only permitted amateur players to play only 3 times in professional teams, came out.

In all the games "Preguinho" played he always scored. He participated in the 1936, '37 and '38 campaign for the Fluminense tri-championship and for five times he was the striker for Fluminense (in 1928 and 32, "Carioca Championship", with 16 and 21 goals). In 1929 he scored 9 goals, 20 in 1930 and 10 in 1932, totaling 184 goals with the tricolor shirt.

One of the unforgettable games of "Preguinho" was the "Fla-Flu" (Flamengo vs. Fluminense) of 1928. The goalkeeper Amado challenged him, at the game's week, with a telegram saying that he wouldn't score a goal in that game. "Preguinho" got into the field angry and at the 2nd minute he scored the first, with a long distance kick. The second one was scored with his heel, after the ball slided from the hands of Amado. Fluminense won by 4-1 and "Preguinho" went out of the game with his soul "washed". But the goal of his life, as he used to say, was scored on the 7th of December of 1930, when, against Botafogo, that year's champion, he saw the goalkeeper advanced and from his midfield he shot over the goalkeeper.

"Preguinho" was the Rio de Janeiro basketball champion in 1924, '25, '26, '27 and '31; athletics champion in 1925 and Volleyball in 1923. In 1925, after swimming the 600 meters and help Fluminense being the state tri-champion of swimming, he caught a taxi and played against "São Cristovão" to won the "Ínicio" tournament.

Such conquers made him the most dear tricolor hero and in 1952 he got the title of "Great Meritorious Athlete", a title that made him proud the most until his death in 1979.

At the Fluminense headquarters there's a sculputure (bust) of "Preguinho" that pays him the due tribute.

Source: Fluminet

History of Brazil in Soccer World Cups - Uruguay 1930

2007-11-28T16:31:00.000Z

For the first Soccer World Cup event, Uruguay 1930, Brazil placed sixth in the classification while Uruguay, the hosts, were the World Champions. For this World Cup there was no qualifying rounds. FIFA invited the countries to participate but few countries accepted the invitation. Just four (4) countries from Europe and nine (9) from Americas participated. From Europe came France, Belgium, Romania and Yugoslavia. From Americas came Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, United States of America and Mexico.

The Brazilians first match in a World Cup happened in the 14th of June 1930, against Yugoslavia. The game was played in the "Parque Central" stadium at Montevideo. Brazil lost 2-1 to Yugoslavia. At the end of first half, score was 2-0 to Yugoslavia, but in the second half Brazil reduced with a goal from "Preguinho" at the 17th minute. João Coelho Neto aka "Preguinho" entered the history of Brazilian soccer by scoring the first ever goal of the "selecção" in a World Cup.

The next game would be against Bolivia, which Brazil won an expressive result of 4-0! This would be their first ever victory in a World Cup. The goals were scored by Moderato (37' and 73') and "Preguinho" (57' and 83').

The Brazil campaign in this World Cup ended with the game against Bolivia.

Brazil Uniform in 1930:

Want to know more about the 1930 World Cup? Click here.

Buy books about the World Cups at our Online Store

Sources : CBF Site, Wikipedia and FIFA

About Brazil

2007-11-27T17:34:00.001Z

About Brazil

Brazil is know as the country of the sun, beaches, samba, beatiful women and, of course, FOOTBALL!! And this is what we will be talking about here!

Football!

And why? Because Brazil will be the host country for the FIFA World Cup 2014, the greatest sport event on Earth, that will be played in around Brazil by the best teams in the World!

By now there are nineteen cities that showed interest in being chosen as hosts for the World Cup's games: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Brasília, Belém, Campo Grande, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Goiânia, Maceió, Manaus, Natal, Recife/Olinda (a stadium will be shared by both cities), Rio Branco and Salvador.

Source : Wikipedia

So, lets get to know a little bit more of this country called Brazil.

Brazil officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil or República Federativa do Brasil), is a country in South America. It is the fifth-largest country by geographical area, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. The official language is Portuguese. Catholicism is the predominant religion.

Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of over 7,367 kilometres. Brazil borders every nation on the South American continent (except Ecuador and Chile.): Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and the department of French Guiana to the north, Colombia to the northwest, Bolivia and Peru to the west, Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest, and Uruguay to the south. Numerous archipelagos are part of the Brazilian territory, such as Penedos de São Pedro e São Paulo, Fernando de Noronha, Trindade and Martim Vaz and Atol das Rocas.

The Capital, Brasília, is located in the central part of the country. It has a population of about 2,455,903 as of the 2007 census estimate, and is the seat of the federal government: the president (residing in the Palácio da Alvorada), the Brazilian supreme court, and the Brazilian parliament. Brasília is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Building of the city began in 1956 with Lúcio Costa as the principal urban planner and Oscar Niemeyer as the principal architect. In 1960, it formally became Brazil's capital. When seen from above, the city's shape resembles an airplane or a butterfly.
Brasília is located in the Federal District, which has the same borders as the city. The federal district is surrounded by the Brazilian state of Goiás, except for a short boundary with Minas Gerais.

Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in Brazil. The National Team is immensely popular, not only in Brazil but also in the many parts of the world where football is appreciated, and there is also a renowned National League, boasting a nation-wide competition as well as several regional competitions. The Brazilian national team has been victorious in the FIFA World Cup tournament a record five times, in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002 and is the only team to have never missed out on a World Cup participation. Pelé, one of the world's most recognized players, led Brazil to three of those championships and is the top scorer of all time in the sport. After the third win, Brazil kept the World Cup trophy permanently. Some of the contemporary talents in the national team prominent in the soccer world include Ronaldinho Gaucho, Kaká, Robinho and Anderson. Some of these players can be considered super-stars, achieving celebrity status internationally and signing sports contracts, as well as advertisement and endorsement contracts, in the value of millions of dollars. The governing body for football in Brazil is the Brazilian Football Confederation (CFB). Football has a major effect on Brazilian culture. It is often the favorite past time of youngsters that can be found playing soccer on the streets. World Cup tournaments are a social phenomenon, and it is not unusual for people to skip work to watch the national team play, and in some cases the very workplace will set up apparatus for its employees to watch the event together. It should be noted that the General Elections are usually held in the same year as the World Cup, and this is often criticized for taking advantage of the nationalistic surge created by football and bringing it into politics. Also, former soccer players are often elected to legislative positions.

Source: Wikipedia