THE DARK SIDE OF THE WORLDS – EPISODE 5 – Rimet dreamed of a tournament that would “unite nations, bring people together and make the world a great country”. It wasn’t like that. From France 1938 to Qatar 2022, the World Cup is also a story of wars, murders, fraud and dictatorial regimes. Episode by episode we tell you the emblematic stories of the intertwining of football and power
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In July from 1969 The Brazilian Army High Command ordered a Gilbert Gil and Caetano Velosotwo of the leading representatives of tropism revolutionized music, culture and society Brazilto leave the country. For a military dictatorship increasingly cruel and repressive, which for a few years has been the last bastion of the democratic opposition, the artistic freedom and the gaze projected by these musicians was considered too much subversive. After prison came exile, packed with the first seeds for it Ufanistic strategy that would have characterized the regime. as he writes Pietro Scaramuzzo In Tropicalia – The Musical Revolution in Brazil in the Sixties, “Ufanism”, a term borrowed from Affonso Celso’s work Porque me Ufano do Meu País (Why I boast about my country), will be the means by which the Military will shackle the sympathy of the population, which confirms the false hypothesis that those who do not support the regime do not love Brazil “. In fact, the slogan will be: Brasil, ame-o ou deixe-o (Brazil, love it or leave it).
For the general Emilio Garrastazu Mediciwho came to power in October 1969, there was no better tool than Soccer to combine with Ufanism to cement that approval around the regime when it increased thedevice repressive to levels the country has never known before or since. The military junta invested millions of dollars to guarantee that Brazilian national team the best possible preparation in view of the World Mexican, to then appropriate the achievement once the mission is accomplished, thanks to the exceptional quality of one of the best teams ever seen at a World Cup. For many Brazilians, the memory of World Cup 1970 it is like the observation of a breathtaking panorama with a grain of sand in the eyes. Something is interfering with the view and preventing a perfect view. In his Futebol – The Brazilian Lifestyle, Alex Bellos writes that at the time of publication (2002) there was not a single book in Portuguese dedicated to winning the 1970 World Cup and the only one in English, The Beautiful Team of gary Jenkinsit hadn’t even been translated yet.
The military’s first step was shipment Claudio Coutinho, National team athletics coach with a past as a captain in the army, in Florida to NASA to study the processes of Body training of astronauts of Apollo. Upon his return, Coutinho introduced them Cooper’s test. His programs were an update and modernization of concentrationProject inaugurated in 1958 by the President of the Brazilian Football Confederation Joao Havelange which involved an intense exercise program focused on 40 days involving doctors, dieticians, neurologists, cardiologists and ophthalmologists. With sometimes bizarre results, since psychological tests from the appeal of players such Garrincha and pele as “too much infantile“. But Coutinho’s methods were light years ahead and included custom-made shoes, thermal shirts to keep the body cool (the green collars used until then were cut as they were sweaty and annoyed footballers), diet based on proteins and vitamins “calibrated” to the typical ingredients of Mexican cuisine. The sleeping pattern has also been adjusted melted hours of Mexico. ‘They looked like preparations for a’military operations in every way,” he recalled Paulo Caesar file, the twelfth man of the national team. “Strict discipline, constant physical exercises, tests, all surrounded by soldiers and minder“.
Medici occupied every available seat and also interfered in the work of the technical inspector João Saldanha, not really a person who was on the same wavelength as him, as he was secretary of the União da Juventude Communista as a young man. There are two main reasons for the presidential invasion of the field: pele and Dario Maravilha. The first wasn’t physically at the top, according to Saldanha. That didn’t mean that Saldanha wouldn’t bring Pele to Mexico, but pressure from the Medici to bring in the country’s a priori best player didn’t make things any easier. The presence of dada instead, it was not an option for the technician. Very powerful striker, absolutely over the top and therefore Lover From the press and the fans (to hook the guy, he once explained he would always masturbate before a game to get into the easier field), he was a Medici’s obsession. On a tactical level, however, it was totally anarchist and it would have been difficult to get it into the mechanics of the team. Saldanha’s character wasn’t one of the best malleable: He argued with journalists and coaches and always said what he thought. It was removed from office Shortly before the World Cup, a few days after an interview in which he said: “How I don’t decide minister of presidentso he doesn’t decide playing in attack in my team”.
It was Mario Zagallo To bring Brazil to the top of the world and he did it by solving the Dario problem in the most realistic way possible: but he brought him to Mexico I will not use it not even for a minute. The Verdeoro won her third Rimet Cup and Medici began one repression Without precedents. It was ordered a few months before the World Cup execution the Marxist guerrilla Carlo Larighela and Carlos Lamarka. The long wave of celebrations that saw the Medici open the doors of the Presidential Palace to the people for the first time allowed the military to continue abuse and pursuits without bothering to hide them. He has been imprisoned Aldyr Schlee, the man who designed the iconic kits for the infamous (in Brazil) 1950 World Cup. We’ve already talked about the tropical athletes. In just one year of government, the number of grievances per torture had increased from 308 to 1027. The government also adopted an old Brazilian stadium song, Pa Fente Brasil (Forward Brazil) and turned it into an hourly radio propaganda jingle. “Brazil won football, Brazil lost land,” he once said Tostaoone of the few dissident voices among the players of the Selection 1970.
David Voares he taught at a school in the suburbs of Bahía before being removed from office for his ideas that are at odds with those of the regime. Interviewed by Jon Spurling In his death or glory he remembered going to him in spite of everything Brazil for the national team parade with the World Cup. “But it was more of a demonstration of military strength as a celebration of sporting achievements. Tanks in the streets, soldiers pointing guns at people trying to make contact with the players. And then Medici’s face everywhere. For the rest of the world, Mexico ’70 was the most beautiful World Cup there was Pelé’s World Cup and a team of champions who managed to combine football with art. I can’t blame them. But for me and many other Brazilians, Mexico ’70 was that world of doctors“.