World Cup Memories: Brazil's 1970 Victory Over Italy

In June 1970 I was a newly-arrived American teenager in Brazil staying with a host family. I was eager to experience the sights and sounds of Brazil, and was especially excited about spending the summer with my group of new friends who were aspiring musicians.

As the World Cup games began, I saw first-hand everyone's enthusiasm for the game and their no-holds barred support for their dream team. It was the legendary Pelé's last World Cup competition, which was enough to make everyone watch if only to see him in action one last time.

After witnessing first-hand the intensity of Brazilian fans regarding their national team, it still didn't prepare me for the exuberance of the country's celebrations after their third World Cup win.

In the United States we hear with tedious regularity about college students behaving badly after a sports win or defeat. In Europe there are the infamous soccer hooligans. In 1970 Brazil, however, I never saw inappropriate behavior. Instead I saw men, women and children, exhilarated by the fantastic victory of Brazil's best soccer team ever, pouring out of their homes to dance in the streets. Informal parties sprang up, discos and clubs engaged Carnival bands, and the President declared the Monday after the game a National Day of Celebration.

I was in Northeastern Brazil, which was a bit more conservative than Rio de Janeiro. I had expected Carnival to be samba dancers dressed like Las Vegas showgirls with lots of feathers and headdresses, but the citizens in my community were dressed in their best party clothes and did the baião, the local dance step in which couples schottisched around in a huge circle as the bands played happy upbeat songs composed on the spur of the moment about the Brazilian's team victory.

Two of my friends submitted a victory song for a competition sponsored by the local brewery in honor of the World Cup. Their song won, and was premiered on the day of the Carnival festivities. It was thrilling to hear it on the car radio and it got wide airplay all day. Roughly translated, it went:

"Brazil, Brazil, Brazil the Cup is now finally ours
Forever, for our entire land.
We celebrate this victory with (the name of the beer),
Flags in our hands to show that we are the champions.
It just had to be Brazil!
It just had to be Brazil!"

I hope people who watch the 2010 games have wonderful memories that they too will remember decades later.