The
Brazil national football team participated in the
1982 FIFA World Cup
The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national foo ...
, and in doing so maintained their record of being the only team to enter every World Cup Finals.
Brazil played until the Second Group Round, where they were defeated by
Italy. This result meant that they finished the tournament in fifth place for the second time in history (
1954
Events
January
* January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany.
* January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting.
* January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...
was the previous instance).
Qualifying
;;
1982 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL Group 1)
February 8, 1981,
Caracas
Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...
,
Venezuela - 0 - 1
February 22, 1981,
La Paz
La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...
,
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
- 1 - 2
March 22, 1981,
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil - 3 - 1
March 29, 1981,
Goiânia,
Brazil - 5 - 0
Brazil qualified.
The Cup
First Group Round
All eyes were on
Brazil in Group 6. In
Zico,
Sócrates,
Falcão,
Éder and others, the rejuvenated ''auriverde'' boasted an offensive firepower that promised a return to the glory days of
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
. The ''tri-campeão'' lived up to all expectations in the First Group round, beating an unexpectedly strong
Soviet side 2–1 in a very entertaining first match thanks to a 20-metre Éder goal two minutes from time, then
Scotland and
New Zealand, scoring four goals each time.
;Group 6
----
----
Second Group Round
It was in Group C, a true "
Group of Death
A group of death in a multi-stage tournament is a group which is unusually competitive, because the number of strong competitors in the group is greater than the number of qualifying places available for the next phase of the tournament. Thus, in ...
" with Brazil, Argentina and Italy, that World Cup history was made. In the opener, the ''Azzurri'' prevailed 2–1 over
Diego Maradona's side in an ill-tempered game in which Italy defenders
Gaetano Scirea
Gaetano Scirea (; 25 May 1953 – 3 September 1989) was an Italian professional footballer who is considered one of the greatest defenders of his generation and one of the greatest defenders of all time. He spent most of his career with Juventus ...
and
Claudio Gentile proved to be able to stop the Argentinian attack.
Argentina now needed a win over Brazil on the second day, but they were no match. Although the Brazilians had the better of the play, Maradona's Argentina side continued pushing for an equaliser and had a clear
penalty denied by the referee . After that, Brazil scored twice, and Maradona was sent off after he kicked a rival in a moment of unsportsmanship.
The third-day match between Brazil and Italy would be a game to remember. Twice Italy went in the lead through
Paolo Rossi's goals, and twice Brazil came back. At 2-2, Brazil would have gone through on
goal difference
Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...
, but on 74 minutes, a poor clearance from an Italy
corner kick went back to the Brazil six-yard line where Rossi and
Francesco Graziani were waiting. Both world-class strikers reflexively aimed at the same shot, Rossi connecting and sending Italy to the semifinals in one of the all-time great games of World Cup history.
;Group C
----
Starting 11
Goalscorers
;4 goals
*
Zico
;3 goals
*
Falcão
;2 goals
*
Éder
*
Serginho
*
Sócrates
;1 goal
*
Júnior
*
Oscar
References
External links
1982 FIFA World Cup on FIFA.com
{{Countries at the FIFA World Cup by year
Countries at the 1982 FIFA World Cup