The Taça das Nações (Portuguese for "Nations' Cup") or "Little World Cup" was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tournament played in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in 1964 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the

Brazilian Football Confederation The Brazilian Football Confederation (, CBF) is the governing body of football in Brazil. It was founded on Monday, 8 June 1914, as , and renamed Confederação Brasileira de Desportos in 1916. The football confederation, as known today, sepa ...

. Three international teams were invited,

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, for the competition which was played in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

and

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

during late May and early June.

History

The tournament was intended to showcase the favourites for the upcoming

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the 1966 FI ...

hosted by

. The Brazilian squad – apart from

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

– had notable players such as

Gérson Gérson de Oliveira Nunes (; born 11 January 1941), generally known as Gérson, is a Brazilian former association footballer who played as a midfielder. He won numerous national trophies with the club sides of Flamengo, Botafogo, São Paulo and ...

Jairzinho Jair Ventura Filho (born 25 December 1944), better known as Jairzinho (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer. A quick, skillful, and powerful right winger known for his finishing ability and eye for goal, he was a key member and leadi ...

and goalkeeper

Gilmar Gylmar dos Santos Neves (; 22 August 1930 – 25 August 2013), known simply as Gilmar, was a Brazilian footballer who played Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, Corinthians and Santos FC, Santos ...

. Argentina, coached by

José María Minella José María Minella (1909–1981) was an Argentine Association football, football player and manager. He played for and managed Argentina national football team, Argentina's national team. Club career A midfielder, Minella started playing at lo ...

, included some experienced players such as

Amadeo Carrizo Amadeo Raúl Carrizo Larretape (12 June 1926 – 20 March 2020), popularly known by his first name "Amadeo", was an Argentine football goalkeeper and manager. Carrizo is considered a pioneer of the position, helping to innovate techniques and st ...

, José Varacka,

José Ramos Delgado José Manuel Ramos Delgado (25 August 1935 – 3 December 2010) was an Argentina, Argentine Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager. He played for the Argentina national football team in two FIFA World Cup, ...

, Alfredo Rojas and

Antonio Rattín Antonio Ubaldo Rattín (born 16 May 1937) is an Argentine former footballer, best known as a Boca Juniors midfielder, and because of an incident in a match at the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Rattín remains as one of the greatest idols of Boca Junior ...

and young footballers such as

Alberto Rendo Alberto Rendo (born 3 January 1940) is an Argentine former footballer who competed in the 1960 Summer Olympics. Career Born in Parque Patricios, Buenos Aires, Rendo played club football in the Argentine Primera División with Huracán and San ...

and Roberto Telch.

Silvio Marzolini Silvio Marzolini (4 October 1940 – 17 July 2020)Marzo ...

did not participate due to being injured. The English team included

Bobby Charlton Sir Robert Charlton (11 October 1937 – 21 October 2023) was an English professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, left winger or centre-forward. Widely considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member ...

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He captained West Ham United for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England national team that won the 1966 FIFA ...

and

Gordon Banks Gordon Banks (30 December 1937 – 12 February 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional care ...

while most of Portugal's players were from Benfica, that had won the European Champions' Cup twice, with

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Stri ...

as its most notable star. In the match between England and Brazil,

devastated the England defence with skill and hard running, leaving England forward

Jimmy Greaves James Peter Greaves (20 February 1940 – 19 September 2021) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. Regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time and one of England's best ever players, he is England's fifth- ...

to remark, "Pelé is on another bloody planet." The England vs. Portugal game was also notable for being marred by controversy when Portuguese player

José Torres José Torres may refer to: Music * José de Torres (1665–1738), Spanish composer * José Torres (percussionist) (born 1958), Cuban-Polish percussionist * Tomatito (José Fernández Torres, born 1958), Spanish flamenco guitarist Politics * Jo ...

attempted to punch the referee for disallowing an offside Portuguese goal. The player was sent off, but was considered lucky not to face a lifetime ban from football. In another violent incident, a headbutt by Pelé broke the nose of the Argentine player José Agustín Messiano, who had to be replaced by Roberto Telch –who proceeded to score two goals in the game. The Argentine team eventually won the tournament after defeating Brazil 3–0 in their game in São Paulo, with goals by Telch (2) and

Ermindo Onega Ermindo Ángel Onega (30 April 1940 – 21 December 1979) was an Argentine footballer, attacking midfielder and forward from River Plate. He played for River Plate from 1957 to 1968, scoring 98 goals in 222 matches. In 1972, he played for C ...

.Pelé no la tiene
on Diario Uno, 9 June 2011 Argentine goalkeeper

stopped a penalty by Gerson."Salimos a enfriar el partido... y además lo ganamos"
by Osvaldo Ardizzone on ''El Gráfico'' Reportedly the Brazilian FA had already engraved the Brazilian player's names on the watches intended as prizes for the winning team.

Results

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Final table

The points system gave 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw.

Statistics

Goalscorers

References

External links

* Pablo Ciullini:

',

Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

, 2013-07-25 * Chris Goodwin, Glen Isherwood:
Taça das Nações, Brazil 1964
', England Football Online, 2010-03-14 {{DEFAULTSORT:Taca das Nacoes 1964 in Argentine football 1964 in Brazilian football 1963–64 in English football 1963–64 in Portuguese football Brazilian football friendly trophies 30-31 01-07

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

Defunct international association football competitions in South America Defunct international association football competitions International men's association football invitational tournaments