After two World Cups in Europe, FIFA entrusted the organization of the seventh World Cup in football to the South American continent.
Chile got an advantage over Argentina, and many European selections accepted this choice with skepticism, considering that the country of Chile is not up to such a big competition. But, regardless of everything, a record 56 teams participated in the qualifiers, and France and Sweden, the best teams from the previous World Cup, did not reach the finals.
Brazil arrived in Chile as the absolute favorites to win the title, with Pele who was no longer a teenager (21 years old), with Garrincha still fooling himself and others ("what planet is this Garrincha from", asked the Brazilian newspaper " El Mercurio"), with Didi who became a great leader... It was a matter of routine, it was said at the time, to climb such a selection to the world roof.
Just like four years earlier in Sweden, the "cariocas" won the "Gilles Rime trophy" without defeat.
The main characteristic of the seventh review of the world's largest national teams was rudeness. The ugly side of football showed its true face for the first time.
For example, the duel between Italy and Chile, the famous "battle for Santiago", which ended with three red cards, several broken noses and a lot of spilled blood, is still recounted.
Of course, the Brazilians suffered the most, as they could not fully show their magnificent talent, because they were constantly missing two or three players from the first line-up. Pele tore a muscle in the first game against Mexico and did not play until the end of the championship.
Fortunately for the "cariocas", Brazil was not only Pele. Zagalo, Vava, Didi, Garinca and Pele's excellent replacement, Amarildo, walked through the group, in the quarter-finals they defeated England with 3:1, and in the semi-finals they threw Chile on their shoulders 4:2.
It was the end of the fairy tale of the nice group of the domestic team, who treated themselves to spaghetti, chocolate and vodka during the World Cup (they eliminated Italy, Switzerland and the Soviet Union), but in the end they were fed up with coffee.
In the final, the Brazilians easily defeated Czechoslovakia 3:1. The goals were scored by Amaridlo, Zita and Vava. Thus, after Italy and Uruguay, the second nation with two world championship titles was born.
At the second World Cup in a row, the planet admired Lev Yashin, the Russian giant in goal with arms like a spider. One of the best goalkeepers in the history of world football, he was distinguished by his coolness, elegance and perfect defenses (mostly with one hand), and when asked what the secret of his success was, he replied that the recipe consisted of smoking one cigarette, in order to calm down. nerves, and shakes a glass to relax his muscles.
The world saw again the phenomenal Englishman Bobby Charlton, a guy who by crazy luck avoided death four years earlier, after the crash of Manchester's plane in the vicinity of Munich.
The World Cup in Chile did not have the best scorer, but the title was shared by Garinča, Vava (Brazil), Sanchez (Chile), Jerković (Yugoslavia), Albert (Hungary) and Ivanov (Soviet Union) with four goals each.
Yugoslavia took fourth place thanks to, as the Uruguayan journalist and writer Eduardo Galeano wrote, "one little bird called Dragoslav Šekularac, who could not be stopped by any defense".
After a great victory over SR Germany in the quarter-finals of 1:0, with a goal by Petr Radaković (Yugoslavia under that name never beat West Germany after that), Šoškić, Jerković, Galić and company were defeated in the semi-finals by Czechoslovakia with 3:1, as well as in match for third place against home team Chile (1:0).
It was the "swan song" of a luxurious generation of Yugoslav footballers, led by Šekularac, because SFRY did not participate in the next two World Cups.
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