{"id":579,"date":"2018-06-12T13:33:26","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T12:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/copyright.lboro.ac.uk\/research\/?p=579"},"modified":"2018-06-21T12:42:26","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T11:42:26","slug":"world-cup-60-years-on-peles-1958-debut-still-the-greatest-tournament-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/research\/communication-culture-citizenship\/world-cup-60-years-on-peles-1958-debut-still-the-greatest-tournament-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup: 60 years on Pel\u00e9’s 1958 debut still the greatest tournament ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sixty years ago, before the legendary Pel\u00e9 became a household name, the teenage Brazilian prodigy was preparing to take part in his first World Cup in Sweden. He was 17. The 1958 World Cup finals were only the sixth time the tournament had been held \u2013 and, unbelievable to think now, Brazil yet to lift the Jules Rimet trophy<\/a> that they were to make their own.<\/p>\n

Pel\u00e9 was about to change all that. The Canarinho wonderkid, \u2013 Edson Arantes do Nascimento, to give him his full name \u2013 scored six goals during the tournament<\/a>, including a hat-trick in the semi-final and two goals in the final against host nation Sweden. His storming performance, combined with the skill and flair of his team mates, was to set his country on the path to global footballing dominance.<\/p>\n

But the 1958 finals are memorable for much more than their Brazilian milestones.<\/p>\n

That year is still the only time England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have all competed together on the world stage. And the finals were, and still are, a record-breaking tournament for goal scoring. The prolific French forward, Just Fontaine<\/a>, was unstoppable, setting a tally of 13 goals in six games \u2013 a total which has not been broken to this day.<\/p>\n

Off the field, in a remarkable contrast to modern football, a huge brawl involving Welsh players at a hotel on the outskirts of Stockholm remained unreported \u2013 unthinkable these days. In his 1998 book, When Pel\u00e9 Broke Our Hearts: Wales and the 1958 World Cup, sports writer Mario Risoli described in graphic detail a fight that took place at the Copacabana Club at the Grand Hotel, in Saltsj\u00f6baden, shortly after Wales\u2019 exit from the competition. Nobody was arrested, and Risoli notes that \u201cthe selectors did manage to prevent the Copacabana Club fiasco leaking out\u201d. What price such a successful cover-up today?<\/p>\n

Golden age, for some<\/h2>\n

For these reasons \u2013 and for those of a certain vintage \u2013 the 1958 World Cup, held between June 8 and June 29, belongs to a golden age of international football.<\/p>\n

In 1958, England\u2019s finest hour, a single World Cup title<\/a>, was still eight years away. In Sweden the side achieved results<\/a> which will be a little more recognisable to today\u2019s fans as they puffed their way through the group stages. The team drew all three group games, against Brazil, Austria and the Soviet Union and were eliminated in a play-off match by the latter. Meanwhile Scotland<\/a> drew with Yugoslavia but lost to both Paraguay and France and were duly eliminated.<\/p>\n

Wales\u2019 manager, Jimmy Murphy, was also Matt Busby\u2019s assistant at Manchester United \u2013 but had escaped the horror of the Munich air crash<\/a> earlier that year because he had been on international duty at the time. With Busby seriously ill in hospital and many of his leading players dead, it was left to Murphy to try to pick up the pieces at Old Trafford while simultaneously guiding his Welsh team to the World Cup finals.<\/p>\n

In a harbinger of Euro 2016, it was left to Wales and Northern Ireland<\/a> to progress to the next stage. Northern Ireland had beaten Czechoslovakia, drawn with West Germany and lost to Argentina. In the quarter finals, they were beaten 0-4 by France for whom Fontaine scored twice. Northern Ireland\u2019s star performers had been Peter McParland, who scored five goals in four games, and Manchester United\u2019s goalkeeper Harry Gregg \u2013 a survivor of the Munich air crash \u2013 who was the only UK player [selected by journalists] in the team of the tournament.<\/p>\n

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French forward Just Fontaine won the Golden Boot in 1958 with 13 goals.<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n

The Welsh team<\/a> was made up of many of the country\u2019s greatest ever players, including Ivor Allchurch, Terry Medwin, Cliff Jones, Jack Kelsey and the Charles brothers, Mel and John. Like England, Wales drew all their group games \u2013 against Hungary, Mexico and Sweden \u2013 but, unlike England, they won their play-off match with Hungary. In their quarter-final game, they were beaten by a single goal scored in the 73rd minute by Pel\u00e9.<\/p>\n

One should not forget the contribution made by the hosts Sweden<\/a>. They came into the competition with a very experienced group of players, several of whom had played for many years in Italy\u2019s Serie A in an era when it was much less common for players to move between different countries\u2019 football leagues. These included Gunnar Gren, who played in Italy from 1949 to 1956, Nils Liedholm (1949-61), Gunnar Nordahl (1949-58) and Kurt Hamrin (1956-1971).<\/p>\n

So the team\u2019s progress to the final was not entirely unexpected. Despite drawing with Wales, they advanced to the quarter finals with victories against both Mexico and Hungary. The next opponents were the Soviet Union whom they beat by two goals to one.<\/p>\n