World Cup 1958 - Brazil

Brazil's coach, Vicente Feola imposed strict rules on the squad for the 1958 World Cup, held in Sweden. The players were given a list of 40 things that they were not allowed to do, including wearing hats or umbrellas, smoking while wearing official clothing and talking to the press outside of allocated times. They were the only team to bring a psychologist (because the memories of 1950 still affected some players) or a dentist (for, because of their humble origins, many players had dental problems, which caused infections and also had negative impact on performance) with them, and had sent a representative to Europe to watch the qualifying matches a year before the tournament started.

Brazil were drawn in the toughest group, with England, the USSR and Austria. They beat Austria 3–0 in their first match, then drew 0–0 with England. The Brazilians had been worried about their match with the USSR who had exceptional fitness and were one of the favourites to win the tournament; their strategy was to take risks at the beginning of the match to try and score an early goal. Before the match, the leaders of the team, Bellini, Nilton Santos, and Didi, spoke to coach Feola and persuaded him to make three substitutions which were crucial for Brazil to defeat the Soviets and win the Cup: Zito, Garrincha, and Pelé would start playing against the USSR. From the kick off, they passed the ball to Garrincha who beat three players before hitting the post with a shot. They kept up the pressure relentlessly, and after three minutes which were later described as "the greatest three minutes in the history of football", Pelé gave Brazil the lead. They won the match 2–0. Pelé scored the only goal of their quarter-final match against Wales, and they beat France 5–2 in the semi-final. Brazil beat the hosts Sweden, in the final 5-2, winning their first World Cup and becoming the first nation to win a World Cup title outside of its own continent. A celebrated fact was that Feola would sometimes take naps during training sessions and would sometimes close his eyes during matches, giving the impression that he was asleep! Because of this, Didi was sometimes said to be the real coach of the team, as he commanded the mid-field.