After literal months of nominating, voting, and eliminating, we’ve finally whittled down our bracket of 68 goals down to two. It’s time, at long last, to choose the greatest goal in the history of the Brazil national football team.
Let’s meet our contestants, and relive the path each took on its way to the final.
In one corner…
YOUR FIRST FINALIST
ROAD TO THE FINAL
In the first round, it trounced Formiga’s equalizer in an eventual 4-1 win over Germany in the semifinal of the 2008 Olympics (go to 42:45 in the video if the timestamp doesn’t work):
In the second round, it comfortably beat Sócrates’ famous equalizer against the USSR in a 2-1 win in the opening match of the 1982 World Cup (timestamp at 4:51):
In the Sweet Sixteen, it swept aside Ronaldinho’s genius free kick that won Brazil’s 2002 World Cup quarterfinal against England:
In the Elite Eight, it squeaked by a single vote past a goal that could just as easily have made the final—Roberto Carlos’ iconic, swerving free kick from a 1997 draw with France in the Le Tournoi friendly tournament:
Its Final Four opponent was another great World Cup goal from the same player. Pelé’s only goal of an injury-shortened 1962 World Cup came in the opening match against Mexico, and it’s been so thoroughly forgotten that it didn’t even appear on FIFA’s list of 100 great Brazilian goals—but if you’ve never seen it before, you’re about to understand why it deserves to be remembered.
(Timestamp at 0:39.)
THE GOAL
It’s arguably the most important goal in Brazil’s history, because it’s the one that sealed Brazil’s first World Cup triumph. (Timestamp at 1:50).
Scorer: Pelé
Assist: Nílton Santos
Occasion: 1958 World Cup Final
Opponent: Sweden
Score With Goal: Brazil 3, Sweden 1
Final Score: Brazil 5, Sweden 2
WHY IT SHOULD WIN:
Some old goals look like they’re from a truly different era, arising from the sort of open space that you simply wouldn’t see with modern tactics and advancements in sports science. This is not one of those. The Swedish defender is all over Pelé as he moves to gather Nílton Santos’ ball into the box, but O Rei is able to hold him off, control the ball on his chest, and turn all in a split second, only to see a second defender bearing down on him, at which point “flicking the ball over the guy’s head” suddenly becomes the only viable option.
Beyond that, the context is just too good. Being Brazil’s third goal, this, technically, was the goal that won Brazil its first World Cup (though Brazil scored a fourth before Sweden scored their second). No goal can possibly carry more importance than one that decided a World Cup final, and that one of such quality delivered Brazil its first World Cup seems fitting. And that’s not even taking into account that Pelé was seventeen when he scored a goal so great on such an occasion. It took sixty years for another teenager, Kylian Mbappé, to score in a World Cup final, and his goal was neither as pretty nor, being France’s fourth in a 4-2 win, as decisive. (Also, he was nineteen, not seventeen.)
WHY IT SHOULDN’T:
As great as it is, it’s perhaps not quite as unique, as one-of-a-kind, as the Greatest Seleção Goal Of All Time should be. Goals where the player flicks the ball over a defender’s head are still extraordinary whenever they happen, and Pelé’s is a particularly skillful example, but they’re hardly unheard of. Off the top of my head, and just in the last decade, Éverton Ribeiro, Neymar, and Karim Benzema have all scored goals of a similar nature in games of import. You can argue that Pelé’s is better than any of those, but it’s harder to argue that it’s just as unique as the goal it faces.
And now, in the other corner…
YOUR SECOND FINALIST
ROAD TO THE FINAL
In the first round, in one of only two unanimous decisions in the bracket, it crushed Oscar’s cross-shot in extra time that won Brazil the 2011 U-20 World Cup final over Portugal, and gave Oscar the distinction of being only the second player to ever score a hat trick in a World Cup final for any age group or gender. (In 2015, Carli Lloyd became the third member of this exclusive club.)
(Timestamp at 1:47.)
In the second round, it walked almost as easily over an incredible Romário volley from a 4-0 win over Mexico in a 1997 friendly (timestamp at 5:58):
In the Sweet Sixteen, it faced another of the great Brazilian team goals, finished by Careca to open the scoring in the quarterfinal loss to France in the 1986 World Cup, and again won easily:
In the Elite Eight, it once more cruised past a legendary opponent, this time the greatest goal ever scored in the history of the Brazil women’s team: Marta’s goal at the end of a 4-0 win over the USA in the semifinal of the 2007 Women’s World Cup.
Its toughest contest came in the Final Four, when it managed a measly 76% of the vote over Éder’s late winner against the USSR in the opening match of the 1982 World Cup:
THE GOAL
It’s a goal you probably know already, sometimes called the greatest goal in World Cup history:
Scorer: Carlos Alberto
Assist: Pelé
Occasion: 1970 World Cup Final
Opponent: Italy
Score With Goal: Brazil 4, Italy 1
Final Score: Brazil 4, Italy 1
WHY IT SHOULD WIN:
This is perhaps the quintessential Brazilian goal: the purest possible expression of the artful, free-flowing football for which the Seleção famous, done on the grandest possible stage, capping off an utterly dominant World Cup campaign. It has a bit of everything: Clodoaldo’s skillful dribble through four players in midfield, Rivelino’s incisive pass down the wing to Jairzinho and the latter’s cut inside, Pelé’s perfectly weighted pass, Carlos Alberto’s surging run and stellar first-time finish. It’s a beautiful expression of team play, involving seven of Brazil’s ten outfield players in a display of total control over the playing area and the opposition as they worked the ball up and across practically the entire pitch.
If you could pinpoint a single moment at which the Brazil national team peaked, at which it was at the absolute apex of its powers, this would surely be it.
WHY IT SHOULDN’T:
If there’s a black mark against this goal, it’s that it came against opposition that was thoroughly beaten. Italy were four days removed from an exhausting semifinal against Germany that went to extra time, and losing 3-1 in the 87th minute, it’s clear that they have very little left in the tank. You can definitely make the case that sharper opposition would have made a more concerted attempt to stop Clodoaldo than “only one guy at a time tries to stick a foot in like they’re enemies in an Assassin’s Creed game”, and would not have afforded Pelé nearly so much time and space to wait for Carlos Alberto’s run and pick the killer pass.
VOTE
In the spirit of having some sort of closing “here’s your winner” post, I plan to wrap up voting in just over a week, on August 24.
I’ll close out with the results of last week’s third-place match. Earning 54% of the vote, the third-greatest goal in Seleção history is…
i still think its overrated but thats just me
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