Soccer World Cup History: 1958 World Cup Sweden

Number of participating teams: 16

Top scorer: France’s Just Fontaine (13 goals)

Number of games: 35

Total goals scored: 126

Average goals per game: 3.60

Highest scoring game: France’s 7-3 win over Paraguay on June 8

Total attendance: 868,000

Average attendance: 24,800

TOURNAMENT FORMAT

Still trying to perfect the competition, FIFA flirted with another format in 1958. The 16 nations were still divided into four groups, but this time (unlike in Switzerland) all the teams in a group played each other and extra time was not used to settle draws. The top two sides would move on to the quarterfinals, with a one-game playoff used when the second- and third-place teams finished tied on points.

THE FINAL

Following a day of heavy rain, Brazil and Sweden walked out onto a slippery field before 50,000 fans jammed into Stockholm’s Rasunda stadium and millions more around the world watching on television. Brazilian manager Vicente Feola made one key change, taking out defender Newton de Sordi and inserting for the first time in the competition Djalma Santos, a member of the 1954 World Cup team. It proved an astute move: Djalma and Nilton Santos brilliantly combined to defuse the dynamic Swedish scoring duo of Lennart Skoglund and Kurt Hamrin.

It was the Swedes, though, who struck first, Gunnar Gren feeding a pass to Nils Liedholm who skipped past two defenders and fired the ball into the right-hand corner of the net in the fourth minute. It was the first time Brazil trailed in the tournament. The beast sufficiently agitated, Brazil instantly came to life and levelled the affair five minutes later when Garrincha beat his marker and delivered a pass into the middle for Vava who scored. The same pair hooked up at the 30-minute mark, Vava scoring an almost identical goal.

Pele gave Brazil a two-goal cushion in the 55th minute when he netted a stunningly breathtaking goal—standing in a crowd in the penalty area with his back towards the goal, he trapped a high pass with his chest, knocked the ball over his head while being marked by a defender, whirled around and volleyed it past Swedish goalkeeper Karl Svensson. A legend was born.

Winger Mario Zagalo, who went on to coach Brazil to victory at the 1970 World Cup, made it 4-1 13 minutes later. Agne Simonsson scored with 10 minutes left in regulation for Sweden but Pele bagged his second of the game in the 89th minute, rising majestically through the air to score on a header from a Zagallo cross. After two consecutive disappointments—the shocking loss to Uruguay on home soil at the Maracana in 1950 and bowing out to Hungary in the quarterfinals in 1954—Brazil had fulfilled its destiny: champions of the world. As Pele and the rest of the team were in tears, the classy and gracious Stockholm crowd applauded the new world champions. Sportingly, Brazil did a lap of honour around the field carrying a Swedish flag.

Group 1