By Danial Golforoush
Almost every international match-up—regardless of the reason, the genre, or the outcome—is a cross-cultural encounter, from the knowledge and goods traded on the Silk Road to the negotiation table at the United Nations or even a soccer game.
A memorable clash between two dominant teams is often expected from a World Cup final, but in many ways, the 1958 World Cup final went beyond such desires and expectations. While this game was crucial in the world of football and the power shift it caused from Europe to the Americas, the clash between the teams displayed a greater cultural exchange between the two countries. Although “culture” can be defined in multiple ways, there is a clear distinction made by the writers and announcers of the time about the methods used by each team in the game. Culture and gameplay originate and can be affected by a variety of factors in a country and her experience, but it is often transmitted by the culture of the nation, which itself is based on factors such as ideologies, religion, physical geography, etc.
In the case of the 1958 World Cup Final, Sweden’s burgeoning industrialization and the lack of it in Brazil appeared to be transmitted to their culture and, as a result, to the style of their football play. While Sweden’s method was more functionalist, direct, and formulated, the Brazil National Team’s tactics were more composed of individual effort and creative use of space available, styles that continue to this day. Here is to one of the most iconic and overly-discussed matches in the history of the beautiful game.
Swedish Functionalism: From Economics to Soccer Style
In the 1930s, the rise of a contemporary view on architectural and urban planning, mass industrialization, and the rise of functionalism triggered a new social construction in Sweden. The Stockholm Exhibition, an art and innovation expo held in Sweden in 1930, provided a platform for functionalism to take off by questioning the older urban construction designs and development in Sweden and Scandinavia. In architecture, functionalism is the belief that a building must be designed and built based on its purpose and nothing more. The reason behind the success of functionalism in Sweden is tied to its delayed but rapid industrialization, which demanded phases of quick adaptation by the society over the next few years to an industrial society, thus establishing a path for “industry [to provide] the model for the social visions of the architects and planners.” (1)
Industrialization, being the main source of the functionalist architectural views, also influenced societal beliefs; it was thought that “society can be broken down into a number of basic functions, and that these can then serve as the foundation for planned action.” (1) On account of the constant efficiency demanded by industrialization, factories, and machinery, features of society that do not hold any indispensable function are eliminated. On the other hand, functionalism promotes national and communal identity. In Function and Functionalism: A Synthetic Perspective, authors Martin Mahner and Mario Bunge analyze Swedish social functions and functionalism, identifying the elimination of unpurposeful factors: “For example, fertility rites and other ceremonies may persist in industrial societies because they have some latent collateral function, such as reinforcing group ‘identity’ and thus social cohesion.” (2)
As a result of such social and urban development, the industrialization of the state carries a deeper meaning for the Swedish society, consequently creating a formulated and mechanical culture of approach to their endeavors, which carried over into other cultural elements, such as Swedish football. The functionalist ideology encouraged by industrialization was extremely evident in the culture and style of Swedish football. The ever-shifting formation of the Swedish team (during each match) is essential to understanding Swedish culture—movements are formulaic and each team member needs to perform different tasks as the tactical needs in the game changes in order for the bigger tactics to work like a well-oiled machine.
Argentine journalist Tomás Mazzoni, writing in 1949, described the Swedish/European style of soccer as, “The Englishman considers a player that dribbles three times in succession is a nuisance,” indicating their rigid and direct approach to the game. (3) He continues by stating, “English football, well-played, is like a symphonic orchestra;” repeatedly the style of play is remarkably orchestrated and formulated, highlighting its resemblance to machinery and functions that each part has. (3) One may even go so far as analyzing the match as a game of connecting the dots, in which each team member utilizes the ball as a way to connect to the other as precisely as possible. As discussed earlier, a functionalist culture and mindset became deeply rooted in Swedish society after the rapid industrialization, eventually making its way to the football pitch.
Brazilian Flair: Resourcefulness at Home and on the Pitch
Simultaneously, in Brazil, the rise of favelas (slums) located near Rio de Janeiro caused by lack of industrialization and economic opportunities have formed a culture of creative assortment and allocation of resources. In the late 19th century, Providencia, a highly populated area, consisted of closely-compacted and informal housing units assembled by loose or damaged materials. The first squatter settlements were built for the veterans of the Canudos War, but the squatter settlements grew in the early 20th century when many were forced to create their own housing after failing to acquire shelter and a job in the city.
Brian Godfrey, in Revisiting Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, explains that “favelas first emerged as a result of turn-of-the-century urban renewal in the CBD (Central Business District) and thereafter steadily mushroomed around the city.” (4) Due to such circumstances and the need for money, the favelados provided “cheap labor for odd jobs and informal commerce in the modernizing Brazilian city.” (4) Such rapid rural-urban migration, inspired by industrial development and a lack of consistent employment availability, led to a reliance on “central slums as the main form of housing for the urban poor.” (4) Much like the industrialization in Sweden, the mass movements to the slums forced the community to adapt, resulting in creativity and adaptability becoming ingrained in the social and cultural aspect of the favelas over generations.
Living in such impoverished lifestyles led to the creative use of material and space with scarcely any resources available, which, like the transference of functionalist culture in Sweden, also emerged in Brazil’s style of football. The Brazilians’ free-flowing and space-conscious movements are visible in the team’s efforts to navigate the ball successfully in the smallest amount of space. In the same writing by the Argentine journalist, Tomás Mazzoni stated that the Brazilian style of soccer was rhythmic and spontaneous, extremely dissimilar to the European approach, as “well-played, Brazilian football is like an extremely hot jazz band,” highlighting its impulsive nature. (3) He finishes by re-emphasizing his point regarding the creativity of the culture by stating: “The English player thinks; the Brazilian improvises.” (3) Such practices are reflective of the favela culture and the adaptation the population had to make because of scarce resources and space.
Two Cultures and Styles Collide
The 1958 World Cup final was a game that is remembered across generations because of the introduction to and cross-cultural encounter of these two countries and their respective methods of play. A flick of the ball over the defender’s head was all it took for Brazil’s Pelé to open space in the rigid and strong Swedish defense and score. The Swedish defender was left in shock as the Brazilians celebrated their goal. This event marked many firsts, including the first final to be played between a European team and a team from Latin America, and the first time a World Cup staged in Europe was not won by a European nation. As John Mulliken wrote in The Samba No One Could Match, published on July 7, 1958, in Sports Illustrated magazine:
“Over 800,000 paid to watch the games in 12 Swedish towns—somewhat less than expected, because several of the best games were televised over the Eurovision network which covers all Europe. But it was a sellout crowd of 50,000 which poured into Stockholm’s Rasunda Stadium for the Sweden-Brazil final last Sunday. Powder-blue-uniformed police lined the route; the deafening roar which greeted the two elevens when they took the field was indicative of the anticipation with which the soccer world was looking forward to this clash between two teams of sharply divergent styles. The artistic, dazzling Brazilians, who do not like the hard-tackling type of defense which characterizes European soccer, were expected to be troubled by the vigor of the straight-shooting Swedes.” (5)
The use of terminologies “artistic” and “dazzling” starkly contrast terms like “straight-shooting;” speaking volumes about what took place in this game. Even though the Swedes were expected to win, the Brazilians introduced their own methods of approaching and connecting tactics and techniques. The two teams’ approach to the game were polar opposites; one starting the youngest player to ever score in a World Cup final (Brazil’s Pelé), while the other presented the oldest. The match ended 5-2 in favor of Brazil despite the early lead taken by Sweden. The formation shifts were often repeatedly and abruptly cut short with rainbow flicks, chips, crosses, and trick passes, creating more space for Brazilian open shots to the goal.
As Pelé recalls in one of his interviews:
“When I passed Didi, I made it as if I was going to run forward but turned back instead. That confused the defender a little and he let the ball come through to me. When I controlled it on my chest he thought I was going to shoot. I got my foot on it and flicked it over his head, which was something the Europeans weren’t used to. They always tried to close you down because they were used to people shooting straightaway. I hit the ball before it touched the ground and in it went.”
The ever-shifting formation of the Swedish National Team based on the position of the opponent fell short when met with the “dazzling” and “artistic”— in other words, unique—approach that the Brazilians had in the game.
Soccer As Revealing of Culture
While it would be false to credit the entirety of a national team’s style of soccer playing to its societal realities—however transformed by cultural values or the existence (or lack thereof) of industrialization—there is no doubt that the complex and unique experiences each national team brings to the table will be demonstrated in and impact its encounters with other national teams. Through time, we not only are influenced by our surroundings, past experience, and resources, but these factors are only part of the web of our complex and interconnected world. Each team brings their own beauties to the field and, at the end of it all, we enjoy the fruits of who we are as we celebrate our differences.
References
1- Ruth, Arne. “The Second New Nation: The Mythology of Modern Sweden.” Daedalus 113, no. 2 (1984): 53-96. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20024913
2- Mahner, Martin, and Mario Bunge. “Function and Functionalism: A Synthetic Perspective.”
Philosophy of Science 68, no. 1 (2001): 75-94. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3081025
3- Hamilton, Aidan. An Entirely Different Game: The British Influence on Brazilian Football .
Edinburgh: Mainstream, 1998.
4- Godfrey, Brian J. “Revisiting Rio De Janeiro and Sao Paulo.” Geographical Review 89, no. 1
(1999): 94-121. doi:10.2307/216142
5- Mulliken, John. “THE SAMBA NO ONE COULD MATCH.” SI.com , Sports Illustrated, 7 July1958. www.si.com/vault/1958/07/07/560200/the-samba-no-one-could-match
