A Look At The 1958 World Cup; Victory For Pele And Brazil

By Author: Kristopher Dillon
Total Articles: 381
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The sixth official FIFA World Cup to be held was in 1958. This tournament was hosted by Sweden and took place in 12 different host cities. The whole of the games occurred between June 8 and June 28 and there were 16 different teams that played. This was the very first World Cup that was won by Brazil and they beat Sweden in the final match. One notable fact that about this World Cup is that it was the only one where a European nation hosted it and a European team did not end up winning it. There were a total of 35 matches played and 126 goals scored. Almost a million people watched attended the events as a whole and this was a breakout tournament for Jus Fontaine who scored 13 goals as well as the debut for the 17 year old Pele.

In this World Cup the host team (Sweden) as well as the defending champs (West Germany) got automatic bids while there were 3 given to S. America, one to Africa and Asia, one to North America, and 9 to Europe. The most notable facts about qualification are that Italy failed to make it for the first and only time and the Soviet's qualified for the first time.

The format changes that ...
... took place in this competition were that teams had to play the other teams in their group at least one time. There was also no extra time awarded for a draw during these matches. There were also new rules established to allow a goal average to separate teams throughout the tournament, although it didn't have to be used in this tournament.

To summarize the tournament, it started out with Brazil coming to a 0-0 draw against England which had never before happened in World Cup history where both teams came up scoreless at the end of the game. Brazil beat out the Soviets in the last of their group games but the Soviet's still ended up going to a playoff game against England. Other playoff games included Czechoslovakia against Northern Ireland where the Irish won and moved on to play France in the quarter-finals. Just Fontaine of the French team came away from the group games netting 6 goals total. The French won that game and West Germany also beat out Yugoslavia to put them into the semi-finals. Sweden ended up beating the Soviets and Brazil again won against Wales with a single goal from Pele.

Then it came time for the semi-final final round where Sweden put on a strong performance against West Germany where Erich Juskowiak was ejected (which was another first in World Cup history). The French played Brazil and even though Fontaine scored a goal in that game, Pele had a hat trick in the game and they ended up winning 5-2.

It then came time for the final game which was played in Solna. Sweden struck first and went up one point after only four minutes but Brazil didn't give up. Vava ended up scoring a goal to tie them and then scored again before half time. The second half belonged to Pele who scored two more goals and Brazil ended up bringing home the Jules Rimet trophy.

AUTHOR:-
Kristopher Dillon writes reviews on various sporting events including the bet on soccer websites. In this piece of write up he highlights on soccer game and soccer betting odds. He takes the readers opinion on soccer betting.