World Cup 1982: Brazil v Italy and 'the day football died'

In November 2004, Brazilian football legend Socrates made a famous (and short) promotional cameo for English non-league side Garforth Town. As the football correspondent for a leading Brazilian newspaper, I arrived in the West Yorkshire town to write about the madness of it all.

An interview with the legendary midfielder - known as The Doctor because of his medical degree but also his political engagement - turned into a long after-hours chat at a local pub. Guards and notepads were down as Socrates, always a laid-back character, chatted about football with a sincerity that was remarkable even for him.

It was at that pub, such an unusual setting and so far from his comfort zone, that Socrates made a striking ission: he had never watched back Brazil's 3-2 defeat by Italy in the 1982 World Cup - none of it. He just couldn't bear to.

"I just don't need to go through that game again," he said. And it is quite likely that refusal remained until January 2011, when he died at the age of 57.

"That game" was a World Cup classic played on a hot Barcelona afternoon 40 years ago. One of the most feted generations of Brazilian footballers saw their dreams shattered by an Italian side that transformed over the tournament, putting a stuttering start behind them on the way to demolishing West in the final.

With the ing of time, many older Brazilian fans have mellowed, but on 5 July 1982 the feeling was that a crime against football had been committed.

In 1982, Brazil was still ruled by the military regime that had seized power 18 years earlier, when left-wing president Joao Goulart was ousted in a coup.

Joao Figueiredo, an Army general, had become president in 1979 with the mission of overseeing a smooth return to democratic ways, but there were increasing calls for a faster handover during what was a turbulent time for the Brazilian economy.

It was in this context that Tele Santana was announced as the new Brazil football manager in early 1980. Santana had been a good player - a winger who scored 164 goals in nine years with Rio de Janeiro side Fluminense. He still ranks as their fourth-highest scorer.

Santana also built a reputation for fair play. He had never been sent off in his 12-year professional career. He demanded the same attitude from his players.

Qualifiers for the 1982 World Cup in Spain started with scrappy 1-0 and 2-1 away wins over Venezuela and Bolivia, but Brazil soon hit an impressive stride in the home games, beating the same opponents 5-0 and 3-1. In a May 1981 European tour, they raised eyebrows by beating England, and in the space of a few days.

But Brazil were doing more than winning. They were playing a fluid game that could not have been more different to the tactically disciplined style that had infuriated fans in the post-Pele era.

The exploits of Pele and Brazil at the 1970 World Cup had seemed like a long forgotten dream during uninspired campaigns in the two following tournaments, despite the team finishing in the last four on both occasions.

Now, as well as Socrates, the Selecao had Zico, the mercurial Flamengo playmaker, pulling the reins. Theirs was a flowing brand of football where no player seemed to touch the ball more than twice before ing it round. It was great to watch and, according to Zico, it felt even greater to play.

"We were adamant Brazil had to abide by the style that had made it famous. It would be wrong from the start to be scared of losing or to be a hostage of the result," he says.

"We wanted to enjoy what we were doing. We felt that something really special was going on."

So did millions of Brazilians. In the streets, bunting was going up as if in preparation for a royal wedding or a coronation. At a time during which Brazilian players were mostly plying their trade domestically - Roma's Falcao a rare exception - you might bump into an international star on a trip to a Rio supermarket.

"ers would never hold back from giving us an earful, but at least they identified with us because we were all playing in Brazil at the time," Zico says.

"These days players pretty much jump on a plane and fly abroad almost immediately after they play with the national team in Brazil."

Expectations around the team were understandably high, and in Spain Brazil opened their World Cup campaign with a dramatic 2-1 win over the Soviet Union before thrashing Scotland 4-1 and New Zealand 4-0.

The tournament started with 24 teams in six groups of four. The six group winners and runners-up went through to a second group stage. The four winners of those groups of three would contest the semi-finals.

Brazil found themselves in the company of regional rivals Argentina and an Italy side that had drawn all three of their first-round games, barely making it out of a group that featured Poland, Cameroon and Peru.

Italy's build-up to the tournament had been defined by the situation surrounding striker Paolo Rossi. In 1980 Rossi was involved in a match-fixing scandal and his two-year suspension ended only eight weeks before the start of the World Cup. Manager Enzo Bearzot nonetheless included the Juventus striker in his squad.

Coverage in the country's media and the attitude of fans made for a sombre mood when they lined up to play Argentina on 29 June. Ninety minutes later they had won their first match in Spain. When Argentina were then put to the sword by Brazil in a blistering 3-1 win, the scene was set for a decisive showdown between two playing styles that couldn't be more contrasting.

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