Why the 1970 Brazil Dream Team Is Called the Greatest in History

Why the 1970 Brazil Dream Team Is Called the Greatest in History

June 21, 1970. The Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. The World Cup final, Brazil vs. Italy. Final score: 4-1. Pele, Gerson, Jairzinho and Carlos Alberto, four goals in front of 107,412 fans on their feet. Brazil won their third World Cup and got to keep the Jules Rimet Trophy forever. That Brazil side, led by coach Mario Zagallo, won all six of their matches and scored 19 goals, producing what many consider the most perfect attacking display in the history of football.

Many people still believe that the 1970 Brazil team is the greatest in football history. Pele, Jairzinho, Tostao, Gerson, Rivellino and Carlos Alberto: five players on the pitch at the same time who were essentially playmakers, a lineup that no team today could replicate. How did they do it?

The Core Players of That Dream Team

In the starting XI of 1970 Brazil, five players were No. 10s, attacking playmakers at their clubs, an unprecedented configuration. Pele (No. 10) was 29 at the time, already the best in the world: three World Cup titles in 1958, 1962 and 1970, and 1,281 goals in his career.

Jairzinho (No. 7), a right winger, scored in every one of his six World Cup matches, the only player ever to do so. Tostao (No. 9), a center forward and 1968 South American Footballer of the Year, played the tournament despite serious vision problems, relying on willpower and skill. Gerson (No. 8), the midfield maestro, owned the most precise left-footed long passing in the world and was nicknamed "the Golden Left Foot." Rivellino (No. 11), the left winger, invented the "elastico" that remains a classic. Carlos Alberto (No. 4), the captain and right back, scored the iconic goal that sealed the final.

Zagallo's Revolutionary Tactics

Zagallo took over the team just three months before the 1970 World Cup. The eleventh-hour change of coach drew plenty of skepticism. His first move was to stuff all five attacking playmakers into the starting eleven. Critics said he was crazy, since it meant the side had almost no true defensive players and was essentially all-attack.

Zagallo's logic was simple: if opponents never get the ball, that is the best defense. In attack, Pele roamed freely, Tostao dropped deep to link play, Jairzinho and Rivellino attacked down both flanks, and Gerson dictated tempo from midfield. Defenders had no fixed reference point. In modern language, this was a prototype of "total football," four years before the Dutch made it famous, which is why many tactical historians argue Zagallo was the true forerunner of total football.

A Terrifying Output Over Six Matches

Brazil won all six matches at the 1970 World Cup:

Group stage: 4-1 vs. Czechoslovakia, 1-0 vs. England, 3-2 vs. Romania. In the England match, Pele's header was famously saved by Gordon Banks in what would be called the "Save of the Century." Quarterfinal: 4-2 vs. Peru, with Pele assisting and Jairzinho scoring.

Semifinal: 3-1 vs. Uruguay, revenge for the 1950 Maracanazo. Pele's famous dummy past the goalkeeper without shooting is still iconic. Final: 4-1 vs. Italy, with Pele's header, Gerson's long-range strike, Jairzinho extending his goalscoring streak to all six matches, and Carlos Alberto's classic counterattack finish. Six matches, 19 goals, more than 3 goals per game, an attacking output that has never been matched.

That Iconic Goal in the Final

July 21, 1970. The 86th minute of the final, Brazil leading 3-1. The ball was in their own box. Tostao played it forward to Clodoaldo, who beat three Italian players with four step-overs, slipped it sideways to Gerson, who hit a long pass to the right; Jairzinho dribbled, cut inside to Pele, who didn't shoot but rolled the ball softly to the right, where Carlos Alberto came roaring up and smashed it with his right foot into the far corner. 4-1.

The move started in their own box, involved nine players in a relay, took 13 seconds, and was later voted by FIFA the "Greatest Team Goal in World Cup History." Pele's casual lay-off, with no apparent thought, as if he simply knew Carlos Alberto would be running through, captured the chemistry that only that 1970 Brazil team could produce. The Jules Rimet Trophy stayed in Brazil for good after that, since FIFA had decreed that any country winning three World Cups would keep the trophy forever.

Why That Team Is Considered the Greatest Ever

Why do so many consider this Brazil side the greatest of all time? First, 19 goals in 6 matches, an average of 3.17 per game, a record at the World Cup finals that stood for more than 40 years. Second, five Ballon d'Or-level players in the same starting lineup, a configuration that has never been seen since. Third, they played a prototype of total football four years before the Dutch and pointed the way forward for the sport.

Fourth, and most importantly, they played beautiful football. The joyful style, the samba rhythm, the changes of pace and the intuitive understanding were the ultimate expression of football as a sport. Modern teams, like 2010 Spain, 2014 Germany or 2022 France, are strong, but no one calls them a "dream team," because the pure attacking beauty of 1970 Brazil belongs only to that era and to those players.

What Became of the Players

Pele retired from the national team in 1971 and from club football in 1977 after a spell with Santos and the New York Cosmos. He served as a global football ambassador and passed away from colon cancer on December 29, 2022, at age 82, mourned by fans around the world. Jairzinho spent most of his career at Botafogo and later worked as a coach and scout; he still lives in Brazil today.

Tostao was forced to retire in 1973 at age 26 due to retinal problems and became a renowned football columnist whose work continues to this day. Gerson played until 1974, became a coach, and later courted some controversy with cigarette commercials. Rivellino played until 1981, coached several clubs, and is still active at 80. Carlos Alberto died of a heart attack in 2016 at age 72. Some of this dream team are no longer with us, but that 4-1 final lives on forever in football history.

The Samba Football Culture of That Era

In the 1970s, Brazilian society was under military rule, with a struggling economy and political repression, but football became the nation's only collective spiritual outlet. Pele's generation almost all came from the favelas, playing not for money but to change their fate and bring honor to the country. Samba steps, free creativity and joyful play formed the purest expression of how favela children understood football.

They played with freedom, rhythm and passion, and the 1970 World Cup was the most perfect showcase of that samba culture. Brazil showed the world that football was not just tactics, but music, dance and a way of life. That cultural export made Brazil the symbol of football's spirit, and no country has been able to take that place since.

The Legacy 1970 Brazil Left to Football

What did the 1970 Brazil dream team leave behind? First, the proof that attack is the best defense, an idea that still dominates top-level football today. Second, five attacking playmakers in the same starting lineup, an experiment no one has dared to repeat but one that showed the infinite tactical possibilities of football.

Third, and most importantly, they reminded the whole world that football is not just about scores, trophies and titles, but also about art, aesthetics and spirit. The 1970 Brazil team was the most perfect tribute to the game of football, which is why fans around the world still watch their matches more than 50 years later, because that kind of pure beauty never goes out of style.