1982 Brazil: The Glorious Failure

by Stuart Horsfield

1982 tells the story of football's most exhilarating and entertaining World Cup side. This scintillating Brazil team - blessed with Zico, Sócrates, Falcão, Éder and Júnior - lit up the 1982 World Cup with a brand of football that was 'futebol arte'. Playing to the accompaniment of a samba soundtrack from their supporters in the stands, the side scored 15 goals in five games and enchanted the world, but their dream fell apart in the Sarrià Stadium against Italy. Even so, it was a match considered one of the greatest World Cup fixtures of all time and it changed the way the game was played forever.
The Brazilian 1982 World Cup side have become a cast of mythical characters. Despite failing to reach the semi-finals, they made the football world hold its breath every time they stepped on the pitch. Told through the eyes of a young boy who fell in love with the men in yellow, and the memories of those who were there to witness Brazil's most glorious failure, 1982 is the definitive account of the greatest team never to win a World Cup.

Genres: Sports, Soccer

256 pages, Hardcover

Published December 1, 2020

Reviews

[Jamie Bowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

For many, football died one hot summer night in Spain in 1982 when Italy beat Brazil in the World Cup. Just mentioning the names of Socrates, Zico, Falcao, Eder, Junior etc stir up the emotions even now, they were masters at the beautiful game. This book views that team and the World Cup through the lens of a 10 year old and other parties there at the time. Even reading the summary of the fateful Italian game makes my stomach drop when Rossi scores his hat trick, just once you want history to have changed. Wonderful book.

[Dallas Jarvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was 2.5 years old during this World Cup so my only knowledge of it comes from reviewing the results on Wikipedia. This book paints a brilliant picture of the atmosphere at the time, and provides a great history of a topic I thoroughly enjoyed digging deeper in to. Well done!

[Shahiron Sahari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice visit down memory lane to reminisce with one of the great World Cup teams, albeit one that didn't win - hence the title. Some good inside and background information and solid reporting that reminds us of what was a pretty good World Cup. But the author's personal reflections and recollections - from the POV of a 10-year-old - add nothing to the book, while his grammar leaves a lot be desired (the use of "incredulous", "conducive", "stood" and "sat" are all wrong!).

[Patrick Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book from a football fans perspective. Highly recommend

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable but probably written for people a bit older and closer to events. Much better watching highlights alongside reading

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

finished it and loved it. All about football and great names from the past