Minicopa: the story of the Brazil independence cup 1972 (part one)

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Many people still have the 1970 World Cup as the best ever. Imagine then, a re-run two years later. Very little is said about it, but it really happened.

The tournament was held to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Brazilian independence. As this was independence from the Portuguese, it was perhaps fitting the Final was between Brazil and Portugal.

South American countries liked to celebrate important anniversaries. Argentina marked its centenary of independence in 1916 by hosting the first South American Championship. In 1930 Uruguay marked their centenary with the first ever World Cup.

This was no three-or-four-team exhibition type occasion. You could argue it was even bigger than the FIFA tournament in Mexico two years earlier. 20 teams took part, as opposed to 16 in 1970, with 44 games played compared with 32 in Mexico.

Until Spain ’82, it was the largest gathering of countries at a football tournament ever, outside the Olympics.

It was held over four weeks from 11 June to 9 July 1972.

You may be wondering how this impacted the European Championship. Well, that tournament was still in its infancy with the ‘finals’ section only a four-team format. Consequently, the countries involved, Belgium, USSR, West Germany and Hungary, were reluctant to take part in another tournament. Strangely enough, though, USSR had no issues with travelling to Brazil. They played their first match just two weeks after losing the Euro Final to West Germany. Perhaps, rather understandably, the squads were very different for both competitions.

Of the 20 teams involved, 18 were national sides. All 10 South American countries took part with Africa and CONCACAF sending representative sides. Iran accepted an invitation along with seven European nations. Czechoslovakia, France, the Republic of Ireland, Portugal, Scotland, the USSR and Yugoslavia.

For the Irish, this tournament was significant. It was the first international tournament their team had ever competed in. They had a long wait until 1988 for the next one

There had been talk of organising a British XI which might include the likes of George Best. But in the end, only Scotland were interested, so Ireland received an invite too.

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It’s perhaps a little unfair to call it a re-run of Mexico ’70, as only five of the finalists in that tournament competed in this. But then as international football can often be cyclical, six of the teams which would contest West Germany ’74 were here, so maybe there is some comparison.

Brazil called it the ‘Minicopa’, despite the absence of West Germany, Italy and England.

Pele had retired from international football in 1971, but the hosts still boasted Tostão, Jairzinho, Gérson, and Rivellino. England’s absence meant no Moore, Charlton or Hurst and with the Germans preferring the celebrate their first Euro success, it denied the tournament of Beckenbauer, Heynckes, Müller or Netzer. But players of the calibre of Eusébio, Rui Jordão, Chumpitaz, Cubillas, Džajić and Denis Law still graced the 15 different venues.

Two of the last four from Mexico were there, giving the tournament kudos.

So how do you arrange a tournament with 20 participants? Naturally, you split it into two parts, the first round containing 15 teams and the 5 remaining teams earning a bye to the next round. Of course, you do.

The first phase split the 15 teams into three groups. Group A contained Argentina, Colombia, France and the two representative teams from Africa and CONCACAF.

Don’t forget these are the days when Africa only received one qualification entry to the World Cup, which to this point was still only a 16-team gig.

Group B pitted Chile and Ecuador against Portugal, Ireland and Iran. Group C had four South American nations, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela with Yugoslavia making up the five.

First Round groups would follow the usual pattern of each team playing each other once. But just the winner progressed to the next stage.

The five teams to receive a bye were Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Scotland USSR and Uruguay. This meant the Scots couldn’t go out in the first round.

In 1971, Brazil had their very first national championship, allowing more remote areas of the country to compete against the traditional big city teams.

For the Minicopa, 15 venues were used in 12 cities. The first round used non-traditional centres, as if to demonstrate the inclusivity of the country at that stage of its history.

One of the features of the World Cup in 2014 was the huge distances teams had to travel around the country. That’s with 21st century aviation standards. Back in 1972, international travel was not as sophisticated.

Six of the eight stadiums, in Manaus, Natal, Recife, Maceió and Campo Grande had been newly constructed. The Estadio Fonte Nova in Salvador had had a complete overhaul.

Rio, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Curitiba in the south were obvious venues, with Porto Alegre further south another destination. Porto Alegre is over 1,500km from Rio, a car journey of almost 19 hours even today. Campo Grande in the southwest was another venue and even that is still 1,400km from the capital.

On the northeast coast Salvador, Aracaju, Maceió, Recife and Natal were fairly close together. But as with 2014, the big problem was Manaus in far in the Amazonian north. Almost 4,300km from the capital and a trip by road of two and a half days.

Consequently, the tournament organisers displayed some common sense with the games held in Manaus were all within one week and no team had to travel elsewhere during that period. Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela all played there, giving them fewer miles to travel.

Not having to concern themselves with fitting in with television, the organisers arranged group games to be played at the same time. So the opening day saw two matches in each of the three groups.

First Round

11 June

Group A kicked off with matches in Aracaju and Salvador. Argentina saw off the African team with two goals in two minutes just before half-time. Meanwhile, the French eased past the CONCACAF side hitting five. Hervé Revelli scored a hat-trick.

In 1969 Revelli hit a record 31 goals in Ligue 1. It was a record that stood for 50 years until Kylian Mbappe beat it.

In Group B, Eusébio got Portugal off and running with their opening goal. Dinis and Nené completed a 3-0 win over Ecuador.

Meanwhile, in Recife, the Irish were up against Iran. Despite boasting such talent as Steve Heighway, Don Givens and Johnny Giles, the Irish hadn’t won an international for almost five years. They generally only played three or four games a year, but still, this was an awful record. This was their first outing for eight months since they were stuffed 0-6 in Vienna by Austria.

They were managed by Dublin-born Liam Tuohy. The former Shamrock Rovers manager had spent two spells at the club as a player, either side of a three-year stint at Newcastle United. He’d battled with the Irish FA to accommodate English-based players in the team. He selected a squad of part-time players home-based players, along with ten who plied their trade in England.

The game took on a farcical bent before it kicked off. Just before they lined up for the national anthems, the Irish contingent discovered they were to be regaled with ‘God Save the Queen’, which obviously wasn’t going to go down well. After they managed to persuade the organisers to shelve the anthem, they discovered both teams were kitted out in green. Ignoring the journey Iran had undertaken, Tuohy refused to back down, arguing they’d come a long way to get there. Iran relented and chose to kit themselves in the local team’s colours.

Iran was an up and coming nation, football-wise, and just six years from their first World Cup appearance in Argentina. They took the lead after just 10 minutes, through Parviz Ghelichkani. But second half goals from Mick Leech and Don Givens gave the Irish the win.

Group C also saw goals as Peru beat Bolivia, 3-0 in Curitiba. Hugo ‘Cholo’ Sotil scored the third goal. He was one of the stars of the 70’s Peru side. They were managed by the Uruguayan Roberto Scarone. He’d selected two other 70’s stars, Cubillas and Chumpitaz, in his squad but left them out for this first game. In Campo Grande, Paraguay were three goals to the good inside the opening 15 minutes against Venezuela. They ended up winning 4-1, with Cristóbal Maldonado scoring twice.

14 and 15 June

The French continued their winning record with a 2-0 win over Africa in Maceió. The next day Colombia took their bow in a classic game against CONCACAF.

CONCACAF were managed by Haitian, Antoine Tassy and Carlos Padilla Velasquez from Honduras. That may explain why 15 of the 24 strong squad came from those two nations.

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Colombia raced into a 3-0 lead after just 17 minutes. Edwin Reiner pulled one back for the representative XI before the break. Reiner and Haitian, Jean-Claude Désir brought them level halfway through the second period. Jaime Morón grabbed the winner for the Colombians in the final quarter of an hour.

In Group B, Portugal followed their 3-0 win over Ecuador with a 3-0 win over Iran. Again Eusébio and Dinis scored their first two goals. In Natal, Chile played their first game and Carlos Caszely was on target in a 2-1 win over Ecuador.

Group C saw Yugoslavia open their account against Venezuela in Curitiba. The South Americans had been beaten 1-4 by Paraguay three days earlier. It would get a whole lot worse for them this time around.

Dušan Bajević scored twice in the first ten minutes. Yugoslav legend, Dragan Džajić then added a third after 20 minutes. They were 5-0 up by the break. Bajević scored a second half hat-trick to take his personal tally to five as the Yugoslavs ran out 10-0 winners.

In Campo Grande, the two winners from the opening round of matches, Peru and Paraguay faced off against each other. The game was decided by a goal from Paraguayan Tiberio Godoy just a minute from time.

18 June

In Group A Argentina followed their opening day win over Africa with a stunning performance against CONCACAF. ‘Lobo’ Fischer had a personal triumph with four goals, two in the final 10 minutes as they raced away with a 7-0 win. Unfortunately, only 7,642 turned up to see it.

In Salvador, Colombia took an early lead against France but within 10 minutes the French were 2-1 up. The French eventually made it three wins out of three with a 3-2 victory, as Charly Loubet scored twice. 10 years earlier he became the youngest professional footballer in France when he signed for AS Cannes at the age of 16.

 

In Group B, Portugal made it three wins out of three with a comfortable 4-1 win over Chile, as Dinis (2) and Eusébio were again among the goals. In Natal, Eamonn Rogers gave the Irish an early lead against Ecuador. 1-1 at the break, the Irish went back in front through Mick Martin. Martin was plying his trade with Bohemians at the time and was a year away from moving to England with Manchester United.

Ecuador still wouldn’t lie down as Félix Lasso levelled things. It needed another Bohemians player, Turlough O’Connor, to win it for the Irish. The goal came from a long kick downfield by the keeper, Alan Kelly. The Preston North End player had tried the move a minute or two earlier, but O’Connor was offside. This time O’Connor anticipated the defence would push up again so he held his run. The ball bounced and O’Connor just lobbed the keeper. Unbelievably, Ireland had won two in a row. You have to go back to May 1960 for the last time that happened.

 

In Group C, Yugoslavia were looking to build on their 10-0 thumping of Venezuela when they lined up against Bolivia in Campo Grande. When Katalinski gave them a first half lead, they must’ve believed they were on their way. But the first shock of the tournament occurred when Mario Pariente equalised 12 minutes from time, and the game ended 1-1.

The rest of the games in this group were to be held in Manaus. Peru were also looking to score a hatful against Venezuela, but only succeeded in beating them by a goal from Oswaldo Ramirez. But it was a win, nonetheless after their defeat to Paraguay.

 

21 June

In Group, B the Irish lost for the first time. They were up against Chile, who’d been well beaten by the Portuguese three days earlier. Carlos Caszely continued his run of a goal in each game, to put them ahead. 25 minutes into the game they were two goals up as Alberto Fouilloux scored. The Irish became incensed at several penalty claims which were turned down by the Brazilian ref. After one of them, Turlough O’Connor tapped him on the shoulder and asked him what he was doing. He answered with a straight red card. Eamonn Rogers did get a goal back late in the game, but it was merely a consolation.

Later that day, in the same stadium, Ecuador and Iran picked up their first point in a 1-1 draw. A result that suited neither side saw both goals scored in the first half. Félix Lasso scored his third of the tournament, while Ali Parvin levelled things for Iran. He would later have the honour of captaining his country when they returned to South America, appearing in their first ever World Cup in Argentina in 1978.

 

In Group C, the bottom two teams played out a 2-2 draw in Manaus. Jaime Rimazza put Bolivia in front after just five minutes. 10 minutes later Rámon Iriarte equalised. Within minutes of the second half, Luis Mendoza gave Venezuela the lead but they were pegged back when Ramiro Blacutt levelled things.

 

Join us for part two when the first round groups reach their conclusion and the tournament moves into the second phase. That means the introduction of the hosts and Scotland.