By Hadassa Ferreira, Contributing Writer
The Brazilian national team, nicknamed Seleção Canarinho (“Canary Squad”, after their bright yellow jersey), is the most successful national team in the history of world soccer. The Brazilian team was formed in 1914 with teams from the cities Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
As the only team in the world that participated in all the FIFA (Féderation Internationale de Football Association) World Cups, Brazil participated in 21 championships and has five World Cup titles. It is the only team in the world that is a five-time FIFA-World Cup champion. Beyond that, Brazil has four FIFA Confederations Cup titles and nine Copa das Americas titles.
The Brazilian team is acclaimed by Brazilians and several other countries’ populations, such as Haiti, Bangladesh, South Africa, Bolivia, and others. In Brazil, the Seleção represents national pride. As people that love soccer and wear the team’s shirt with pride, Brazilians prestige this soccer team with much affection since this sport plays a significant role in Bra in Brazilian society
Beatriz TrevisanDeJesus, who is a Brazilian student and a freshman majoring in computer sciences said “I think it is one of the biggest aspects of our culture. Soccer is really huge in Brazil. Everyone plays in the streets, or in school. Everybody loves it and even when people don’t play, they watch it or know that it is a huge thing in Brazil.”
The first time that Brazil won a World Cup title was in 1958 in Sweden. The championship revealed Pelé, the biggest striker in the Brazilian team’s history, as the phenomenon. Being only 17 years old, Pelé was one of the most important players in the 58′ World Cup. It was a difficult championship with fierce opponent teams, and it was the chance for Brazil to recover from a terrible defeat in 1950. The final game between Brazil and Sweden made Brazil the champion of its first World Cup.
Between the years 1958 and 1970, the Seleção Canarinho had its gold time. Brazil disputed four World Cups and won three of them. It was a great soccer potency and the best country in the world, in this modality.
After 24 years without winning a World Cup, Brazil participated in the 1994’s championship with big difficulties and little expectations. In 1994 the Brazilian team did not have strong players on the team and fans did not believe in a win. However, a player named Romario made the difference. Even as a player, who was out of the classification games, he played at the end of the qualifiers and saved Brazil. In that year, Brazil was the first country to be a four-time world champion.
The five-time FIFA World Cup champion title was conquered in 2002. It was a tough champion with several struggles; however, this title made Brazil the only team in the world with this impressive title.
This year, Brazil is one more time vying for the World Cup title, and the team is doing very well so far. Having won three out of four games even though the national team recorded fewer goals, they are in the first place, in the current FIFA World Cup championship. The fans are hopeful that the Seleção is going to honor their name and win the title one more time.
