Unsung Heroes in World Cups: Didi | 1958 Sweden

The 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden was the first time that video technology in the World Cup seemed good enough to match the spectacle. And a spectacle it was. From Fontaine’s record goal-scoring spree to Garrincha and Pele’s self-exposition on the world stage, it was a summer of such upbeat spirits that whether it ever happened or not later became the topic of a TV mocumentary. The format of the tournament was much clearer and more effective this time. It remained in use for the next three World Cup tournaments. Sixteen teams were arranged in four groups. The winner and the runners-up from each group would advance to the knockouts, starting from the quarterfinals.

In this series, which will run through all twenty-two FIFA World Cup tournaments, we will try to tell the story of a player who had an important role to play in the tournament but hardly features among the first few names that jump out once you hear the tournament being mentioned. Today, in the sixth iteration of the series, we will look at Brazil’s Didi.

Didi was slow. And not only when compared to the pace of modern football, he was quite slow for his time, too. But, more crucially, he was such a gifted footballer; not only did his lack of speed not matter, but it sometimes even became his strength. Didi was at the peak of his powers in the 1958 FIFA world cup, playing in the left-side of a world-class midfield, he dictated the foundations upon which the magic-minded forwards would samba their way to glory. It is for that very reason that, despite the notable brilliance of quite a few forwards through the tournament, it was Didi who was chosen as the best player of the World Cup.

Didi had played in a World Cup before, and he would also play one after, but Didi’s 1958 heroics remain one of the best performances by Brazilians in World Cups ever, and there is no dearth of contenders here. That is why the fact that Didi is not discussed as much when the 1958 World Cup is mentioned feels worthy of my attention. It is to be mentioned that it was Didi’s decisive performances, epitomised by one of his many exhilarating free-kicks in the qualifying rounds against Peru, that secured Brazil’s place in the tournament.

Didi’s free-kicks were breath-takingly beautiful. He pioneered a free-kick technique characterised by a sudden dip of the football mid-flight. It has been later deployed by many famous free-kick maestros. Didi’s technique earned the epithet of “falling leaves”. Despite the heft of the older footballs and rather rudimentary footwear, Didi’s free-kick lives up to its genius when compared to similar modern-day strikes.

Didi scored only once in the tournament. It was against a free-scoring France side that was holding level against the South Americans till the late minutes of the first half. The goal, while not being a free-kick, showed his long-range capabilities when afforded a little space outside the area. Despite all the talk about his sluggish movements, a quick look at the footage of the match tells you that he showed commendable speed as well as his famed close-control and ability to manoeuvre in tighter spaces when he ran to collect the ball and score almost effortlessly from long outside the box with a shot that is impossible to save because the ball whistled past the inside of the post as it went into the corner of the net.

With his creative potential, he could have easily played a more forward position, where he often ended up playing, but it was in the middle of the park where his unshaking poise and tempo-dictating majesty flourished the best. The Brazil team of 1958 had many outrageous magicians. Didi was the subtlest of them all.

The Brazilian side, although not exactly emphatic, had cruised through their group to comfortably qualify for the knockouts after victories against Austria and the Soviet Union and a draw against England, without conceding a single goal. The Welsh were Brazil’s first knock-out opponents. Brazil had already displayed the potency of their young talents in attack in the last group game against the Soviets. But in the knock-outs, they started with a bit of caution. Didi, already a mentor figure to Pele and Garrincha, had insisted they play a reserved and evasive game in the beginning. The first half ended goalless, but Brazil had been thoroughly convincing. In the second half, the shackles were loosened and Pelé and Garrincha wreaked havoc on an overmatched but resolute Welsh defence. The only goal of the game was the first of many goals Pele would go on to score in World Cups.

After dispatching the French by a 5-2 scoreline, where the headline act had been a seventeen-year-old Pelé’s hat-trick, Brazil reached the World Cup final to face the hosts. Pele and Mario Zagallo, his famously four World Cup-winning (one of them as a member of the coaching staff) team-mate, both tell a story that gives a better account of Didi’s role in the victorious campaign than any of my blabberings about his passing accuracy and positional awareness.

In the World Cup final, Sweden took the lead early on. While the Brazilian players rushed back to their positions for the impending kick-off after the referee blew for the goal, Didi, who had collected the ball from Brazil’s net, carried it back with his calm and imperial strides. Zagallo, running out of patience, chided with Didi. In reply, Didi asked Zagallo to calm down and realise that Brazil are a better team that will turn it around quickly. Pele, who in his book Why Soccer Matters was full of admiration for Didi, noted that on his way to the centre-spot from the goal, he spoke with a calming authority to every Brazil player in his way. Pele remembers Didi saying something to the effect of “Very good, that’s over. Time for us now”. Brazil went on to score within five minutes through Vava, a forward whose goal-scoring numbers in World Cup knock-outs are utterly awe-inspiring.

Brazil kept on pushing, and Vava got himself another goal around the half-hour mark. Garrincha and Pelé were running the show, but the strings behind those were being craftily pulled on by a very capable Brazilian midfield led by Didi. Pele scored twice in the second half, and Zagallo scored once. Sweden had also scored their second in the 80th minute, but by then the fate of the World Cup had been all but decided. For the first time, Brazil took home the Jules Rimet trophy.

Pele writes about how Didi would be frequently compared to jazz musicians. Busquets, a modern great, has been eulogised in similar terms. Who would argue that Didi’s seemingly slow demeanour and bursts of fatal offensive play are not reminiscent of a classic Miles Davis track?