The curious case of Brazil’s disappearing ‘Jogo Bonito’ | Explained

In his introduction to a memoir-based biography of Socrates, Johan Cruyff, the Dutch legend behind the revolutionary Total Football that evolved into the Tiki Taka, wrote: “It was a great shame that the beautiful Brazil team were eliminated by a destructive Italy in 1982... No one knows what would have happened had Brazil triumphed”.

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Brazil, the proponents of Jogo Bonito, the beautiful game, have had the honour of seeing some of the greatest ever to touch the ball donning the canary yellow and blue. From the Didi, Garrincha, and Vava trio, each generation of football fans holds core memories of moving to the samba beats of their own set of selecaos. But the team of 1982, led by Socrates and graced by the likes of Zico, Toninho Cerezo, Leandro, Junior and Serginho, would be the epitome of Brazilian football and also one of the greatest teams ever not to attain World Cup glory. The clash between Italy and Brazil in the quarterfinals of the 1982 World Cup in Spain, however, is not remembered because a beautiful team lost; it marked the trajectory of the game that now stands at mechanised pragmatism with no place for flair.

The exit of Brazil from this year’s tournament, extending their wait since 2002 for a return to the top, underlines the fact that football has moved so far beyond the flair and pomp of the bygone-era of Brazilian dominance. While the way the team played in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, and how it has been playing in the last few years, shows that the team has understood the place pragmatism has in modern football, the successors of a long line of performers have had to trade their identity for a chance to fit in.

Brazil’s defeat in 1982 was in a match where not just two countries faced off, but two ideologies locked horn. Born out of the 1950 disaster of Maracana and polished by the Didi, Garrincha, Vava trio and then Pele, Brazilian Jogo Bonito is nothing short of the Brazilian carnival where the pitch becomes a stage and players turn performers. Goals are secondary; the primary objective is to entertain, themselves and the fans, in such a fashion that the ball becomes a ribbon, and even the opponents get spell-bounded by their movements. Italy on the other hand came with the Zona Mista, the mixed zone, where spaces are closed off rather than players sticking to a fixed opponent. And the defeat of the favourites, the proponents of beautiful football, by this modified version of Italian defensive rigidity caught the eyes of the world, with teams rushing to adapt it or make their own version of it: pragmatic football was being born, and so was capitalist football. “From that moment on the emphasis changed... the business side of the game grew frighteningly quickly... from that point on Brazilian football would never be the same,” Socrates, a revolutionary on and off the field who rallied players to take control of team management the same way he pushed them up the field during games, wrote on the 1982 defeat.

But one defeat did not wipe Jogo Bonito off the pitch. Brazil were still performers; they still danced up and down the pitch with the ball at their feet, and the world watched with awe. Socrates’s beautiful team made way to Dunga and co., with Bebeto, Romario, Rivaldo and others going on to win the world title 12 years after the defeat in Spain, and followed it up with another title, the unprecedented fifth, in 2002 with the three ‘R’s Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, and Rivaldo under Cafu. Throughout these generational changes, and while football transformed around them, Brazil stood true to its soul. Brazilians played the game in search of their rhythm on the pitch more than glory and indulged in extravagance outside. Of all the iconic performers who wore the canary yellow to have illustrious lives, Pele might be the only one so far to have had a long one.

Neymar Junior, who announced his retirement from the game after being knocked out by Norway, could be the last one who would rather see the game as a carnival in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, dancing his way past opponents, than a 90-minute exercise of tactical and technical precision and data analytics. In the years since Brazil’s last World Cup victory, players have started exploring European alleys from their home favelas, taking in the same pragmatic philosophy of the Italians that beat their ancestors. European football and Latin American football have always been different.

While Europe prefers a directed approach with just the opposition goalpost as target and wants their players to work like well-oiled machines on the pitch, Latin America has always been about the celebration of the game. Their players would not be in sync, and they would rather spin around their opponent to get the crowd on their feet than swap positions and switch play to get the ball into the box. But they would get the ball forward and score countless goals marked by their grace rather than precision. But now, Vinicius Junior runs up the wing with only two options on mind, get to the touchline and pass the ball in, or cut in from the wing and take a shot. In European footballing standards, this makes Vini a great threat for defenders to deal with. But for the Brazilian legacy, this is predictable play and will not make the crowd skip a heartbeat.

The first impulse of Vini, Rapinha, or Cunha when on the ball will be to burst forward with pace rather than finesse their way in. This pure attacking intent might be a strength for any other team in the world, but for Brazil, it is a lost identity. Pragmatic play might take Brazil to more titles in the future, but that will be a win for European style and the Italian philosophy.

For Brazil to have a proper Brazilian victory, Jogo Bonito, now synonymous with football itself, needs to be reinvented. Selecaos have the players who have the flair of their ancestors in their hearts. Now what they need to come back from the downfall is to be courageous enough to forget the game, the stakes, and celebrate.

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