With Scotland playing Brazil in Miami on 24th June , a look back at the four previous World Cup matches between the countries.
1974 SCOTLAND 0 BRAZIL 0 18th June 1974 – Frankfurt – West Germany
Brazil had opened the 1974 World Cup with a 0-0 draw against Yugoslavia while Scotland had beaten the African debutants Zaire 2-0.
Scotland had an excellent team and up against a Brazil side without Pele who had starred in their 1970 winning team.
A good save by David Harvey from a long range shot denied Brazil a first half lead. Davie Hay tried his luck from long range which was saved by the Brazil goalkeeper Leao. The biggest moment of the game came in the 66th minute after a long range effort by Peter Lorimer was tipped over the bar by the goalkeeper resulting in a Scotland corner. The ball was flighted to the bcak post where Joe Jordan headed down with Leao in the Brazilian goal letting the ball slip from his grasp the loose ball bounced off the shin of Scotland captain Billy Bremner and trickled wide of the post.
Scotland – Harvey , Jardine, McGrain, Buchan, Holton, Bremner, Lormier, Hay, Dalglish, Jordan, Morgan.
Brazil – Leao, Pereira, Marinho Perez, Marinhno Chagas, Nelinho, Piazza, Paulo Cesar, Jairzinho , Leivinha, Rivelino, Mirandinha. subs – Leivnha
1982 SCOTLAND 1 BRAZIL 4 18th June 1982 – Sevilla – Spain
Brazil having come from behind had beaten USSR 2-1 in their opening game , while Scotland having surrendered a 3-0 lead against World Cup new boys New Zealand to 3-2 had eventually claimed a 5-2 victory.
Scotland opened well and sensationally took the lead when David Narey pounced on a knock down from John Wark and hammered a shot into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area. Brazil equalised before half time when Zico curled a trade mark free kick into the top corner. The teams went into the break level at 1-1.
Brazil gained the upper hand early in the second half when Oscar headed home powerfully from a near post corner. Scotland tried to rally but the game was over when Eder chipped goalkeeper Alan Rough from the corner of the penalty area after 65 mins.
Scotland pressed for a second goal which would have left them needing only a draw to qualify v USSR, however a long range shot into the bottom corner with 3mins remaining by Falcao ended the scoring at 4-1.
Scotland – Rough, Narey, F Gray, Hansen, Miller, Strachan, Hartford, Souness, Archibald, Wark, Robertson – subs Dalglish, McLeish
Brazil – Waldir Perez, Junior, Leandro, Luizinho, Oscar, Falcao, Socrates, Toninho Cerezo, Serginho, Zico , Eder subs – Paulo Isdoro
1990 SCOTLAND 0 BRAZIL 1 20th June 1990 – Turin – Italy
I had travelled to Italy and saw all three of Scotland’s group games, so was in Genoa for the games with Costa Rica and Sweden before Turin for the Brazil game on our way home to Scotland, by bus.
Brazil had opened with a 2-1 win over Sweden before beating Costa Rica 1-0. Scotland had opened with a shock 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica before recovering to beat Sweden 2-1. A draw looked likely to be enough to see Scotland reach the knockout stages.
The weather was awful in Turin with torrential rain driving into the newly constructed spectacular Stade Delle Alpi. The cavernous bowl has since been demolished as the running track took the crowd far away from the pitch.
The game was tight and the major first half incident saw a Branco free kick hit Murdo MacLeod in the face, who suffered concussion as a result and had to be replaced by Gary Gillespie.
Scotland’s best chance being second half Roy Aitken header being cleared near the goal line. There were less than ten minutes remaining Alemao’s long range effort was parried by Jim Leighton. Careca beat Gary Gillespie to the rebound and knocked it goalward , where Muller tapped into the empty net to open the scoring for Brazil.
Scotland created only final chance, a cross from the right by Stewart McKimmie was flicked on by Robert Fleck. It found it’s way to Stuart McCall who headed back across the face of goal where it broke off Fleck into the path of Mo Johnston , who looked to have scored from six yards until Brazil keeper Taffarel produced a magnificent save to deny Scotland an equaliser.
Scotland – Leighton, McKimmie, Malpas, McPherson, McLeish, Aitken, McStay, McCall, Johnston, McCoist, MacLeod subs Gillespie , Fleck
Brazil – Taffarel , Mauro Galvao, Ricardo Rocha, Ricardo Gomes, Jorginho, Dunga, Alemao, Branco , Valdo, Careca , Romario subs- Muller
1998 SCOTLAND 1 BRAZIL 2 10th June 1998 – Paris – France
The opening games of France 98 World Cup in the Stade De France , newly built for France 98. The game was preceded by the tournament’s opening ceremony and the Scotland squad arriving wearing kilts.
I was fortunate to attend this game being allocated a ticket by the SFA due to being at the Estonia v Scotland qualifier in Monaco.
Brazil opened the scoring , very much like their third goal in 1982 an inswinging corner from the left was powerfully headed home by Cesar Sampaio after only 4 mins.
Scotland to their credit fought hard and eventually were awarded a penalty when Kevin Gallagher was impeded as he tried to get on to a Gordon Durie flick on. John Collins netted from the penalty spot to level the half time score at 1-1 as had happened in 1982.
A long ball by Brazil’s Dunga found their right back Cafu running into the right side of the Scotland box and just evaded the back tracking Gordon Durie and as Cafu stretched out a leg to poke the ball towards goal , Scotland goalkeeper Jim Leighton could only knock the ball away from goal and it bounced off the face of the retreating Tommy Boyd and go into the net for an own goal despite Colin Hendry’s attempts to clear the ball off the line.
Brazil triumphed 2-1 and would return to the Stade De France for the while where they lost 3-0 while Scotland would go on to draw 1-1 with Norway and lose 3-0 to Morocco and depart the World Cup Finals for the nest 28 years.
Scotland – Leighton, Dailly, Boyd, Calderwood, Hendry, Burley , Collins, Lambert, Durie, Gallagher, Jackson. subs B.McKinlay, T.McKinlay
Brazil – Taffarel, Cafu, Roberto Carlos , Aldair, Junior Biano, Cesar Sampaio, Giovanni, Dunga, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Bebeto. subs – Leonardo , Denilson.
Football is Academical 