Chile: Pelé's Phantom Tournament

Pelé lasted one match and a half before a pulled muscle ended his tournament. Brazil carried him onto the plane, put him on the bench, prepared for the worst. What they discovered, in his absence, was Garrincha. Manuel Francisco dos Santos — known as Mané, known as the Little Bird — had played beside Pelé since 1958 without ever quite escaping his gravity. With Pelé injured, the weight of the attack fell on bent legs that had been pronounced by childhood disease physically unsuitable for professional football, and Garrincha carried it without apparent effort.

The 1962 tournament is remembered partly for what it wasn't — the Pelé festival that Sweden 1958 had been — and partly for one of the most appalling matches ever played. The "Battle of Santiago," Chile versus Italy on June 2 in the tournament's opening group stage, produced two Italian sendings-off, multiple brawls, a broken nose, a kick to the throat, and four police interventions on the pitch. British referee Ken Aston struggled to maintain any semblance of control. The match was broadcast live and produced outrage in Europe; it endures as a reference point for football's capacity for violence when inadequately policed.

Garrincha's tournament was the counter-narrative — an exhibition of individual skill so joyful and so consistent that it provided genuine aesthetic redemption. His quarter-final destruction of England was a masterclass in directness: he received, turned, and went past defenders without elaboration, finishing with the certainty of a man who had already seen the outcome. Brazil won 3-1. The semi-final against hosts Chile was tighter but produced the same result.

In the final, Czechoslovakia led at half-time before Amarildo — Pelé's replacement, carrying perhaps the most unfair comparison in football history — drew Brazil level. Zito and Vavá completed the retention. Garrincha, who had been the tournament's overwhelming presence, collected his second World Cup winner's medal, making him the only player to win the World Cup without ever being on the losing side in a competitive international. The Little Bird, with his crooked legs and his impossible balance, had been, for three weeks in the Andes, simply the best footballer on earth.