Top 100 momentsNo. 34
Brazil in color
The 1970 World Cup is the first in full color on television. Brazil’s yellow shirts, and a fourth goal in the final, become the picture of the game.
Mexico 1970 is the first World Cup most of the planet sees in color. Brazil wear yellow. Pelé, Tostão, Jairzinho, Rivelino, Carlos Alberto — a team that looks like a theory of attacking football and then scores like one. Italy are beaten 4-1 in the final. Carlos Alberto’s last goal is still the clip.
The tournament sells soccer as beauty, not only as results. Kits, slow-motion, and a captain’s right foot travel farther than any previous World Cup. Kids who will never go to Rio pick a color.
Later Brazil sides are compared to 1970 the way later guitarists are compared to a record that already exists. The sport’s aesthetic peak has a year, a shirt, and a television standard.