Brazil v Germany at the World Cup
The 2002 World Cup final pitted Brazil against Germany. In the build up to the match there was a fairly amazing fact kicking about: Germany and Brazil had never before met at any World Cup, even though every post-war final except one had featured one of them. Despite the pair being the World Cup’s two most successful nations, both regularly playing finals campaigns of six or seven games, they had somehow managed to avoid playing each other in any round over sixteen tournaments and six decades. These graphics chart the two countries’ paths through the tournaments and illustrate the many near misses that transpired along the way.
In the first edition after the war Brazil reached the final round (a four-team group) while West Germany were not allowed to compete. The 1954 final was West Germany’s and the 1958 final was Brazil’s. They were close to meeting in the latter, but West Germany couldn’t get past hosts Sweden in their semi-final.
The two countries traded finals from 1962 to 1974, West Germany playing the ones held in Europe and Brazil the ones held in the Americas. Germany’s semi final in 1970 was the thrilling 4-3 extra-time loss to Italy dubbed the “Game of the Century”.
In 1974 it was Brazil who would narrowly fail to attend their appointment with West Germany in the final, losing to the Netherlands in the decisive match of their four-team “semi-final” group (note that Brazil did face East Germany in that round). 1978 was the only final after 1938 and before 2002 that featured neither Brazil nor Germany – Argentina hosted and beat the Netherlands. 1982 was the first in a run of three editions where West Germany played in each final while Brazil couldn’t find their way to a single semi.
There would have been a Brazil v West Germany semi-final in Guadalajara in 1986, but the South Americans lost to France in a shoot-out in their quarter-final. Germany won the competition in 1990 as Brazil disappointed; vice versa in 1994. People began to speculate that if the world has never seen Brazil and Germany together in the same room, is there a chance they are in fact the same team?
In 1998, like in 1994, Brazil reached the final and Germany were upset in the quarters by a team from Southeast Europe (Bulgaria in ’94 and Croatia in ’98). Finally in 2002, after dancing around the issue for generation after generation, Brazil and Germany played each other, fittingly, in the final. This final, played in Yokohama, was the first held outside Europe and the Americas so neither country could be said to have had home advantage. Brazil won with two goals from Ronaldo.
After the shock of a final featuring both Brazil and Germany came perhaps the even bigger shock of back-to-back finals featuring neither Brazil nor Germany. The shocks kept coming in 2014 as the first Brazil v Germany semi-final saw the hosts thrashed 7-1.
In Russia in 2018 Brazil and Germany will face each other in the last sixteen if one wins their group and the other comes second in theirs. That feels like a long shot given that 1986 was the last time either country failed to top their first round group. After that, their other chance to meet is in Moscow on 15 July in the final.