Following Spain’s Euro 2008 win and end to their 44-year trophy drought, England now have the honour of the most impressive dry-spell among the world’s major footballing nations. But, hey, it happens to the best of them. Today in 1989 Brazil were celebrating their first trophy since Pele and co lifted the 1970 World Cup, when the won the Copa America.

When the dust settled on the Selecao’s glorious 1970 win Brazil faced a bit of a problem. A number of key players such as Pele saw the win as an opportunity to bow out at the top whilst over in Europe the Netherlands’ Total Football and Germany’s steely determination saw the European game evolve to the detriment of Brazil’s silky samba styling’s.

The 1978 World Cup in Argentina saw the hosts progress to the final at Brazil’s expense following a very dodgy 6-0 win over Chile, as we’ve told you before. Bad luck struck again in 1982, as perhaps the greatest side never to win the World Cup fell short to Paolo Rossi’s Italy in a match known as the “Sarrias Disaster”.

After the 1986 World Cup again proved futile, Brazil started to get a bit of complex, so they even began to take the Copa America seriously, a tournament that they hadn’t won since 1949.



Lead by the prolific Bebeto, who would later go on to pioneer the much-overused baby-rocking celebration, Brazil progressed to the final round, where they joined Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay in a mini-league to determine the champion.

A 2-0 win over rivals Argentina went down very well and helped set up a winner takes all clash with Uruguay in the final game. Remarkably, this fell on the anniversary of their 1950 World Cup final clash, a game that left a permanent scar on the Brazilian national psyche, and one we told you about this time last year.

In front of a Copa America record crowd of around 170,000 the final was a tight affair, but Romario did what he used to do best and struck the winner just after half-time. Brazil picked up their first trophy for 19 years and got a nice slice of revenge over Uruguay in the process.

Over the tournament’s seven games Bebeto and Romario forged a potent strikeforce, bagging nine goals between them as Brazil entered the 1990 on a high. However, they would only reach the second round of Italia 90, as Argentina dumped them out in the second round.

We’ve got some cracking South American footage from the final below - but if anyone speaks the lingo and know why lots of people with big hair turn up and start talking on telephones periodically through the highlight reel, do let us know. We’ll be back tomorrow for a look at the most high-pressure penalty in the history of the game.

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