John Coughlan reviews ‘The Greatest Show on Earth: The Inside Story of the Legendary 1970 World Cup’ by Andrew Downie.
The cover of ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ by Andrew Downie shows Pelé with a raised fist, held in the arms of his teammate Jairzinho. It is one of the most iconic images in football, taken after Pelé scored the first of Brazil’s four goals against Italy in the final of the 1970 World Cup.
That World Cup, hosted by Mexico, was the first to be televised in colour. It was also the first to feature red and yellow cards and to permit up to two substitutions which previously were only permitted in the case of injury.
The Brazil team that won the final used none, with the same eleven players starting and finishing the 90 minutes.
The 1970s with Pelé, Cruyff, and Beckenbauer, to name a few of the luminaries of the time, may well have been the heyday of football. I was not around for that World Cup in 1970 (I was born in the 80s), but it seems that for many who were, that competition was the very apogee of the sport.
Andrew Downie is one such person.
His book is an unusual one in many ways. It describes every single game in the 1970 World Cup. It was a tournament of memorable matches and moments, but some games – take for example the nil all between hosts Mexico and the USSR in the first game of the tournament – don’t necessarily warrant much description at all.
The author adds descriptions here and there, helping the reader understand the context of each game. But for the most part, the action is described by the participants – players, coaches, hangers on. The accounts can’t have been given directly to the author, rather it seems he extracted them from other accounts – books, magazines, or whatever.
The book is a real challenge to something I have come to realise when reading books about football – the football itself is rarely the most interesting part. But this book is all about the football, with little of the off-field colour that usually brings football books to life.
But it does make for interesting reading, especially when the accounts of players from opposing teams contrast and contradict each other. In Brazil’s intense and dirty encounter with Uruguay in the semi-final, Pelé not only got away with an elbow on Uruguayan defender Dagoberto Fontes, he got a freekick himself for doing it.
Downie quotes Fontes as saying Pelé caught him in the eye with a deliberate and very violent act. For his part, Pelé says he did it in self-defence, a kind of Minority Report situation, anticipating that he was about to be fouled, he lashed out, landing an elbow on Fontes for intending to foul The King. It seems the ref agreed with Pelé.
If you were to read this book in isolation, it might be a little on the dry side, but with Youtube allowing you to watch the matches being described by the participants, their accounts really do come alive.
The television producers behind the broadcast of that World Cup seemed to have been so excited by the arrival of colour that they made the surprising choice of really – and I mean really – enhancing the colour. This is not the colour of the ordinary world, there is some pre-Instagram filter that really makes it pop.
Brazil look beautiful in their luminous canary yellow. The pitches are greener than any grass I have ever walked on. Even England look swish in their all-white kit, a la Real Madrid.
I found this book interesting because it gave me the opportunity to look at matches and moves, I wouldn’t have otherwise. I had seen Carlos Alberto’s goal in the final many times, but I hadn’t seen Tostao’s assist for Clodoaldo goal in the semis. It’s magic. I had seen Gordon Banks famous save from Pelé, but I hadn’t seen Felix, the Brazilian keeper, pull off an almost equally impressive save from a Franny Lee header in the same game.
If you are interested in a deep dive into the most lauded of all the World Cups, the book is worthwhile, just make sure you have your phone to hand so you can watch the action in all its technicolour glory.
John Coughlan co-hosts the Dynamo Football Bookclub, available wherever you get your pods.
