Lineker in Brazil: The Beautiful Game

the birthplace of football, but where it bloos somed. Football, the

Brazilian way. -- blossomed. COMMENTATOR: Pele, and he scores!

The yellow and the green, not just a shirt. To wear it, is to be wrapped

up in a dream of how the game can be played.

COMMENTATOR: He's found the net! How do they do it? I'll be asking them.

Asking the best of the best, Pele and Ronaldo, life inside that shirt.

To me it was like a dream to be in the national team of Brazil. Winning

World Cup finals and losing them. Disaster. If we got to the final we

would be really happy. Yeah. For the rest of the world, yes. Not for us.

How did it happen? How was this game, made in Britain, transformed

in this tropical wonder land? From here on the beach to carnival,

Samba and the Amazonian rainforest, there are hundreds of reasons to

love Brazil, but none quite as attractive as their country's

football team and the way they play. COMMENTATOR: Ronaldo! Oh, what do

you say about that? ! Extraordinary. They have had the players that

everyone inspires to be, from Pele, it Zico. You could go on and on. The

way they played was just dazzling. This is a team from another planet.

When you talk about the beautiful game, as much as lots of teams may

play like Brazil, you still think about Brazil. We go, it's like

watching Brazil. It's a unique way of playing. Everybody wants to play

against Brazil. The hosts of this year's World Cup have played in

every tournament, and won it more than anyone else.

COMMENTATOR: The world's most successful football nation, Brazil,

win it for the fifth time. It's not just the fact of winning five World

Cups, it's the matter of winning in style.

COMMENTATOR: What a cracker! My mission is to explore the or begins

of Brazil's beautiful game. Why do they play the way they do? What does

it take to be so successful? Is it really as simple as they've made it

look? How does it feel to win and win beautifully?

COMMENTATOR: The first chance of the match. And, he scores! It's more

than just what happens on the field, this goes to the heart of what

Brazil, the country, is all about. They love life. You know, which is a

terrible old cliche. They really do. You don't just kick the ball you do

wonderful keepy uppy. Even though we didn't create football, it looks

like we did. There is a bit of archeology here, digging into the

rich pickings of the country that reinvented a sport. The style of

play has something to do with the sharpness that the kid, born on the

wrong side of the tracks, needs to get by. There are also some

uncomfortable findings along the way. Unconscious for three or four

minutes. Unconscious for three or four minutes. Can it be, that in

this home of the beautiful game, failure is not an option? When

Brazil lost 1950 World Cup, it was not seen as just a sporting

disaster, it was a failure of its people. For many of us, our love

affair with Brazil began 44 years ago when, in 1970, a certain Pele

rolled a certain pass to one Carlos Alberto. The gentle pass, the power

of the finish, this was the light and shade, the slow and the quick of

a new way of playing. COMMENTATOR: That was delightful

football. 1970 was the first World Cup to be televised in colour. We

knew the names of the best players on the planet. Now, they lit up

before our eyes. COMMENTATOR: Pele. A new standard

was set. That's the trouble with press dents, what comes next? How

can you beat that? COMMENTATOR: This is great stuff.

Pele. Spearheaded by Pele, this was the team that defined the Brazilian

way of playing. Who better to analyse Brazil than the spearhead

himself, known by just one short name - the most famous in the game.

Are you OK? Great, you. He was Fine. Born in 1940 with a longer name,

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, but he was Pele. Even in 19a 58, aged just

17, the youngest ever scorer in a World Cup final. He won three World

Cups and scored over 1,000 goals in almost as many matches for his clubs

and country. When you do think of Brazil, Pele's name comes in there.

Hard not to. He is on the front of every package you look at and every

advertisement they do. Great ambassador for the game. To win the

World Cup at 17 years old... And be an integral part of that team, you

can't fail to be impressed. He is a supreme footballer in all sense of

the world, he was 5 foot 8, great in the air, great control, speed,

strength, skill. Everything, awareness. Could play in midfield,

as much as he is a goalscorer. COMMENTATOR: Pele! No matter where

you go, it's one name that will be remembered as the greatest. That's

Edson Arantes do Nascimento. That's the one. That's Pele. You were so

young in the 1958 World Cup, what was it like getting into the team,

being that young and so successful? A lot of time people say - oh, was

very difficult for you because you were very young. I didn't have this

(inaudible) to win the World Cup. To me, it was like a dream to be in the

national team of Brazil. I just want to be there. 17 years old, scored a

goal in the quarter-final, three goals in the semi-final, of course,

that famous goal in the final. That is one of the goals that must stand

out in your career? Oh, yeah. No doubt. No doubt. Because I think

that time, in Europe, even in Brazil, I think was one of the first

moments that people saw the game, the dribbling like this. For me it

was not news. I used to do this in training. For all over the world,

for other people, it was the first time they saw the World Cup. It was

fantastic. The most important than that, people don't know what was

Brazil, where was Brazil. But to win this World Cup, then Brazil become

well-known all over the world. Everybody, after the final, they

started to read, to understand where was Brazil. 62, you won the World

Cup again. You got injured early in the tournament. 66 you were kicked

out of the tournament. It was terrible what happened to you. Chen

he was heavily brought down again, a second time. Unnecessarily so too.

Do you feel angry at that at all, looking back? You were at your prime

then? It was very, very sad. I think I'm going to stop to play football.

I was so depressed. But, fortunately, it passed. You changed

your mind before the 1970 World Cup, thankfully? Anybody of my age, or

older, remembers 1970, the Brazil side, as we think the best side

ever. Would you agree? I agree. I think the 58 we have individual

players. Maybe more and better than 70, but as a team, we were perfect

team. Were brilliant moments from you in that World Cup. There are two

moments, for me, that stand out. Where you didn't score. One was the

long-range shot against Czechoslovakia from the half-way

line, it was so close. The other one, where you dummied the

goalkeeper against Uruguay. COMMENTATOR: What genius! I was in

China two weeks ago, they showed the beautiful moment. The goals they

didn't show. I said, listen, I scored more than 1,000 goals. I so

wish that had of been a goal. We have marvelled at Brazilian football

over the years. It is played with great style. Where do you think that

culture of beautiful football comes from, Pele? I think it comes from

the barefoot, the kids who play on the beach and on the streets. I

think that's the reason the football is spectacular than in Europe or in

the rich countries. He was what he was called The King. Did we ever see

him at his, very, very best? There is a theory, held by Brazilian based

journalist, Tim Vickery, that we didn't. Great tragedy of Pele in the

World Cup. He is so identified with the tournament, the World Cup never

saw the best of Pele. The best Pele is around the mark of 62/63. Watch

him. He is like a force of nature. The best goal that I think he scored

in the World Cup came in 1962, in the opening game against Mexico.

COMMENTATOR: A great goal. A superb goal by Pele. 62, could have been,

for Pele, what 86 was for Maradona, when you are seeing a magnificent

footballer right at the peak of his powers. He got injured in the next

game. He played no further part in the tournament. That, I think, is

very sad because that Pele, the Pele of 62, could have been the greatest

thing that we ever saw in a World Cup. What the world did see was

enough. Enough to guarantee a life after football. As a pin-up,

politician, businessman, FIFA ambassador, Pele, one short name

that says everything about Brazil. For Brazilians, Pele is not the only

one. We tend to talk of Brazil, the great 12 years where they won three

World Cup as the Pele years. In Brazil they call them the Pele and

the Garrincha years. In Brazil Pele and gash together made Brazil great.

Born in 1933, Manuel Francisco dos Santos, or simply Garrincha, won two

World Cups. Physically, he was no Pele. He was anything but imposing.

He was born slight redeformed one bow leg and knock knee. I watched

videos of him in 1958. He was incredible. When you talk about

modern wingers do. Back then, wingers, you get your head down, you

put crosses in. He was doing stepovers and skilful things and his

change of pace and change of direction, as well as scoring goals.

COMMENTATOR: Garrincha. It's a goal. A beautiful goal by Garrincha.

Garrincha was special because he improvised a lot of the games, a lot

of the play. He was a player who has brilliant talent, you know.

Garrincha, from being, you know, the archetypecle skilful Brazilian. Pele

wasn't that. He had great skills. What we think about Brazil are silky

tricks. Pele wasn't like that. He was very skilful. In terms of being

eye-catching, Garrincha obviously was the one. He was a real

hard-working up-and-down British-type of a player, if you

like. Garrincha was the superstar. TRANSLATION: He was amazing. He

dribbled like you wouldn't believe it. I was at the barber and he said

if Garrincha dribbel was magic tricks. I said, they are all true.

That was just Garrincha. We symbolise Brazil. Slightly better

than Pele did because he was the person who made you look. He had

this amazing dribbels, he was playing for playing sake. He had

fun. There was the Garrincha way on the field, there was something about

the way he went about living his life off the field. I think he loved

(inaudible) more than Pele. In that time Brazil was a country looking

for his I accidenty. The real Brazilianian was Garrincha, not

Pele. Garrincha was the crazy one, disorganised. Ass Garrincha was

two-days before the final match disappeared and go to fish 100

kilometres from the hotel. The Brazilians recognised themselves in

players like that and that moment. Pele conquered the world The King

revelling in the limelight for Garrincha, it was more of a

struggle. tired after the training, I did find

the attention overwhelming. Garrincha is the Brazilian George

Best. An unbelievably talented individual. But someone whose career

at the top level was relatively short. Because of similar demons. In

1983, at the age of 49, Garrincha died, an impoverished alcoholic. His

funeral procession brought the road to a standstill. It is part of us,

you know, to create this fantastic and amazing player we have Pele and

Garrincha and Ronaldo and Neymar and it is difficult to understand how we

produce this kind of player, but it is part of our tradition, it is part

of our mentality. It is in our blood. I think it is something that

comes from the childhood, you know, every kid in Brazil wants to play

soccer. No country can keep producing players to rival Pele or

Garrincha, can it? Brazil, it seems, can and there is one player I

couldn't wait to meet! Nice to see you. Nice to see you too. How are

you? Good. Ronaldo played 98 times for Brazil, scoring 62 goals and

winning two Cup World Cups, he collected a golden boot and became

the highest goal scorer in World Cup history.

COMMENTATOR: And it is a moment of history for Ronaldo. He is now out

on his own as the World Cup's all time top goal scorer. Ronaldo

remains one of the enigmas of all time. There is controversy here. The

1998 final, but first, his rise to the top from the bottom. He was born

in one of the poorest parts of Rio. I presume most Brazilian boys when

they grow up, they want to play for Brazil when they are older? We grow

up thinking about being a football player because most of Brazil are

poor and we see them at the football, a great opportunity to be

a big star. So you can help your family and you can buy things.

Ronaldo dropped out of school when he was 11. But he was soon giving

masterclasses to the watching world. We very much admire the Brazilian

style of football and people say when we play football there is music

in the dressing room and everybody is dancing. Is it really like that?

Yes, yeah. Yeah. But it's not dis illusioned to win. You cannot go

into an England team and put Brazilian music or hip-hop... We

can't dance! We did that and the guys play now, they're still doing

it just because we have fun. We are very happy people and everything we

do, we do with love and with our hearts. Ronaldo, a talent, a rare

genius, but also part of some greater shared experience of being

Brazilian. Everyone in this land of 200 million people seems to love

life out loud. One man who knows and loves Brazil is Michael Palin, the

globetrotter and football fan spent five months exploring just about

every corner of the country. You spent a lot of time in Brazil. Is it

a country you warmed to? Oh yeah. And it is such an easy place to

enjoy. All the sort of, you know, the kind of hang-ups and

restrictions and sort of conditions of life up in the Northern

Hemisphere where you have got cold weather and rain, suddenly you go to

Brazil and everybody seems to be having a good time. Not entirely,

but it does feel like a country that's very, very free and open and

got this feeling of celebration. The whole place erupts at night. I've

never known such a noisy country. It is incredibly noisy and during the

World Cup there will be full volume. How would you describe Brazil

culturally? It's very out going. They don't

worry too much about what happened in the past. They're not speculating

too much about the future. They do live very much for the day. And most

of the time the sun shines, not all the time, but the sun does shine and

the beaches are great, you must wake-up every morning and think,

"Hey, I'm in a very blessed country." But at the same time,

there are cracks between the very rich and the very poor and that's

very clear and it will be interesting to see how that plays

out when the eyes of the world are on the country. It has been involved

in a lot of your work, hasn't it? Yes.

I just think all of us in Python, with the possible exception of Terry

Jones and Liam who throws boom ranges and things -- boomerangs, but

we were brought up with football. 8-1. 8 bloody one.

Do you think the way that Brazil play football this flamboyant style

is a reflection of their personalities of the people of

Brazil? Yeah, I think they love life, you know, which is a terrible

old cliche, but they really do, and they want to celebrate it so you

don't just kick the ball, you do some wonderful keepy uppy and pass

it fast and you celebrate the game itself, it is not a dull game in

Brazil. Football is very democratic. You don't need money to play

football. We are Third World in Brazil. Our kids can play football.

They take old socks and they start with the passion. Brazil's passion

for football is obvious. They are just as devoted though to their

music. Many love both. Brazilian music is a mixture of the Indian

music and the African music and Brazil and European music. So

Brazilian music is a pot of a mixture of all these musics and

influences. More slaves went to Brazil than went to the North

Americas. The slaves weren't allowed drums because it was godless music,

but the Brazilians kept the music and America had the blues, and

Brazil has always celebrated life and freedom. Samba has the African

influences of the beats. It is very energetic. I came to Brazil about 20

times mainly for musical reasons. My favourite thing about Brazil is

Brazilians. It is the soul of the Brazilians and the passion that they

have and especially for music and for football. We can move our body

in a way that it looks free and so I think it comes to the football in a

very good way because you see them playing and it's different. You see

the connections between them. It looks like they are dancing e g ing

with the ball, but the way they play football, it's kind of a dance. The

romantic notion that they are all whispering a samba to each other as

they pass the ball, no. It is more like the response of the samba

schools where they go. It's the way they play off each other. I'll go

like that and I'll go like that. I can remember when we were riding in

a bus for a match and we were dancing and singing inside the bus.

COMMENTATOR: On the national team we have had this tradition of singing

and being close together and especially on our way to the

stadium. It is in the rhythm, play your music like this and it is bound

to influence the way you play your football. It is so very Brazilian.

But what's more remarkable is that the roots of Brazil's beautiful game

may just lie in Britain. This historian gives lectures around the

world on the origins of football in Brazil. There are many origins of

how football started in Brazil. The most accepted is that British

gentlemen came to Brazil early last century and they brought to Brazil

many sports and among them was football the country a large as

Brazil, it is difficult to say that just one person has a major role in

bringing a great phenomenon as football to the country. But it was

important to have created the form of football in Brazil. For many,

football arrived in Brazil in 1894 when Charles Miller stepped off a

steamer in Sao Paulo armed with two foblets and a rule -- footballs and

a rule book. Charles had been sent to Southampton. Played for the club

that would become the Premier League Southampton of today. He was a

football nut. COMMENTATOR: He used to say imagine

the despair of the football enthusiast who goes away for the

weekend and takes his ball along. Imagine his despair knowing he was

coming back to Brazil and he wouldn't find here the beloved sport

he used to play. So the fact that he brought along the rules of the game

and the ball suggests it was clear what his intention was. I will go

back to Brazil and if no one is playing this sport there, I will

feature them all because I want to go and play it for a long, long

time. In the early years in Brazil, one of Brazil's most prominent

writers, he said, you know, this football, it will never catch on. We

don't need this foreign thing! It is a statement which seems ridiculous

now, but sometimes we take it for granted. How did this thing, little

more than 120 years in Brazil, how did it become so associated with the

Brazilian nation? It is introduced by the British so

it comes with first world prestige and it is first taken up by the

Brazilian elite, but then it goes down the social scale. It becomes

reinterpreted by the locals. TRANSLATION: I have got a few

letters from my grandad written after his return to Brazil. He

writes from he can gland. England. He writes with surprise at the rate

football was spreading across Brazil. Unfortunately, he died in

1953 and died without ever seeing Brazil world champions. He also

never had the pleasure of seeing Pele play football, but if he was

still alive I imagine he would be very happy with all of this.

Football is a cultural manifestationment even though we -

manifestation, even though we didn't create football, it looks like we

did. Brazil turned it into a South American art form. Artistry that

delights, but it also strikes fear into their opponents. Playing

against Brazil knowing their history, it was daunting. I managed

to score against Brazil at Wembley, but another Englishman scored

against them with a little more style and at the home of Brazilian

football. Knowing the hole history of Brazilian football. To score

against Brazil is fantastic. John Barnes on the left-hand side. He

could get net one here. He has gone all the way through. What a

brilliant goal by John Barnes. That was magnificent.

Had it been like a World Cup final someone would have tackled me. I am

being unkind to my receive. Rather than saying, what a great goal it

was. I was saying the Brazilians were on holiday or drunk. That is

why they let me run through. A lot of teams might play like Brazil, but

you still think about Brazil. I remember doing one of their games

and the pavements were absolutely packed with Brazilian supporters.

You got a sense then of what the World Cup meant to them. I think

that is where the Brazilians really loved playing. That is where Gordan

Banks made his fantastic save from Pele.

COMMENTATOR: What a save? When he came over to England he said, "I

scored over 1,000 goals in my career, where I go every where in

the world people talk about those goals. When I come to England they

talk about that save you made." It is something special because he was

someone very special. They had a fantastic sad Other play side.

Players have less pleasant memories of losing to Brazil in the 1982

World Cup. I can remember relined up before the game. 10 meters from the

fence. There were the Brazilian supporters. I can remember I was

here. Linesman, referee, linesman, the rest of them. We were covered in

sweat. I looked there. I looked at these guys. Not a bead of sweat.

They are swaying their hips to the girls behind the fence. I'm

thinking, "we're in trouble here" in the Brazil game the worse thing we

did was score early. They were happy. 0-0. We scored. It was like

getting hold of the lion's tail, wasn't it? They found another gear.

They had fabulous players. Zico. COMMENTATOR: Zico. Socartes.

COMMENTATOR: Socartes is in there. And now the shot. Dalglish. Red

fairly comfortably there. Then who chipped in?

COMMENTATOR: A little chip. Oh! What a brilliant goal! They were a great

team. It was an incredible team. Zio, Socartes, Leonardo... It was a

fantastic team. My idol and has still been Zico. I played against

him three times. Great player. I was seeing him a lot. He was amazing. I

always see him in the field and out of the field. He's, for me, the

biggest idol. COMMENTATOR: And, Zico. What a

cracker! We remember this team almost as fondly as the 1970 side

because of the their midfield brilliance. Brazilians have a

particular love for them because they played for freedom, while at

home a military dictatorship was in firm control. They were people who

understood the position in society. Socartes talked about democracy,

discussing politics. Fighting for the rights of people. Even the

supporters. Discussing things that the football player never discussed

before. It was different personalities that mark a

generation. Socartes is such a fascinating figure. He said, in an

interview, after he'd retired, he said that those who only seek

victory are just conformists. COMMENTATOR: Socartes. Magnificent

goal. I'm sure in his heart of hearts, he would have loved to have

won the 1982 World Cup. I would say the 82 World Cup was brilliant. It

was maybe the last World Cup we played as a brilliant team. A

brilliant, brilliant team. Unfortunately, in 82 we lost.

TRANSLATION: Sometimes to win the World Cup you have to play with

caution. This team only knew how to play beautifully, and didn't care

about anything else. Zico's Brazil were playing with the Majesty of

Pele's World Cup winners, undefeated. They only need a draw

against Italy. It wasn't long before it began to go wrong.

COMMENTATOR: 1-0 o to Italy, after only five minutes. Here's Socartes,

pushing the ball forward to Zico. What a turn. Socartes is in here.

Socartes! He scores the goal that sums up the philosophy of Brazilian

football. Oh. 2-1. A lot of people look at the fact that the Italian

Prague 'tissism against the silky skills of the Brazilians. Pragmatism

won over. That is not necessarily true. They made a couple of

mistakes. I don't believe you have to sacrifice style for substance.

COMMENTATOR: In a good position. Still Falcao. He wipes out Italy's

lead. Now, if the score was to stay like, this Brazil go through and

Italy go out. And it's been turned in. It's 3-2 to Italy. This almost

retro Ied listic side of 1982 loses. Conclusion. If we want to win again,

we have to change a little bit. Zico described it as "the day football

died." Here in Brazil many share the view that this was a defeat for the

beautiful game. The team hadn't balanced defence with attack, and

now faced a choice - to lose beautifully or win ugly. By 1994,

Brazil were desperate for success. A young Leonardo, managed by Alan

Pardew, swapped flair for a more measured approach. I think that

Parreria was very, very intelligent in that moment because, it's true,

you are Brazil. You have three World Cups winning. You have 24 years

behind you that you didn't get it. The coach, Alan Pardew said, "the

time for magic and dreams for football is over. We have to be more

pragmatic." The big discussion was to play with two midfielders in

front of the defence. The in Brazil it seems like three midfielders and

two defending. What is this, you know? He knew he had the other

matches. The you have some players who can decide the match at any

moment. That's how it was in a tricky semi-final against Sweden.

They weren't always easy on the eye but Parreria's pragmatists were

through to the final, against the Masters of defence, their nemesis,

Italy. Almost inevitably it went to penalties. For Italy it was normal,

but not for us. In the past, the penalty kicks were a nightmare for

all of us. COMMENTATOR: He has brought the team

to the final. It's over the top! Brazil have won the World Cup of

1994. To win a World Cup, I think, was a very, very important title for

us because after that we restarted with Ronaldo, with Carlos, it was

the opportunity for that players to grow up with, I don't know, the

feeling that you are, again, number one. Because my generation it was a

big weight for us. COMMENTATOR: For the fourth time,

Brazil are the world champions of the beautiful game. It was an

importantly victory for them, after 24 years. Although that team is

still not remembered, certainly around the world, with quite the

same affection as the team of 1982, which didn't win. What the

Brazilians want, big spectacular and the win, both together. Perhaps only

one, they prefer more the spectacular than the winning.

Brazil, without soccer, would not be Brazil. Soccer is like Samba. It's

very Brazilian. It's very part of us, you know. There is no weekend

that I don't hear about football inside my house, you know. It's like

a religion. It's very strong. Brazil is about to the host the World Cup.

Brazilian TV host, Fernanda Lima will help welcome the world. There

are strong emotions at work here, not just a love of the game. In the

very deep I think we really want this World Cup. But we have a lot of

social problems and the government that makes us feel the World Cup is

not to be here, but it is. People are using this event to show their

problems. To show what they want. I don't think that we will interrupt

during the competition. People will be there. They want to dream during

it. But I think that outside of that, people want to be listened.

People are confused about the World Cup. People are thinking about World

Cup whilst the solution for our problem is not the solution for our

problem. The World Cup is a big opportunity to develop our country.

If we think football belongs to us, we have to show the good football we

have and the hospitality and the love we have for football. Brazil

hosted the World Cup of 1950, even back then it was huge. Just like

today, Brazil was determined to make the most of its opportunity. Tap

into domestic pride, impress the outside world. 50 World Cup was the

opportunity to show the world that we were very big. That you were a

big country who can do big things. That is why we construct the biggest

stadium in the world. Giant spaceship parked just north of the

city centre. An extraordinary structure. This symbolises that

Brazil is on the move. They had a wonderful team. Played fantastic

football. Absolutely blew away the European journalist es who went out

to cover the World Cup, but they lost in the final. Lost to Uruguay.

They were coasting to win in the stadium. And, Uruguay scored. 2-1,

they came from behind. They came from behind.

TRANSLATION: has never It left my mind. I was there, doing my military

service, everyone was crying at the stadium. The country was in

mourning. I was nine years old. I remember my father crying and

saying, "what happened?" He said "Brazil lost the World Cup" I was a

little confused. Everyone thought they were going to win? Yes. I

remember I said, "don't worry, I will win the World Cup for you." I

knew some of the players and the coach from that team. They were

never, ever allowed to forget that they lost that game. It was a burden

that they had to carry for decades and decades afterwards. Barbosa,

being the goalkeeper, he had a hard time living with that afterwards. In

1993, when Brazil need to beat Uruguay to qualify for the 1994

World Cup, he wasn't allowed to visit the Brazil players in case he

brought bad luck. The final was terrible because you were almost

there. What happened? Why? When Brazil lost 1950 World Cup, in the

final, in the last-minutes, it was not seen as just a sporting

disaster, it was a failure of its people. The shock of defeat on home

soil also meant a change of kit. Brazil's football authorities

decided that the team's tarnished white shirts should be replaced by

the colours of the country's flag. The greens, the forest, the blue is

the sky, the yellow is the big King, how powerful is that. There is no

doubt when you put on your country's shirt for a first time in your

country's competition it's unforgettable. It's like you go to

the world with your country. You are marine. The other teams going to

play against Brazil. They will look at it and feel the pressure. I think

everybody gets scared when they see the colouring of the shirt. I think

they get really scared. Not so scared, the marketing executives of

global brands. Not frightened by a team or their shirts.

to winning ways and signed a deal with Nike. The main asset of

Brazil's 1998 World Cup squad was Ronaldo. He had taken himself off to

Europe and was flourishing. I was just the biggest star for Brazil.

Ronaldo was the biggest name in world football. As the tournament

progressed, he was unstoppable. Ronaldo changed something in

football because he started to do in 100 kilometre an hour, what people

did before in 50. He changed the speed of football. Ronaldo was and

still and will always remain for me as one of the greatest strikers that

I have ever seen. Brazil, 13 goals in five matches. Now, a semifinal

against the unbeaten Dutch. COMMENTATOR: It's Ronaldo. Ronaldo

was a successor to Pele because Ronaldo was the most complete

Brazilian player since Pele because he could score goals with his head

and he could dribble around everyone. But the Dutch were no

pushovers and it went to a penalty shoot-out and up stepped Ronaldo.

When you play for Brazil, you have to win always. A lot of pressure

always with the Brazilian team. Pressure on the Dutch. Has to score.

He doesn't. The world champions go to defend their title in the final.

The tournament was going brilliantly for you, wasn't it It was until the

final! On paper, it was a dream final, Brazil the favourites against

host nation, France. Nen Then in the moments before kick-off, all eyes

strained to see what was written on a single piece of paper. We just had

the surprise, I suppose the shock news that Ronaldo won't be in the

Brazil 11 for tonight's match. That's the actual 11 here and you

see that Ronaldo is a substitute. I got the team sheet in the studio. It

didn't have him on it. It didn't have Ronaldo on it and we couldn't

believe it. We said, "What's going on here?"

COMMENTATOR: The scenes have been may ham and chaos. There were

journalists and commentators trying to find out the truth behind it. It

is big news for the French team because Ronaldo is very, very

important for the Brazilian team. It was rumours about him being sick,

being injured. So we thought it was to annoy the French team not knowing

if the best player would interrupt or not. The biggest wind-up in World

Cup football history has just hit the news because Ronaldo will play.

There was a mistake in the team sheets. Suddenly another team sheet

came out and he was back on it. We were holding up team sheets in

front. Of the cam ka. Conspiracy theories raged, was this a mistake,

a joke? Outrageous gamesmanship? What was really happening in the

Brazilian team hotel? Only one person can say. I had a conversation

after the lunch in the afternoon and I was unconscious for three or four

minutes. So you were unconscious? No. Do know why you had this

convulsion or this fit? No. Could it be the pressure or the nerves? It

could be. You breathe, the competition, everything is about the

competition. You cannot disconnect from the competition. It is a lot of

pressure. Doctors called me into another room and he explained to me

that I had a convulsion and that you will not play and I said, "No, it is

not possible. I will play." We went to the hospital. I stayed there for

three hours. I did everything you can imagine, tests, everything and

no conclusion. I was all right. I was OK. It's like the convulsion, it

never happened. Crowds filled the streets of Paris. Ronaldo's

team-mates boarded the bus for the stadium, but the confidence that

carried them to the film was gone -- final was gone.

TRANSLATION: When Brazil leave the hotel for the match, it is all

music, but on this day, it didn't happen. There was no music on the

team bus and everyone, all the players, were asking about him on

the bus. If you are in silence in Brazil, you are in fear.

COMMENTATOR: Brazil have not come out to warm up on the pitch. We have

not seen a single player. I got out from the hospital and I'm going to

the stadium directly and I come later and I see Edmundo in my place.

What did you say? Yeah, I understood because I was in the hospital, but I

called and said, "Please, I have to play. I don't have nothing. I went

to the hospital. Everything is fine with me. It's the final game. I'm

fine. I'm OK." TRANSLATION: I was waiting for the

doctor to make a call and he didn't say anything. No one said anything.

I said, "Are you OK?" He said, "I'm not a kid." If there is 21 players,

there is no problem. You can play. If it's Ronaldo, this is what

happened. It is very complicated to manage that situation, organising

the match without Ronaldo, you prepared everything with Edmundo and

hard marks and everything and then you change and you have a problem

and it was like that. Our organisation had changed. I don't

want to say that we lost because we had a problem, but it's impossible

to say that it was a normal preparation for the match. It was

not the best game of my life, but I was fine. I was running. I was

trying to do everything. France was playing very well. A very hard team.

COMMENTATOR: Another one and it's there. Zidane again. Well, would you

believe that? Is it like a disaster in Brazil when they go out of the

World Cup or lose in final? Yeah. The same if you lose on the first

round. It is the same as in the final. If we got to a final, we

would be really happy. Yeah, for the rest of the world, but not for us.

Not for Brazil. Even before France lifted the trophy

in Paris that night, Brazilians began to ask questions about their

team's capitulation. Should Ronaldo ever have played? Could sponsors

really have had any say in team selection? Nike got involved with

the Brazil team a couple of years before the World Cup. With the idea

of selling shirts all over the world and Brazil had no qualifiers for

that World Cup. But Nike did their homework and they saw that many

times Brazil played friendlies with severely weakened teams. If they are

apaying big bucks for Brazil, they want Brazil. It seems there were

clauses in the contracts along the lines of in these friendlies a

certain number of designated first choice players had to play. But

obviously, that has no relevance to a World Cup because you're going to

select your best side in a World Cup anyway, but the fact that these

clauses were secret opened up space for speculation. Nike denied having

any influence over team selection and two years after the final, a

Congressman and Brazil's Sports Minister, instigated a political

inquiry, was there any truth in the conspiracy theory?

TRANSLATION: Market forces are a new presence. Football never used to

have sponsors. This is only from the 80 on wards and it brought risks and

this is what we're investigating at the committee. The inquiry found no

evidence of wrongdoing, however the fact that losening a football match

led a political inquiry shows how seriously Brazil take the serious

game. TRANSLATION: The fans really don't

know what the real situation, what actually happened? I wasn't

surprised because Brazilians love football. They are very passionate

about it and when it doesn't work out, pressure is only natural and

that's just an element of Brazilian culture and Brazilian people. Stress

lines in the face of the beautiful game. Handling pressure is part of

every professional footballer's life, but in Brazil, the current

World Cup squad are well aware of what is at stake. There is not much

pressure if you win the World Cup, you can stay there. If not, you need

to live in Europe or another country! Yeah, I think so! Italy

played two times at home, won one and lost one. Germany, lost one.

Winning the World Cup in 2002 offered Ronaldo redemption. Out of

favouring club football, Ronaldo scored six goals on the way to the

final. Before the final, after lunch time, did it go through your mind

what happened four years previously? Yeah, of course. It did. We had the

lunch and after the lunch everybody goes to sleep and to get your stuff

and I was looking for people there to talk to... You didn't want to

sleep in case it happened again? No, I didn't want to go to sleep and I

found my team-mate, the goalkeeper, he talked to me all the time until

we left to go to the stadium. I was very scared. Lining up against

Germany in Yokohama, would history repeat itself? It was fantastic, you

know. After four years, come back to a World Cup final and then he scored

two goals and became a World Cup champion again and the best player

in the world. COMMENTATOR: Tonight, he makes

headlines as a hero. After the final song, we celebrated for three days.

Nobody was sleeping! The burden of history discarded in 2002, Ronaldo's

reputation restored. Over 100 years earlier, Brazil took British

association football and reshaped it. They fashioned it to reflect

their physical power, their extravagance, their spirit of

invention and their energy. It became the chosen game. The adored

sport of a vast land of tropical vibrancy, Brazil five times World

Cup champions, can the Brazil of 2014 build on the legacy or will

they suffer under the strain, heat and pressure? Can the beautiful game

still be played? We're about to find out!

They've got footage of me in my underpants in the garden.

Your favourite comedians... Do you think it's a catchy title?

available exclusively on BBC iPlayer.

What are you cooking for us today, Frankie?