Brazil hosted the World Cup in 1950. It was perfect timing for a young republic eager to make a mark on the international stage.

In Europe, the most significant days of the 20th century are the days of the world wars. Brazil has never really been in the war, doesn’t really have any significant days like that. The days when Brazil feels most like a nation are the World Cups. So it divides its history into World Cups and Brazil has been in every single World Cups, the only country to have done that. Brazil had great potential, a vast multi-cultural country with huge natural resources, but it also had serious problems, not pleased with poverty.

Football was the big unifier in Brazilian life and the World Cup became the vehicle through which the successive governments hoped to move the nation forward and show the world what it was capable of.

At the time, winning the World Cup was a way to find out if Brazil was or wasn't a great nation. It’s where the union of nation and football began. Football wasn't just a national sport, it was the country itself.

The eyes of the world would be on Brazil as never before. And they were determined to impress. The concrete manifestation of their ambition was the decision to build a new stadium to host the Cup. The Marakana Stadium in Rio would not be just the biggest ground Brazil had ever seen, but the biggest in the world.

The very construction of the stadium was a status symbol for Brazilians because it was such a huge project,a stadium built for 200,000 people, that was 10% of the population of Rio de Janeiro, the capital of the Republic.

The Marakana, a citadel of football was ready in record time for the opening of a tournament.

On the 24th of June 1950 in the opening game, Brazil defeated Mexico 4:0. Other big victories followed, 7:1 against Sweden, 6:1 against Switzerland. This tournament had a unique format with group matches for every stage. But the last game was still the deciding one and Brazil reached it needing only a draw to win the Cup. It was a game no one who was there would ever forget.

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unifier: n.联合者，统一者

manifestation: 显示

citadel: n. 根据地，大本营