The 1958 World Cup was the sixth staging of the tournament.
Held in Sweden, it marked the first time a team had won it away from their own
continent as Brazil finally overcame the pain of 1950
and lifted the Jules Rimet trophy for the first time.
It marked the start of their utter dominance of the tournament—between '58 and 1970 they
won three of the four World Cups held.
And of course, at the centre of that, was one man.
Although really, by 1958, Pele was hardly a man at all, given he was just 17 . Nonetheless,
his unforgettable contribution sparked the beginning
of a legend that has endured ever since.
But it was not just Pele's world cup.
Indeed, for a long time it looked like it just might be Just's.
Just Fontaine was semi-finalist France's star player.
In scoring 13 goals in the tournament he set what has
so far proved an unbeatable record.
As Rob Symthe wrote in 2012: "There is surely no storm perfect
enough" for Fontaine's record to be usurped.
Symthe continued "In only one of the last nine
tournaments has a player scored even half as many, when Ronaldo managed eight in 2002."
Now, four of his goals came in the third-place
playoff, but it was an impressive haul nonetheless.
The format of the '58 World Cup was pretty recognisable to modern audiences.
Four groups of four played each other once, with the top two progressing
to the eight-team knockout phase.
Goal average was used to separate first and second
if they finished on equal points, though if second and
third finished with the same total there was a playoff game between them to see who made it through.
Goal average would then be used in the event of a draw.
The eight teams that made it through to the knockout phase were Brazil, the hosts Sweden,
France, reigning champions West Germany, the Soviet
Union, Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Northern Ireland had squeezed past Czechoslovakia in their playoff.
It had been a remarkable achievement, particularly given centre-back
Jackie Blanchflower had lost his career—though not his
life—in the Munich Air disaster a few months prior.
As World Soccer wrote in 2014, Northern Ireland manager Peter Doherty had moved his full-back
to centre-half to cover Blanchflower's absence and
moved "young and relatively green Derek Dougan up-front.
They wrote "Dougan proved to be a terror for Czechoslovakia throughout the match.
Coupled with Dougan’s performance, goalkeeper Harry Gregg, the ‘hero of Munich’ gave
a performance worthy of the Goalkeeper of the World Cup
Award that he would receive come the end of the tournament."
Wales' progression was also impressive, though they benefited from being in a group with Hungary.
Those giants of the European game had seen the quality of their squad decimated by the
fallout from the 1956 uprising against Communist rule.
Fontaine had started the tournament as he meant to go on, firing a hatrick past Paraguay.
Pele, on the other hand, had begun on the bench.
It was not until the third group game that he made his first start.
His first goal came in the quarter finals, as Brazil beat Wales.
His country needed him too, as his was the only goal.
Wales' tournament was over, but they could draw huge pride from getting as far as
they did, and only being beaten 1-0 by the eventual champions.
The semi-final saw the tournament's stand-out stars face off against each other.
Pele was, decisively, victorious.
He scored a hattrick as Brazil beat Fontaine's France 5-2.
The first was a tap-in, the second a rifled finish after a scramble in the box,
but the third showed his quality.
He received a pass which bobbled as it reached him just outside the
D. He managed to divert its flight straight upwards and
met it before its return to the ground with a fierce shot that beat the 'keeper.
Brazil's reward for their performance was a meeting with the hosts in the final.
Nerves surely abounded after what had happened in 1950,
but there was to be no Swedish equivalent of the ​
Maracanazo . The hosts opened the scoring through AC Milan legend Nils Lieldholm, but
by half-time Brazil had wrestled back a 2-1 lead.
Pele set Brazillian hearts at east with one of the tournament's
more iconic goals to make it 3-1.
He received a pass from the right-wing, flicked it over the defender, then steered home.
His 90th minute looping header made the score 5-2, and the World Cup legend
of Brazil, and Pele, could begin to be written In earnest.