Paulo Coelho’s Blog

Let’s move on to the FIFA World Cup. What is the first memory that springs to mind?
 

When I was ten years old, one of my biggest dreams came true - Brazil won the 1958 World Cup. There was no TV, so we followed the games on the radio and had to imagine what was happening in Sweden, thousands of kilometres away. There was a carnival atmosphere in Brazil, which for a child was fantastic. When the match began, there was a religious silence. We were losing 1-0 at first, and everyone was down. It seemed as if the world was ending. Then we (turned it round and) won 5-2, a memorable result, which we celebrated with fireworks. At that time the Brazilian team was synonymous with Brazil the country.