Taça Independência 1972

July 5th 2012 sees the fortieth anniversary of only the second ever game of football between Scotland and Brazil. The result on this occasion was 1-0 victory for Brazil in front of 130,000 samba strutting supporters at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janerio and stopped Scotland from qualifying for the first semi final of an International tournament. Scotland were so well regarded at the time, they went straight into Group A, possibly the only time we've ever made it to the latter stages of a tournament without actually having to play first...

Truth be told I have no recollection of this tournament, as I was a mere stripling of a 10 year old lad and I doubt it was covered on any of the three council telly channels available to us at the time. The tournament took place in the summer, so the reality is that I was probably up in Ardnamurchan guddling brownies and shooting hoodie craws with my deadly Milbro catapult. The tournament was an invitation from the Brazilian football authorities to 18 countries and two continents, Africa and CONCACAF to help Brazil celebrate the 150th anniversary of its Independence from Portugal. Scotland drew 2-2 with Yugoslavia, Luigi Macari scoring both goals, then a 0-0 draw with Czechoslovakia left us needing a victory against Brazil, the then world champions.

The following video, has the only images I've seen of the game. What struck me was how relaxed the likes of Bremner, Buchan, Hartford, Graham, Law and Macari were on the ball. Contrast this with the displays of sheer terror we witness from the current Scotland team where the object seems to give the ball back to the opposition as soon as we win it.

     

I'm left wondering, that when Scotland finally regains her Independence if we'll have the confidence to host our own mini-copa and invite the world to celebrate with us, and whether we might finally get that elusive victory over the boys from Brazil...