Football has been unusually generous with memorable moments lately. Be it Messi missing a penalty before eventually winning the match, CR7 scoring another goal that appears to ignore both geometry and ageing, Mbappé turning defenders into spectators, or Haaland continuing his long-running campaign against the dignity of centre-backs.
Social media immediately declares that history has been made, often before the match has even ended. But then, almost inevitably, somebody brings up Brazil. Perhaps a fan like me. Because for a sport obsessed with the present and the future, football has a rather unusual habit of looking backwards whenever Brazil enters the conversation.
Not simply because Brazil have won five World Cups, but because they have an almost unfair habit of turning football matches into stories people continue retelling fifty years later.
Some are glorious. Some are painfully tragic. But almost none are forgettable!
So, while we wait for the Seleçao to give us the next unforgettable chapter, perhaps it is worth revisiting five times when they made the entire footballing world stop, stare and, depending on the outcome, either celebrate like crazy or question the fundamental fairness of life itself.
Let's begin:
A hat-trick in the semifinal against France. Two goals in the final against Sweden. Done by a seventeen-year-old boy!
Brazil won their first World Cup, and football discovered a teenager who made defenders look like they had arrived without reading the instructions.
And it was the moment Brazil stopped being just a football team and became a football idea — one built around the belief that the game could be played beautifully.
Football has changed a lot since 1970. Tactics have become more complicated. Defenders are faster. Analysts now have enough data to explain why someone moved three steps to the left for absolutely no obvious reason.
And yet Carlos Alberto's goal still appears whenever someone wants to prove football was once more beautiful.
The move involved almost the entire Brazilian team before Pele calmly set up the captain for the finish. It was less a goal and more Brazil reminding everyone that football could be played like a sport and an art project at the same time.
Football loves redemption stories mostly because it enjoys creating disasters first.
After the confusion and heartbreak surrounding Ronaldo before the 1998 final, he returned in 2002 with something to prove. His answer was simple: eight goals in the tournament, two in the final itself.
And with Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Cafu and Roberto Carlos beside him, Brazil looked less like a national team and more like someone who had accidentally assembled football's strongest possible lineup.
They were not simply talented. They were offensively unfair — to the opponents, of course.
That was the comeback that football could not have written any better.
Modern football has become a game of precision.
Managers analyse every movement. Players study patterns. Every decision is measured, reviewed, and explained through endless tactical conversations.
And then Richarlison received a cross against Serbia and produced something that seemed to belong to a different era of football.
The overhead kick was not just a spectacular finish. It was a reminder of something the modern game sometimes forgets: football is not only about systems and structures, but also imagination.
The beauty of the goal was not only in the finish but in the fact that nobody could properly predict it.
And perhaps that is what makes Brazil so fascinating: even in an era obsessed with control, they still occasionally leave room for something completely irrational and completely brilliant.
Not all Brazilian memories are made of samba, magic, and defenders wondering what just happened. Some left an entire country staring silently at a football pitch.
In 1950, Brazil needed only a draw against Uruguay at the Maracanã to become world champions. The celebrations were ready. The headlines were ready. Uruguay, unfortunately, did not follow the plan.
The 2–1 defeat became known as Maracanazo, one of football's greatest tragedies.
And then came 2014. Another home World Cup. Another chance for redemption.
Instead, Germany scored five goals in 29 minutes in the semifinal.
The 7–1 became so surreal that even neutral viewers felt like they were watching a football malfunction.
Brazil gave the world some of the greatest moments in the history of the game. But football, being football, has also made sure to give them a few memories they would happily delete if the sport ever allowed it.
And perhaps that is what makes Brazil so fascinating. They do not simply participate in football history; they tend to create the moments everyone remembers — whether the world is celebrating with them or watching in terror and disbelief at what just happened.
So, as another chapter approaches, all we can do is cross our fingers and wait for the Seleçao to give us another moment worth remembering because with Brazil, history is rarely written quietly.
