1.
1974 FIFA World Cup
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The 1974 FIFA World Cup, the tenth staging of the World Cup, was held in West Germany from 13 June to 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the current trophy, the FIFA World Cup Trophy, the previous trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, had been won for the third time by Brazil in 1970 and awarded permanently to the Brazilians. The host nation won the title beating the Netherlands in the final, the victory was the second for West Germany, who had also won in 1954. Australia, East Germany, Haiti and Zaire made their first appearances at the stage. West Germany was chosen as the host nation by FIFA in London, hosting rights for the 1978 and 1982 tournaments were awarded at the same time. West Germany agreed a deal with Spain by which Spain would support West Germany for the 1974 tournament, ninety-eight countries took part in the qualifying tournament, and some of footballs most successful nations did not qualify. The USSR was disqualified after the playoff against Chile,16 teams qualified, divided into four groups of four. Each played a round-robin with two points for a win and one for a draw, and goal difference used to separate teams level on points, the top two teams from each group advanced to the next stage. However, in a change from the used in the previous five competitions, the second round consisted of another group stage. The winners of each played each other in the final. The tournament was held mostly in bad weather, and the stadia had few protected places, few western European nations had qualified, of which most were eliminated early. Fans from the Eastern neighbor states were hindered by political circumstances, carlos Caszely of Chile became the first player to be sent off with a red card in a World Cup match, during their match against West Germany. Red cards were introduced in World Cup play in 1970. Two teams made a powerful impact on the first round. The Dutch marked their first World Cup finals since 1938 by topping their group, with wins over Uruguay and Bulgaria. Sweden joined the Dutch in the group round after beating Uruguay 3–0. Poland, meanwhile, took points from a group containing two of the favourites for the tournament. They beat Argentina 3–2, trounced Haiti 7–0, then beat Italy 2–1 – a result that knocked the Italians out of the Cup, while Haiti didnt do particularly well in their first World Cup finals they did have one moment of glory
2.
Juazeiro
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Juazeiro, formerly also known as Joazeiro, is a municipality in the state of Bahia, in the northeastern region of Brazil. Its name comes from the tree which grows in the region. The city is twinned with Petrolina, in the state of Pernambuco, the two cities are connected by a modern bridge crossing the São Francisco River. Together they form the region of Petrolina-Juazeiro, an urban conglomerate of close to 500,000 inhabitants. It was founded in 1833 and became a city on July 15,1878 and its city districts are Abóbora, Carnaíba, Itamotinga, Junco, Juremal, Massaroca, and Pinhões. The annual average temperature is 24.2 °C, although it lies on the São Francisco River and the Curaçá River, the climate of the city is semi-arid and it gets an annual precipitation of only 399 mm. For more detailed information on the climate see Petrolina, Juazeiro was at the center of an ongoing mosquito spread Zika virus outbreak in early 2016. There are highway connections with several capitals of the Northeast and railroad connections to the coast are made by the Ferrovia Centro-Atlântica, the railroad connection ends at the fluvial port of Juazeiro. Like its sister city Petrolina, Juazeiro has experienced growth in the last decade due to the irrigation of the semi-arid soils with water from the São Francisco River. Fruit cultivation is important to such an extent that Juazeiro entitles itself Capital of Irrigated Fruit, for more detailed information on the development of this fertile valley see the article on Petrolina
3.
Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
4.
Defender (association football)
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In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposing team from scoring goals. There are four types of defenders, centre-back, sweeper, full-back, the centre-back and full-back positions are essential in most modern formations. The sweeper and wing-back roles are more specialised for certain formations, a centre-back defends in the area directly in front of the goal, and tries to prevent opposing players, particularly centre-forwards, from scoring. Centre-backs accomplish this by blocking shots, tackling, intercepting passes, contesting headers, with the ball, centre-backs are generally expected to make long and pinpoint passes to their teammates, or to kick unaimed long balls down the field. For example, a clearance is a long unaimed kick intended to move the ball as far as possible from the defenders goal, during normal play, centre-backs are unlikely to score goals. In this case, other defenders or midfielders will temporarily move into the centre-back positions, in the modern game, most teams employ two or three centre-backs in front of the goalkeeper. The 4–2–3–1, 4–3–3, and 4–4–2 formations all use two centre-backs, the sweeper is a more versatile centre-back who sweeps up the ball if an opponent manages to breach the defensive line. This position is more fluid than that of other defenders who man-mark their designated opponents. Because of this, it is referred to as libero. For example, the system of play, used in Italian football in the 1960s. The more modern libero possesses the qualities of the typical libero while being able to expose the opposition during counterattacks. The Fundell-libero has become popular in recent time with the sweeper transitioning to the most advanced forward in an attack. This variation on the position requires great pace and fitness, while rarely seen in professional football, the position has been extensively used in lower leagues. Modern libero sit behind centre-backs as a sweeper before charging through the team to join in the attack, some sweepers move forward and distribute the ball up-field, while others intercept passes and get the ball off the opposition without needing to hurl themselves into tackles. If the sweeper does move up the field to distribute the ball, they will need to make a speedy recovery, in modern football, its usage has been fairly restricted, with few clubs in the biggest leagues using the position. Though it is used in modern football, it remains a highly respected. A recent and successful use of the sweeper was made by Otto Rehhagel, Greeces manager, Rehhagel utilized Traianos Dellas as Greeces sweeper to great success, as Greece surprisingly became European champions. The full-backs take up the wide positions and traditionally stayed in defence at all times
5.
Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras
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Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras is a professional football club, based in São Paulo, Brazil. The club was founded on August 26,1914, as Palestra Italia and it is one of the most popular and successful Brazilian clubs, with around 17 million supporters and 126,000 season ticket holders, including a large number of Brazilians of Italian ancestry. Despite being primarily a football team, Palmeiras competes in a number of different sports. Palmeiras is one of the most successful clubs in Brazilian football, the team has won 13 national competitions, more than any other club in Brazil. The clubs most important titles are 1 Copa Libertadores,9 Brazilian National League Titles and 4 national cups, Palmeiras is also the second most valuable club in the Americas, being worth R$1.5 billion in 2016 by Forbes Mexico. In 1951, Palmeiras won the Copa Rio, hailed as the first World Club cup, in 1999, the team was declared the Champion of the Century in Brazilian football. Its original colors were red, white and green, the original badge is still present in the current one, and the club has used red as a third color. Just over three earlier, Italy had been unified – a fact that was not known to some Italian-Brazilians. There were numerous Italian clubs, but each one represented an Italian Province or was geared to activities other than football, at the time, the game was starting to take hold and drew many players and fans. After several meetings,46 interested individuals gathered at the Alhambra Room on what is now Rua do Riachuelo, ezequiel Simone was named club president. The Italian Consulate in São Paulo became interested in the new club because it would spread the word among Italians that their country now had one flag. After some initial difficulties, Palestra Italia played its first game in the town of Votorantim – beating Savoy 2–0 with goals from Bianco, in 1916, the team joined the citys main sports league and held its first official championship match. The following year it would be runner-up in the São Paulo State Championship, Palestra won that initial game 3–0 with three goals from Caetano, it also won the rematch 3–1 of what would become the teams chief rivalry. In 1920, Palestra Italia captured the São Paulo State championship with a victory over the rugged Paulistano squad in the deciding match, Palestra continued to grow as a sports club and also began acquiring more assets. Estádio Palestra Itália, purchased in 1920, was remodeled and expanded in 1933 – when it became the first Brazilian stadium with concrete grandstands and barbed-wire fences. Starting in 1964, the field would be suspended, which gave fans a complete, broad view. In 1942 during World War II, the government of President Getúlio Vargas made a decree banning any organization from using names related to the Axis Powers, Palestra Italia was compelled to change its name, and became Palestra São Paulo. Palestra is a Greek word that did not violate the government measure, however, the change did not soothe political and sporting pressures
6.
Clube de Regatas do Flamengo
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Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, commonly referred to as Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro. The club was established in 1895, although it did not play its first official game until 1912 and its traditional playing colors are red and black hooped shirts with white shorts and red and black hooped socks. The team achieved the most prestigious accolade in South American football when they defeated Cobreloa 2–0 in the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo to become champions of South America and they subsequently became known as the Geração de Ouro, or the Golden Generation. That same year, Flamengo became world champions after defeating Liverpool 3–0 in Tokyo. Flamengo is the most popular team in Brazil, with over 39.1 million supporters as of 2010, the club has long-standing rivalries with nearby neighbors Fluminense, Botafogo and Vasco da Gama. There is also a rivalry with Atlético Mineiro. Flamengo was founded on 17 November 1895 as a club by José Agostinho Pereira da Cunha, Mário Spindola, Nestor de Barros, Augusto Lopes, José Félix da Cunha Meneses. The group used to gather at Café Lamas, in the Flamengo neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Rowing was the elite sport in Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century. The young men hoped that forming a club would make them popular with the young ladies of the citys high society. They could only afford a used boat named Pherusa, which had to be rebuilt before it could be used in competition. The team debuted on October 6,1895 when they sailed off the Caju Point, from the Maria Angu beach, however, strong winds turned over the boat and the rowers nearly drowned. They were rescued by a boat named Leal. Afterwards, as the Pherusa was undergoing repairs, the boat was stolen, the group then had to save up money to buy a new boat, the Etoile, renamed Scyra. On the night of 17 November, the group, gathered at Nestor de Barross manor on Flamengo beach, founded the Flamengo Rowing Group and elected its first board, the name was changed a few weeks later to Clube de Regatas do Flamengo. The founders also decided that the anniversary of the foundation should be celebrated on 15 November, so as to coincide with the Day of the Republic. Flamengo only embraced football when a group of dissatisfied players from Fluminense Football Club broke away from that club following a dispute with its board, the players decided to join Flamengo because Borgerth, the teams captain, was also a rower for Flamengo. Admittance of the new members was approved on 8 November 1911, a motion against the club taking part in football tournaments was defeated, and the members assembly officially created the football team on 24 December,1911. The new team used to train on Russel beach, and gradually gained the support of the locals, the first official match was played on 3 May 1912 and is, to this day, the most spectacular victory of the club, as the team defeated Mangueira 16-2
