[en] Played on Brazilian soil in 1950, the IV FIFA World Cup took on, in the eyes of the Brazilian press, a set of meanings that went beyond its merely sportive aspect, being presented as a unique possibility for Brazil to show itself to the world as a civilized nation, modern, capable of great victories and achievements. However, after the unexpected defeat to Uruguay in the last match, explanation and guilty parties were looked for because of what had happened inside the four lines of Maracan?. This process would end up bringing back old perspectives on the Brazilians, depreciative self-images, inherited from the colonial period but reinforced by the intellectuality of the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, which considered the Brazilian people themselves, due to factors such as miscegenation and climate, as condemned by backwardness in face of a European model of civilization. Nevertheless, the half of the 20th century is also marked by an opposite perspective, inheritor of Modernism, that, on the other side of the traditional perspectives at the time, considered miscegenation a positive factor, spreading an image of originality for Brazilian culture and the idea of a promising future for the nation. This way, the coverage of the event by the sports media took on a sense that projected over the Brazil national football squad and its performance on the field the dispute that existed then between these two perspectives, as if the selected Brazilian had the power to embody, through their on-field performance, the essence of the Brazilian national identity itself, mimicking, according to the results, a history and a destiny condemned to failure or destined to achievement.

[es] Disputada en suelo brasile?o en 1950, la IV Copa Mundial de F?tbol asumi?, a los ojos de la prensa brasile?a, un conjunto de significados que iban m?s all? de su aspecto meramente deportivo, present?ndose como una posibilidad ?nica para que Brasil se mostrara al mundo como una naci?n civilizada, moderna, capaz de grandes logros. Sin embargo, tras la inesperada derrota ante Uruguay en el ?ltimo partido, se buscaron explicaciones y se produjeron culpables de lo ocurrido dentro de las cuatro l?neas del maracan?. Este proceso acabar?a por rescatar viejas perspectivas sobre las autoim?genes brasile?as, despectivas, herederas del per?odo colonial pero reforzadas por la intelectualidad de finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX, que consideraban al propio pueblo brasile?o, debido a factores como la mestizaje y el clima, condenados al retraso ante un modelo europeo de civilizaci?n. Sin embargo, la mitad del siglo XX tambi?n est? marcada por una perspectiva opuesta, heredada del Modernismo, que, en sentido contrario a las perspectivas entonces tradicionales, consideraba el mestizaje un factor positivo, difundiendo una imagen de originalidad para la cultura brasile?a y la idea de un futuro prometedor para la naci?n. As?, la cobertura del evento por parte de la prensa deportiva asumi? un significado que proyect? sobre la selecci?n brasile?a de f?tbol y su desempe?o en el campo la disputa entonces existente entre estas dos perspectivas, como si el brasile?o seleccionado tuviera el poder de encarnar, a trav?s de sus actuaciones en el campo, la esencia misma de la identidad nacional brasile?a, mimetizando, seg?n los resultados, una historia y un destino condenados a fracasos o destinados a conquistas.