# Brazil Independence Cup

The Brazil Independence Cup was an international football tournament held in Brazil, from 11 June to 9 July 1972, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Brazilian Declaration of Independence. It was called the Minicopa by the Brazilians and the final was between Brazil and Portugal, in the Maracanã Stadium. Brazil won 1–0, with Jairzinho scoring in the 89th minute.
Brazil no longer had Pelé but still had Tostão, Jairzinho and Rivellino, the later two also played in the 1974 FIFA World Cup, in West Germany.
Despite Portugal's quality results and team, including Benfica players such as Eusébio, Jaime Graça, José Henrique, Humberto Coelho, Rui Jordão, and Toni, the team missed the World Cup 1974 and 1978 qualifying matches, so this tournament was their best result until the 1984 European Football Championship.

## Format

Twenty teams competed; 18 national teams as well as two representative sides from Africa and CONCACAF (North and Central America and the Caribbean).

### First round

15 teams competed in the first round, while 5 teams (Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Scotland, Soviet Union, Uruguay) received byes to the final stage.
The teams are drawn into three groups of 5 teams. Each team plays each other team in its group once, earning 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw. The three first-placed teams advance to the final stage.

### Final stage

The 8 teams are drawn into two groups of 4 teams. Each team plays each other team in its group once, earning 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw.
The two group runners-up play each other in the third-place playoff.
The two group winners play each other in the final.

## Venues

The tournament was played in 12 cities: Aracaju, Belo Horizonte, Campo Grande, Curitiba, Maceió, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo.
| Aracaju | Belo Horizonte | Belo Horizonte | Campo Grande |
| Batistão | Mineirão | Estádio Independência | Morenão |
| Capacity: 45,000 | Capacity: 110,000 | Capacity: 23,000 | Capacity: 45,000 |
| Curitiba | Maceió | Manaus | Natal |
| Estádio Couto Pereira | Estádio Rei Pelé | Vivaldão | Machadão |
| Capacity: 37,182 | Capacity: 20,551 | Capacity: 31,000 | Capacity: 42,000 |
| Porto Alegre | Recife | Rio de Janeiro | Salvador |
| Estádio Beira-Rio | Estádio do Arruda | Maracanã | Estádio Fonte Nova |
| Capacity: 106,000 | Capacity: 60,000 | Capacity: 200,000 | Capacity: 80,000 |
| São Paulo ||
| Estádio do Pacaembu | Estádio do Morumbi |
| Capacity: 40,000 | Capacity: 120,000 |

## Group stage
### Group A

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Argentina (A) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 1 | +12 | 7 |
| France | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 2 | +8 | 7 |
| Africa | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 |
| Colombia | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 13 | −6 | 2 |
| CONCACAF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 16 | −13 | 1 |

### Group B

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Portugal (A) | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2 | +10 | 8 |
| Chile | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 6 |
| Republic of Ireland | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 |
| Ecuador | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 1 |
| Iran | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 1 |

### Group C

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Yugoslavia (A) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 3 | +12 | 7 |
| Paraguay | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 6 |
| Peru | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 4 |
| Bolivia | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 12 | −8 | 2 |
| Venezuela | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 17 | −14 | 1 |

## Final stage
### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Brazil (A) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 5 |
| 2 | Yugoslavia (A) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 3 |
| 3 | Scotland | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 |
| 4 | Czechoslovakia | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 2 |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Portugal (A) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 5 |
| 2 | Argentina (A) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | Soviet Union | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 2 |
| 4 | Uruguay | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 1 |

### Final
## Statistics
### Goalscorers

There were 57 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 3.56 goals per match.
13 goals
* Dušan Bajević
5 goals
* Rodolfo Fischer
* Carlos Caszely
* Joaquim Dinis
4 goals
* Carlos Bianchi
* Eusébio
* Cristóbal Maldonado
3 goals
* Miguel Ángel Brindisi
* Oscar Más
* Jairzinho
* Félix Lasso
* Hervé Revelli
* Saturnino Arrúa
* Dragan Džajić
* Josip Katalinski
2 goals
* Leivinha
* Jean-Pierre Tokoto
* Carlos Lugo
* Jaime Morón
* Hernando Pineros
* Charly Loubet
* Mick Leech
* Eamonn Rogers
* Parviz Ghelichkhani
* Oswaldo Ramírez
* Humberto Coelho
* Nené
* Adalberto Escobar
* Lou Macari
* Edwin Reiner
1 goal
* Ernesto Mastrángelo
* José Omar Pastoriza
* Ángel Vargas
* Ramiro Blacutt
* Mario Pariente
* Jaime Rimazza
* Laurent Pokou
* Julio Crisosto
* Alberto Fouilloux
* Orlando Mesa
* Anton Hrušecký
* Miguel Coronel
* Georges Bereta
* Bernard Blanchet
* Louis Floch
* Marc Molitor
* Jean-Claude Désir
* Don Givens
* Mick Martin
* Turlough O'Connor
* Majid Halvaei
* Hernán Castañeda
* Alberto Gallardo
* Hugo Sotil
* Adolfo Calisto
* Jaime Graça
* Rui Jordão
* Fernando Peres
* Emigdio dos Santos
* Tiberio Godoy
* Lorenzo Jiménez
* Vladimir Onishchenko
* Ricardo Pavoni
* Ramón Iriarte
* Luis Mendoza
* Asdrúbal Olivares
* Jovan Acimovic
* Danilo Popivoda
* Dragoslav Stepanovic
3 own goals
* Fernando Bulnes (against France)
* Pedro Molinas (against Bolivia)
* Martin Buchan (against Yugoslavia)

## Hat-tricks

Brazil Independence Cup hat-tricks :
| # | Player | G | Time of goals | For | Result | Against | Phase | Date | FIFA report |
| 1. | Hervé Revelli | 3 | 15', 21', 69' | France | 5-0 | CONCACAF | Group stage | 11 June 1972 | Report |
| 2. | Dušan Bajević | 5 | 5', 7', 48', 68', 74' | Yugoslavia | 10-0 | Venezuela | Group stage | 14 June 1972 | Report |
| 3. | Rodolfo Fischer | 4 | 26', 68', 81', 86' | Argentina | 7-0 | CONCACAF | Group stage | 18 June 1972 | Report |
| 4. | Carlos Bianchi | 3 | 17', 49', 62' | Argentina | 4-1 | Colombia | Group stage | 22 June 1972 | Report |
| 5. | Saturnino Arrúa | 3 | 57', 59', 67' | Paraguay | 6-1 | Bolivia | Group stage | 25 June 1972 | Report |