Transformations in National Identity through Football in Brazil: Lessons from Two Historical Defeats1

In many Latin American countries football has been central to the formation of identities in the twentieth century, whether these be national, ethnic, local, generational, or gender identities. In this light, a comparison between the explanations given for the Brazilian defeat in the 1950 World Cup, which took place in Brazil itself, and that in the 1998 World Cup Final in France can serve as an illustration and starting point for a consideration of some transformations in the construction and the sentiment of national identity through football in Brazil. If imagined communities are built upon specific regional elements of local traditions, these collective movements are, on the other hand, greatly inspired by ideas that circulate internationally.2 This type of construction affected European countries, starting at the end of the eighteenth century and continuing throughout the nineteenth century. The national identity of Latin American countries, on the other hand, was consolidated only in the twentieth century. This is the case of Brazil during the first half of the century. Like its neighbours, Uruguay and Argentina, the country went through an intense period of nation building and invention of tradition. At the same 1 I would like to thank Leslie Bethell, Rory Miller, and James Dunkerley for their invitation and hospitality during the ‘Football in the Americas ’ Conference. I would also like to thank the late Eduardo Archetti for my first introduction into the international football academic fraternity, through which I was able to collaborate in some of Richard Giulianotti’s projects. I would therefore like to dedicate this article to the memory of Eduardo Archetti, an old friend since the 1970s, a great anthropologist uniting colleagues from Europe to Latin America, who sadly is no longer among us. 2 It is well known that the construction of a national identity is, paradoxically, mediated by international factors such as shared social and historical transformations, common channels of communication, and a sharp attention to what other countries consider to be markers o