When The Brazilian National Football Team was the “Escrete Nacional”

I remember many songs that, in 1958, celebrated Brazil’s victory in its first World Cup. One of them especially stuck in my memory. Its lyrics went, in part: Gilmar, De Sordi, Bellini; Zito, Orlando, Nílton Santos; Garrincha, Didi, Vavá, Pelé, Zagallo, eis o escrete nacional…

There are two interesting things to note. The first is that the lyrics were written before the final against Sweden. Because of that, the lineup mentioned De Sordi, not Djalma Santos.

Nílton de Sordi was a right fullback from São Paulo FC who played in all the matches of that World Cup, except the last one. That’s when Djalma Santos, from Portuguesa de Desportos, came in. Over the years, Djalma became far more famous and was the undisputed starter in the following World Cup, in 1962, by which time he was playing for Palmeiras.

The second observation is about the part of the lyrics that says “escrete nacional.” It brings to mind the fact that football arrived in Brazil by way of our compatriots of British origin who had gone to study in England. They brought back not only the footballs but also an entire vocabulary that sounded rather exotic to Brazilian ears.

That’s how the English expression “scratch team” became “escrete” for many, many decades in Brazilian football, only later being replaced by Seleção, Seleção Nacional, Seleção Canarinho, and so on.

But we should note that, in the original English, the word “scratch” referred to a team put together somewhat hastily, improvised — a group formed from readily available players from different clubs, not necessarily the best that could be recruited throughout the country.

It wasn’t the idea we have today of gathering the best of the best and putting them through a long preparation period to adequately represent the country in a World Cup.

But the fact remains that that “escrete nacional” undoubtedly represented Brazil very well there in Sweden.