Because of a quirk in the tournament structure, all Brazil had to do to win the World Cup was tie against Uruguay in their final game. It was this whole atmosphere of like sporting bliss. All I had to do is get a draw of Uruguay in the last match. But then Uruguay scores about halfway through the second half. And there's just this relief that surges all around the crowd. Even the journalists run on and embrace the players. Because basically everyone there thinks the game is all over, that Brazil has won the World Cup. The stadium would have needed to be the size of the moon. Some estimate that there were 250,000 screaming fans packed into this flying saucer stadium,.
Back in 2017 we ran an episode about the history of Brazil's iconic, yellow national soccer jersey. We were reminded of that story during the recent world cup, and then again on January 8th as a mob of right wing rioters attacked the Brazilian capital, many of them wearing those iconic yellow shirts. Needless to say the story of the yellow jersey has taken some real twists and turns in recent years, so today we’re going to rerun the original story about the jersey’s origins, and then producer Emmett Fitzgerald is going to update us on everything that has happened since.
A Sea of Yellow