Just came across this history lesson and video via the NYT Goal blog’s entry for this morning’s highly anticipated intra-lusophonal match:

And now, a history lesson. The Seleção and Selecção never played each other until 1956, but since then they have met 18 times. Brazil emerged the winner 12 times, with 2 draws, though most of the games were played in Brazil. Yet how often do you think these sister nations have clashed in anger? Answer: only once, at the 1966 World Cup … and Portugal won, 3-1.

That match at a packed Goodison Park in Liverpool — the meeting of the all-time greats Eusébio and Pelé — was the group finale for both teams, and it eliminated Brazil while sending Portugal on a path to the semifinals in their first World Cup appearance. Eusébio scored twice, but many remember the game for its hard fouls, especially the one from defender João Morais against Pelé:

There were no substitutions in those days, so Pelé played much of that game on a bad leg. But the fouling in that match and others at the ‘66 World Cup led to the institution of the red- and yellow-card system and FIFA’s long, gradual push to establish stern measures against dangerous fouls.

Awesome. Recall that 1966 was the only time between the years of 1954 (when West Germany defeated a superior Hungarian team) and 1974 (when West Germany defeated a superior Dutch team) that a team other than Brazil won the World Cup–the era of Pele, other than this ugly campaign in England.