# Chile 1962: the injury

> Pelé went to Chile as the world's best player but was injured in the second match; Brazil won the World Cup without him.

Source page: https://pele.wiki/footballer/chapters/chile-1962-the-injury
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1962_FIFA_World_Cup

- Began: 30 May 1962
- Ended: 17 June 1962

By 1962 Pelé was 21 and widely considered the best player in the world. Brazil arrived in Chile as holders, with much of the 1958 team still together: Gilmar, Djalma Santos, Nílton Santos, Zito, Didi, Garrincha, Vavá and Zagallo. The coach was Aymoré Moreira.

Brazil's first match was against Mexico in Viña del Mar on 30 May. The first half was goalless. In the 56th minute Pelé set up Zagallo, and in the 73rd he scored the second goal himself. Brazil won 2–0.

Three days later they played Czechoslovakia at the same ground. Pelé was injured while shooting from distance. Substitutes were not allowed, so he stayed on the field, barely able to take part. The match ended 0–0. The injury kept him out for the rest of the tournament.

Without him, Garrincha carried the team. He scored twice in the quarter-final against England and starred in the 4–2 semi-final win over Chile, though he was sent off in it. He was named the best player of the tournament. Amarildo, from Botafogo, took Pelé's place and scored twice against Spain in the last group match. In the final in Santiago on 17 June, Brazil came from behind to beat Czechoslovakia 3–1.

Brazil had become the second country, after Italy, to win two World Cups in a row. For Pelé the tournament was bittersweet. Under the rules of the time, only players who played in the final received a winner's medal, so he did not get one. FIFA changed that rule in 1978 to include whole squads, and in 2007 Pelé was finally presented with a medal for 1962.

He returned to the Brazil team the following spring. In the 1963 Roca Cup against Argentina he scored a hat-trick, and on a European tour that year he scored three more against France in Paris.

## Related

- What the chapter is about: [FIFA World Cup 1962](https://pele.wiki/footballer/tournaments/1962-fifa-world-cup), [Brazil 2–0 Mexico](https://pele.wiki/footballer/matches/brazil-2-0-mexico-1962), [Brazil 0–0 Czechoslovakia](https://pele.wiki/footballer/matches/brazil-0-0-czechoslovakia-1962), [Mexico](https://pele.wiki/footballer/teams/mexico-national-team), [Czechoslovakia](https://pele.wiki/footballer/teams/czechoslovakia-national-team), [Brazil](https://pele.wiki/footballer/teams/brazil), [Garrincha](https://pele.wiki/footballer/people/garrincha), [Didi](https://pele.wiki/footballer/people/didi), [Vavá](https://pele.wiki/footballer/people/vava), [Nílton Santos](https://pele.wiki/footballer/people/nilton-santos), [Mário Zagallo](https://pele.wiki/footballer/people/mario-zagallo), [FIFA World Cup winner, 1962](https://pele.wiki/footballer/honours/1962-world-cup-winner), [Chile](https://pele.wiki/footballer/locations/chile), [Viña del Mar](https://pele.wiki/footballer/locations/vina-del-mar), [Sausalito Stadium](https://pele.wiki/footballer/locations/sausalito-stadium)