I'm Joe Devine and welcome to Whiteboard Football Extra.

Today I'm joined by Paul Ansorge to discuss the Brazil World Cup in 1950, home to the game now nicknamed Maricanazzo, arguably the football game which had the most devastating effect on a nation of a team involved.

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Paul, at this particular World Cup, 1950, must have had a slightly surreal feel to it,

being the first tournament since the end of the war, with countries like Germany and Japan,

unable to participate, and other countries like Hungary, choosing not to attend. It must have been quite a conflicting tournament in that regard,

because obviously on the one hand,

it might be seen as a celebration and the world,

getting back on its feet after the conflict.

But on the other hand, it probably would feel quite surreal,

given the context only a few years earlier.

Yeah, it's a really interesting thing to think about, isn't it?

I mean, on one hand, you have the complexities of international politics and how they affected this tournament.

But on the other hand, you also have the fact that there are a lot of minor controversies about

various different teams and whether or not the World Cup would be taken particularly seriously.

So, 1950, you'd think that maybe England would have had a pretty good excuse not to join in in 1950.

Rationing was still

happening in the country, the scars of war was still very fresh. But actually, this was the first

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