Scotland’s first ever match against Brazil took place on this day in 1966 when a crowd of around 75,000 turned up at Hampden on the Saturday evening for a friendly between the two footballing nations. And there were queues still outside who missed the early action and of course the early goal.
The Brazil side featured the likes of Pele, Jairzinho and Servilio who scored the goal for the visitors in a 1-1 draw and the Scotland side featured two Celts John Clark – responsible for ensuring that Pele had a quiet game – and Stevie Chalmers who got Scotland off to a brilliant start opening the scoring with just 38 seconds played!
This was a friendly match ahead of the World Cup in England which Brazil had high hopes of winning. Brazil were back-to-back world champions in 1958 and 1962, but they couldn’t get a win against a Scotland side which had not qualified. Scotland’s draw against the reigning World Champions was bettered the following year at Wembley when Scotland outplayed the new World Champions who were flattered by a final scoreline that read England 2 Scotland 3.
The Scotland team that afternoon in April 1967 featured Ronnie Simpson, Tommy Gemmell, Willie Wallace and Bobby Lennox.
Here’s a Brazilian video of the action from the Scotland v Brazil friendly on this day in 1966 which shows the goals…
David Potter’s new book, Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style is featured in the new edition of the Celtic View which is out now and available from the Celtic Stores. You can also pick up the Willie Fernie book there too or order direct from Celtic Star Books, link below…
