Team no. 599. That's the Subbuteo football kit which burned its enticing image onto the back of my conscience as a 14-year-old boy. It belonged to Brazil, but this was no ordinary Brazil home kit. It possessed horizontal pinstripes and stripes across the shoulders - not uncommon back in 1985 - but why had I never seen it?
The back of my Subbuteo poster had the only clue I needed. This was Brazil's home kit from the 1984 Olympic soccer tournament, and by golly, it looked amazing.
I was tempted to buy it on spec, purely because of its modernity. It wouldn't be a problem for me to pretend this was the 'real' Brazil kit (i.e. the one worn in official international matches). Part of the experience of playing Subbuteo as a kid was blocking out the inconvenient impracticalities of this miniaturised version of football. Pretending a hardly-seen Olympic kit was the one Brazil were currently playing in for non-Olympic games would be a sinch. I was the master of make belief, don't you know.
In the end, I never did buy Subbuteo team 599, but it matters not. The fact this kit existed at all is good enough for me. I'm just sorry I didn't see it during the 1984 Olympic soccer tournament, but then again I was somewhat distracted by the exploits of Daley Thompson, Seb Coe, Carl Lewis and many others.
Did it bring them any success? Very nearly. Pitched in Group C, their main obstacle was a West Germany team returning to the Olympics for the first time since 1972. By beating them 1-0 in their second group match (after a 3-1 victory over Saudi Arabia), they entered their last match against Morocco knowing they'd already reached the quarter finals. They beat the Moroccans 2-0 anyway, and awaited a Canada side that scraped through from Group B only after winning their last match against Cameroon.
The quarter final proved more tricky for the Brazilians than they thought. Canada took the lead after 58 minutes when Dale Mitchell bundled the ball in from close range, and an equaliser wasn't found until 17 minutes from time when Gilmar scored after a similarly chaotic attack. After extra time, the score was still 1-1 and Brazil only made it through to the semis thanks to a 100% record with their four penalties in the ensuing shoot-out. Canada could only score twice and were eliminated from the tournament.
More extra time was needed when Brazil faced Italy, but this time penalties were avoided when Ronaldo Silva scored his one and only goal of the competition to give his side a 2-1 win. And so it was that Brazil marched on to the gold medal match at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, on Saturday 11th August 1984. They played France, a team that had laboured through their first round group but finished unbeaten prior to overcoming Egypt and Yugsolavia in the knockout stages. Perhaps crucially, they'd only ended up playing extra time once in the whole tournament in the 4-2 win over the Yugoslavs, and maybe it was Brazil's two consecutive extended matches that robbed them of the energy they needed to win the final.
Ultimately, Brazil were well beaten 2-0 by the French after the double whammy of a François Brisson header in the 56th minute and a fierce shot from Daniel Xuereb four minutes later. Brazil had nothing left to give, but their efforts across over 10 hours of football were rewarded with a silver medal for all concerned. A suitable prize for a Brazilian side far short of the quality seen by the international 'A' side in the 1982 World Cup, but that kit... surely it was worthy of a gold medal in its own right?
