Brazil at the 1978 FIFA World Cup

The Brazil national football team played in the 1978 FIFA World Cup, and continued to maintained their record of being the only team to enter every World Cup Finals.

Brazil finished in third place, having failed to top their group in the second group phase.

Qualifying edit

1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL Group 1)

February 20, 1977, Bogotá, Colombia - Colombia 0 - 0 Brazil
March 9, 1977, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Brazil 6 - 0 Colombia
March 13, 1977, Asunción, Paraguay - Paraguay 0 - 1 Brazil
March 20, 1977, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Brazil 1 - 1 Paraguay

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Brazil	6	4	2	2	0	8	1	+7
2	Paraguay	4	4	1	2	1	3	3	0
3	Colombia	2	4	0	2	2	1	8	−7

Brazil advanced to the final round.

1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (Final round)

July 10, 1977, Cali, Colombia - Brazil 1 - 0 Peru
July 14, 1977, Cali, Colombia - Brazil 8 - 0 Bolivia

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Brazil	4	2	2	0	9	0	+9
2	Peru	2	2	1	1	5	1	+4
3	Bolivia	0	2	0	2	0	13	−13

Brazil and Peru qualified.

The Cup edit

First round edit

Group 3

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Austria	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	4
Brazil	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	4
Spain	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	3
Sweden	3	0	1	2	1	3	−2	1

3 June 1978

13:45 ART

Brazil	1 – 1	Sweden
Reinaldo 45'	Report	Sjöberg 37'

Estadio José Maria Minella, Mar del Plata

Attendance: 32,569

Referee: Clive Thomas (Wales)

7 June 1978

13:45 ART

Brazil	0 – 0	Spain
	Report

Estadio José Maria Minella, Mar del Plata

Attendance: 34,771

Referee: Sergio Gonella (Italy)

11 June 1978

13:45 ART

Brazil	1 – 0	Austria
Roberto Dinamite 40'	Report

Estadio José Maria Minella, Mar del Plata

Attendance: 35,221

Referee: Robert Wurtz (France)

Second round edit

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Argentina	3	2	1	0	8	0	+8	5
Brazil	3	2	1	0	6	1	+5	5
Poland	3	1	0	2	2	5	−3	2
Peru	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

Argentina qualified for the final match, and Brazil qualified for the third place match.

14 June 1978

16:45 ART

Peru	0 – 3	Brazil
	Report	Dirceu 15', 27' Zico 72' (pen.)

Estadio Ciudad de Mendoza, Mendoza

Attendance: 31,278

Referee: Nicolae Rainea (Romania)

18 June 1978

19:15 ART

Argentina	0 – 0	Brazil
	Report

Estadio Gigante de Arroyito, Rosario

Attendance: 37,326

Referee: Károly Palotai (Hungary)

21 June 1978

16:45 ART

Poland	1 – 3	Brazil
Lato 45'	Report	Nelinho 13' Roberto Dinamite 58', 63'

Estadio Ciudad de Mendoza, Mendoza

Attendance: 39,586

Referee: Juan Silvagno Cavanna (Chile)

Third-place match edit

24 June 1978

15:00 ART

Brazil	2 – 1	Italy
Nelinho 64' Dirceu 71'	Report	Causio 38'

Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires

Attendance: 69,659

Referee: Abraham Klein (Israel)

Starting 11 edit

No.	Pos.	Name	MS	Notes
1	GK	Leão	7
16	RB	Neto	4	Nelinho had three starts
3	CB	Oscar	7
4	CB	Amaral	7
2	LB	Toninho	6	Edinho had two starts
19	RM	Mendonça	4	Zico had three starts
17	CM	Batista	7
5	CM	Cerezo	7
11	LM	Dirceu	6	Rivellino had one start
18	CF	Gil	6
20	CF	Dinamite	5	Reinaldo had two starts