Communism, Nasa and a place for Pelé: how Brazil prepared for the 1970 World Cup | Brazil

In January 1969, João Saldanha was appointed as Brazil’s coach. Saldanha was barely a coach – he had had a brief spell in charge of Botafogo more than a decade earlier. He was an immensely popular football journalist, who with typewriter or microphone had the fluent gift of communication, talking about the game in language that was both fresh and straightforward, easy to understand. And…