Sunday, June 15, 2014

World Cup '74 Portrait #83 (Leao: Brazil)




graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm

Today featuring (Émerson) Leão, a sticker representing whom was included in both the FKS & Panini albums published to coincide with & celebrate the 1974 World Cup (the one in the latter serves as the original source image upon which the drawing is based, an enlarged photocopy of providing the immediate visual reference) &, having been selected as a member of the official Brazil squad for the tournament, then, as first-choice goalkeeper, appeared in all seven of his country’s matches on their way to a fourth-place finish, not conceding a goal until the fifth, against Argentina, although the three that followed, to Holland & subsequently Poland, condemned the Brazilians to that unsuccessful defence of the World Cup they’d won previously in 1970.

As with the previous two subjects, Leão’s is one of the names that can be recalled from the televisual experience of the finals, primarily, it’s to be assumed, precisely because their teams were featured more often in their respective advances to the latter stages &, through repetition, gradually became more memorable.

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