With Pele reportedly injured during the tournament, Garrincha assumed the leading role for Brazil. The shift could have unsettled the reigning champions, but his unpredictability gave the team a new attacking reference point.
He was a dribbler who seemed to move by his own rules. Defenders struggled to read whether he would go inside or outside, while his comfort on either foot made him difficult to contain. His powerful shooting added another threat to the tricks and sudden changes of direction.
The report says Garrincha became the decisive figure as Brazil remained a force without its most celebrated star.
Garrincha’s 1962 campaign also occupies a special place in World Cup history. The report credits him with winning the tournament, the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot at the same finals - a treble regarded as unprecedented at the time.
That combination captures his influence. He was not merely a spectacular entertainer; he was the player opponents had to stop and the figure Brazil relied on when the tournament changed course.
The contrast between Garrincha’s football and his private life was stark. Reports describe alcohol dependency, a turbulent personal life and serious financial problems in his later years. The same account says he died in 1983, with cirrhosis of the liver recorded as the official cause.
That difficult ending should not erase the joy he gave supporters, but it remains part of the full story. Garrincha’s legacy is both glorious and painful: a footballer capable of making the impossible look effortless, yet unable to escape the pressures beyond the pitch.
Future retrospectives on Brazil’s great teams will continue to return to 1962. The lasting question is whether any winger can again combine tournament dominance, individual honours and such unforgettable freedom with the ball.