The Brazil Independence Cup was an international football tournament held in Brazil, from 11 June to 9 July 1972, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Brazilian Declaration of Independence. It was called the Minicopa by the Brazilians and the final was between Brazil and Portugal, in the Maracanã Stadium. Brazil won 1–0, with Jairzinho scoring in the 89th minute.
Brazil no longer had Pelé but still had Tostão, Jairzinho and Rivellino, the later two also played in the 1974 FIFA World Cup, in West Germany.
Despite Portugal's quality results and team, including Benfica players such as Eusébio, Jaime Graça, José Henrique, Humberto Coelho, Rui Jordão, and Toni, the team missed the World Cup 1974 and 1978 qualifying matches, so this tournament was their best result until the 1984 European Football Championship.
Twenty teams competed; 18 national teams as well as two representative sides from Africa and CONCACAF (North and Central America and the Caribbean).
15 teams competed in the first round, while 5 teams (Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Scotland, Soviet Union, Uruguay) received byes to the final stage.
The teams are drawn into three groups of 5 teams. Each team plays each other team in its group once, earning 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw. The three first-placed teams advance to the final stage.
The 8 teams are drawn into two groups of 4 teams. Each team plays each other team in its group once, earning 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw.
The two group runners-up play each other in the third-place playoff.
The two group winners play each other in the final.
The tournament was played in 12 cities: Aracaju, Belo Horizonte, Campo Grande, Curitiba, Maceió, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo.
There were 57 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 3.56 goals per match.
13 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
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Leivinha
Jean-Pierre Tokoto
Carlos Lugo Jaime Morón Hernando Pineros
Charly Loubet
Mick Leech Eamonn Rogers
Parviz Ghelichkhani
Oswaldo Ramírez
Humberto Coelho Nené.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Paraguay_(1954%E2%80%931988).svg.png){kind=small}
Adalberto Escobar
Lou Macari
Edwin Reiner1 goal
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Ernesto Mastrángelo José Omar Pastoriza Ángel Vargas.svg/1280px-Bandera_de_Bolivia_(Estado).svg.png){kind=small}
Ramiro Blacutt Mario Pariente Jaime Rimazza
Laurent Pokou
Julio Crisosto Alberto Fouilloux Orlando Mesa
Anton Hrušecký
Miguel Coronel Georges Bereta Bernard Blanchet Louis Floch Marc Molitor.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Haiti_(1964%E2%80%931986).svg.png){kind=small}
Jean-Claude Désir Don Givens Mick Martin Turlough O'Connor Majid Halvaei Hernán Castañeda Alberto Gallardo Hugo Sotil Adolfo Calisto Jaime Graça Rui Jordão Fernando Peres Emigdio dos Santos Tiberio Godoy Lorenzo Jiménez
Vladimir Onishchenko
Ricardo Pavoni.svg/1280px-State_flag_of_Venezuela_(1954%E2%80%932006).svg.png){kind=small}
Ramón IriarteLuis Mendoza Asdrúbal Olivares.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Yugoslavia_(1946-1992).svg.png){kind=small}
Jovan Acimovic Danilo Popivoda Dragoslav Stepanovic3 own goals
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Fernando Bulnes (against France) Pedro Molinas (against Bolivia) Martin Buchan (against Yugoslavia)