With the World Cup coming up, I was trying to get some history on the subject. There are many sources that say Brazil changed the color of their kit (shirts and shorts) when they lost the cup to Uruguay in the 1950 final, out of not wanting to be jinxed (and to sort of wash away the embarrassment). Even the Wiki page on the match says this specific section of the page needs a citation still.
I can't find any legitimate sources on this and I was wondering if any of you guys had any idea whether or not this is just jive or if there is indeed something that points to this statement having been expressed or legitimized in some way.
Found this in Alex Bellos,"Futebol, the Brazilian Way of Life" London 2002
Brazil played the 1950 World Cup in white shirts with blue collars. The colours were not immune from blame. They were deemed not sufficiently nationalistic. For Rio newspaper Correio da Manha the white strip suffered from a "psychological and moral lack of symbolism". With the support of the Brazilian Sports Confederation, football's national body, the paper launched an open competition to devise a strip using all the colours of the Brazilian flag: blue, white, green and yellow. The national team would use the winner's design in the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland.
The competition was won by 19 year old Aldyr Garcia Schlee, who Bellos interviewed for the book, and his design is the iconic one used to this day.
EDIT which I realise is Wikipedia's source on this as well- but Bellos quotes Aldyr at some length about the competition and his design. pp 64-68 of the paperback edition.
I have heard - and perhaps someone who knows can comment - that none of the players who played in the Maracanazo ever represented Brazil again. So is there an element of "change the kit to draw the line under this, have a new start"?