Even the descriptor - jogo bonito - is Brazilian, the phrase the South Americans coined to categorise the way they played soccer.

Depending on your age and when you started watching the sport, everyone has a host of memories of great, or surprising, Brazilian teams and performances.

Mine begin as a nine-year-old, watching the 1966 World Cup when England, on home soil, scored an epic triumph.

But just as resounding a memory of that tournament is that of Pele, the greatest player in the world, being persistently fouled and assaulted in Brazil's first group game by the Bulgarians.

They won that encounter but Pele was so badly hurt that he missed the next match, a defeat to Hungary.

That left the Brazilians needing to win their final game against their one-time colonial masters Portugal.

The Portuguese kicked, fouled and assaulted Pele to ensure he made no contribution in the game. These were the days before substitutes and where referees let a lot more go.

Brazil were beaten and eliminated from the tournament at the group stage - astonishing, given that they had won the two previous World Cups. His treatment left as big an impression on me as England's triumph.

Normal service was resumed four years later and as a football crazy 13-year-old I sat up late into the night watching the masters regain their crown in that dazzling tournament in Mexico in 1970.

Grainy images on satellite, delays in transmissions and echoing commentary could not hide the brilliance and beauty of Brazil, with Pele to the fore. They beat Italy 4-1 in the final with a fourth goal of exquisite grace and timing in which Pele played a crucial role.

And for those younger than me there will be other defining memories.

The 1974 World Cup saw an ugly Brazil, all physical and pragmatic, their stylistic crown taken by the magisterial Dutch.

But in 1982 the Brazil of Socrates, Junior, Falcao et al captivated and delighted until they too fell in a wonderful game, losing 3-2 to eventual winners Italy.

Brazil didn't regain the World Cup until 1994, in the US, but that was a team that delighted with Romario and Bebeto up front.

Four years later, the 1994 winners were bolstered by Ronaldo - the phenomenon, as those in Brazil knew him - but were beaten in the final by hosts France.

They regained the trophy again in 2002, a team with Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos and Cafu too good for Germany in the final.

Perhaps my most astonishing memory of Brazil, however, came more recently.

Covering the 2014 tournament I was at the Estadio Mineiro for their semi-final with the impressive Germans.

Everyone expected a tense, tight, taut affair, the Germans, with plenty of flair themselves, looking to contain the flamboyant Brazilians roared on by their fanatical home fans.

It was one of the strangest games I have ever seen. Far from stamping themselves on their own tournament, the Brazilians collapsed completely, losing 7-1 to the team that would eventually go on to win the title.

At the time I wrote that it was as if the world had turned upside down and inside out, using soccer as its metaphor.

Brazil have given us some of the best moments in the history of the game, some of the best players, the most beautiful moves and the greatest performances.

But, as they showed that night in Belo Horizone, they are capable of delivering the most memorable - for the wrong reasons too.