Uruguay v Brazil (1950 FIFA World Cup)

Maracanazo redirects here. For the stadium, see Estádio do Maracanã

Uruguay vs Brazil was the decisive match of the final group stage at the 1950 FIFA World Cup. The match was played at the Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 16 July 1950. With Brazil one point ahead of Uruguay going into the match, Uruguay needed a win while Brazil needed only to avoid defeat to claim the title of world champions.

Brazil took the lead shortly after half-time through Friaça, but Juan Alberto Schiaffino equalised for Uruguay mid-way through the half before Alcides Ghiggia hit the winning goal with just 11 minutes remaining in the match. The result is considered to be one of the biggest upsets in football history,^[1] and the term Maracanazo (Portuguese: Maracanaço, pronounced [maɾakɐˈnasu], roughly translated as "The Maracanã Blow") has become synonymous with the match.

Background

The road to the title in the 1950 World Cup was unique; instead of a knockout stage, the preliminary group stage was followed by another round-robin group. The final four teams were Brazil (host country and joint-top scorers from the group stage), Uruguay (who only had to play one match in their group, an 8–0 thrashing of Bolivia), Spain (who won all three of their group matches, against England, Chile and the United States), and Sweden (who qualified ahead of defending world champions, Italy, and Paraguay).

Brazil won both of their first two matches convincingly, beating Sweden 7–1 and Spain 6–1 to go top of the group with four points going into the final match. With three points, Uruguay were close behind in second place, although they had had to come back from 2–1 down to draw 2–2 with Spain, before beating Sweden 3–2, the winning goal coming just five minutes from time. Coincidentally, and not by design, this resulted in the teams' final positions hinging on the last two fixtures. The match between Sweden and Spain would determine which team would take third place, with Sweden needing a win to move ahead of Spain, while Spain would claim third place with a draw. The match between Brazil and Uruguay, on the other hand, would decide the title; a draw would grant Brazil the title, whereas Uruguay had to win the match in order to win the championship. The game is often listed as the 1950 World Cup Final, although strictly speaking this was not the case; it was merely the decisive match in the tournament.^[2]

Anticipated celebration

The specialised press and the general public had already started claiming Brazil as the new world champions for days prior to the final match, and they had reasons to do so. Brazil had won their last two matches with a very attack-minded style of play against which all efforts had proved fruitless. Uruguay, however, had encountered difficulties in their matches with Spain and Sweden, managing only a draw against Spain and a narrow victory over Sweden. When those results were compared, it seemed that the Brazilians were set to defeat Uruguay as easily as they had dispensed with Spain and Sweden.

On the morning of 16 July 1950, the streets of Rio de Janeiro were bustling with activity. An improvised carnival was organised, with thousands of signs celebrating the world title, and chants of "Brazil must win!". This spirit never ceased, right up until the final minutes of the match, which filled the Maracanã stadium with a paid attendance of 173,830 and an attendance estimated to be about 210,000 (a record for a football match that remains to this day).^[3]

How Uruguay prepared

The Brazilian newspaper O Mundo printed an early edition on the day of the final containing a photograph of Brazil with the caption "These are the world champions". Uruguay's captain Obdulio Varela bought as many copies as he could, laid them on his bathroom floor and encouraged his teammates to urinate on them.^[4]

In Uruguay's locker room in the moments prior to the match, coach Juan López informed his team that their best chance of surviving the powerful offensive line of Brazil would come through adopting a defensive strategy. After he left, Obdulio Varela, captain of the team, stood up and addressed the team himself, saying "Juancito is a good man, but today, he is wrong. If we play defensively against Brazil, our fate will be no different from Spain or Sweden". Varela then delivered an emotional speech about how they must face all the odds and not to be intimidated by the fans or the opposing team. The speech, as was later confirmed, played a huge part in the final outcome of the game. In response to his squad's underdog status, the captain delivered the memorable line, "Muchachos, los de afuera son de palo. Que comience la función", which could be translated as "Boys, the crowd are to be disregarded (literally, "made of wood"). Let the show begin."

Match

Details

Summary

The game began as form predicted: Brazilian attacks against the Uruguayan defensive line, for the majority of the first half. Unlike Spain and Sweden, however, the Uruguayans managed to maintain their defence and the first half ended scoreless.

Brazil scored the first goal of the match only two minutes after the interval. After the goal Varela took the ball and disputed the validity of the goal to the referee (arguing that the player was offside). Varela drew out this argument intentionally, to the extent that he even forced the referee to bring out an interpretator. By the time the conversation ended the crowd had calmed down, then took the ball to the center of the field, and shouted to his team, "Now, it's time to win!"

Uruguay managed to turn control the game against Brazil. When faced with a capable Uruguayan attack, Brazil showed their defensive frailty, and Juan Alberto Schiaffino scored the equaliser in the 66th minute. Later, Alcides Edgardo Ghiggia, running down the right side of the field, scored another goal, with only 11 minutes remaining on the clock. The crowd was virtually silent after the second Uruguay goal until English referee George Reader signalled the end of the match with Uruguay winning 2–1. Former FIFA president and originator of the World Cup, Jules Rimet, commented about what happened, "The silence was morbid, sometimes too difficult to bear". The once roaring crowd of two hundred thousand people stood in disbelief as they were being "stripped" of a title they had already considered rightfully theirs.

Aftermath

Jules Rimet had already prepared a speech in Portuguese to congratulate the winners, whom he expected to be Brazil. The organisers of the World Cup left Rimet alone on the field, holding the trophy. There was no presentation ceremony for the Uruguay victory. Rimet had to call out for Varela in order to present him with the trophy. The Brazilian Football Confederation had made 22 gold medals with the names of the players imprinted on them (at that time, FIFA did not present medals to the winning team) which eventually had to be disposed of. A Brazilian victory song entitled "Brasil os vencedores" ("Brazil The Victors"), was composed several days prior to the final and was to be played in anticipation of a Brazilian win. The song was never performed.

In Brazil many newspapers refused to accept the fact that they had been defeated, famous radio journalist Ary Barroso (briefly) retired, and some fans even went so far as to commit suicide.^[6] The players of the time were vilified by the fans. Many went silently into retirement, while some others were never considered for the national team again. Unused squad members Nílton Santos and Carlos José Castilho won the FIFA World Cup in 1958 and 1962. Santos played in both finals whereas Castilho only played in the 1954 FIFA World Cup and in 2007 has was posthumousaly awarded the 1958 and 1962 winning medals as a squad member.

Brazil decided to change the design of their national uniforms after the defeat since they considered it to be a jinx. Before the Maracanazo, Brazil's home shirt was white with a blue neckline along with white shorts; this was changed to a yellow shirt with a green neckline along with blue shorts and plain white socks with green as a secondary colour.

"Maracanazo" as slang

The term Maracanazo is often used as a slang in Latin American football culture. It usually refers to the victory of an underdog playing in Maracanã stadium either against the Brazil national football team or against one of the so called quatro grandes (Portuguese for the big four, referring to the four most popular teams in the city; namely Flamengo, Vasco da Gama, Fluminense and Botafogo).

References

External links

• El Maracanazo y la leyenda- Como explicar lo inexplicable