Moacir Barbosa Nascimento
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Moacyr Barbosa Nascimento | ||
| Date of birth | 27 March 1921 | ||
| Place of birth | Campinas, Brazil | ||
| Date of death | 7 April 2000 (aged 79) | ||
| Place of death | Praia Grande, Brazil | ||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[1] | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1940–1941 | ADCI-SP | ||
| 1942–1944 | Ypiranga-SP | ||
| 1945–1955 | Vasco da Gama | ||
| 1956 | → Bonsucesso (loan) | ||
| 1957 | Santa Cruz | ||
| 1958-1960 | Vasco da Gama | ||
| 1962 | Campo Grande | ||
| National team | |||
| 1949–1953 | Brazil | 17 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Moacyr Barbosa Nascimento (27 March 1921 – 7 April 2000) was a Brazilian international football goalkeeper whose career spanned 22 years. He was one of the world's best goalkeepers in the 1940s and 1950s and known for not wearing gloves because he wanted to feel the ball with his bare hands. Although he won many trophies, his fame is mainly associated with the defeat of Brazil in the decisive match of the World Cup 1950 against Uruguay. He died of a heart attack at age 79, almost penniless.[2]
Success with Vasco da Gama
On the club level he had his greatest successes with CR Vasco da Gama, Rio de Janeiro. He won several trophies with this side, including in 1948 the Campeonato Sul-Americano de Campeões, the initial precursor to the Copa Libertadores
Copa America 1949
With the national side he won the Copa America of 1949. The 7–0 win over Paraguay remains to date the highest victory in a final of this competition.
The 1950 match and its aftermath
In 1950 Brazil played Uruguay in the decisive match of the World Cup finals at the Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil was heavily favoured to win, but despite scoring first, Brazil lost 2–1 when Alcides Ghiggia scored the winning goal for Uruguay in the 79th minute after skillfully dribbling past Brazilian defender Bigode and then drilling the ball into the net while Barbosa was out of position expecting a cross into the middle of the pitch. The loss stunned Brazilians and plunged the country into mourning, over what became known as the Maracanazo, or "the Maracana blow."
Barbosa was blamed for the defeat, for which he suffered for this for the rest of his life as the match became part of Brazilian folklore. In 2000, shortly before his death, he said in an interview: "The maximum punishment in Brazil is 30 years imprisonment, but I have been paying, for something I am not even responsible for, by now, for 50 years."[3] In 1993, the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, Ricardo Teixeira, did not allow him to be commentator during the broadcast of one of Brazil's international matches.[4] He was also turned away from a Brazil training session on one occasion out of fear of his being a jinx for the team.
In 1963, Barbosa was presented with the old square wooden goalposts from the Maracanã as a present, which he took home and burned.[5]
Honors
With Brazil:
- Copa América: 1949
Club Level:
- Campeonato Sul-Americano de Campeões: 1948
- Torneio Rio-São Paulo: 1958
- Campeonato Carioca: 1945, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1958
Unofficial Tournaments
With Brasil:
- Copa Roca (inoff.)¹: 1945
- Copa Rio Branco (inoff.)²: 1947, 1950
¹) irregular friendly tournament between Brazil and Argentina
²) irregular friendly tournament between Brazil and Uruguay
Club Level:
- Torneio Quadrangular do Rio (inoff.)¹: 1953
- Torneio Internacional de Santiago de Chile (inoff.)²: 1953
¹) with CR Vasco da Gama, CR Flamengo (both R.d Janeiro), CA Boca Juniors and. Racing Club (both Argentina)
²) with CR Vasco da Gama, Millonarios (Bogotá) and CSD Colo-Colo (Santiago)
In popular culture
Barbosa plays a large role in Ian McDonald's science fiction novel Brasyl. Barbosa is the main subject of the novel "The Last Save of Moacyr Barbosa" by Darwin Pastorin.
There is also a Brazilian short film named Barbosa premiered in 1988, in which a 49-years old man travels back in time trying to avoid Ghiggia's goal. [6]
References
- ↑ "Brazil - Moacyr Barbosa Nascimento - Profile with news, career statistics and history". Retrieved 3 August 2011.
- ↑ Bellos, Alex (13 April 2000). "Moacyr Barbosa". The Guardian (London).
- ↑ Top 10 World Cup Goalkeeping Blunders
- ↑ Maracanã, the largest stadium of the world – Sambafoot.com
- ↑ "Unforgiven". Soccer Tactics (via Google Knol). 21 November 2008. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
- ↑ Casa do Cinema de Porto Alegre - Barbosa
External links
- El Mundo (Spain) – Obituary
- Casa do Cinema de Porto Alegre – Barbosa the film
Books
- Darwin Pastorin, L'ultima parata di Moacyr Barbosa (The Last Save of Moacyr Barbosa) Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 2005 (Published in Italy)
- Alex Bellos, Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life, Bloomsbury, 2002
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