Alcides Ghiggia

Alcides Ghiggia

Ghiggia in 2006
Personal information
Full nameAlcides Edgardo Ghiggia
Date of birth22 December 1926
Place of birthMontevideo, Uruguay
Height1.69 m (5 ft 6 1⁄2 in)
Playing positionWinger
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1948–1953Peñarol169(26)
1953–1961Roma201(19)
1961–1962Milan4(0)
1962–1967Danubio128(12)
Total502(57)
National team
1950–1952[1]Uruguay12(4)
1957–1959[1]Italy5(1)
Teams managed
1980Peñarol
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Alcides Edgardo Ghiggia (born 22 December 1926) is an Italian-Uruguayan football player, who played as a right winger. He achieved lasting fame for his decisive role in the final match of the 1950 World Cup. He is also the only surviving member of the Uruguayan team that defeated Brazil in that particular game.[2]

Biography

He played for the national sides of both Uruguay and Italy during his career. He also played for the club sides of the Peñarol and Danubio in Uruguay and A.S. Roma and A.C. Milan in Italy.

Roberto Muylaert compares the black and white film of this goal with Abraham Zapruder's chance images of the Kennedy assassination in Dallas. The goal and the shot that killed the US President have "the same dramatic pattern… the same movement… the same precision of an unstoppable trajectory…. They even have the dust in common that was stirred up, here by a rifle and there by Ghiggia's left foot."[3]

He managed C.A. Peñarol in 1980.[4]

On 29 December 2009, Brazil honoured Ghiggia by celebrating his decisive goal in the 2–1 Uruguay victory over Brazil in the final match of the 1950 FIFA World Cup. So Ghiggia returned to Maracanã Stadium almost 60 years later for this honour and planted his feet in a mould to take his place alongside greats including Brazil's Pelé, Portugal's Eusébio and Germany's Franz Beckenbauer at the Maracanã Stadium walk of fame. Alcides Ghiggia was very emotional and thanked Brazil for the warm reception and recognition even when the game is remembered as the most disappointing match in Brazilian football history known as "Maracanazo."[5]

Honours

Club

Uruguay Peñarol
Italy Roma
Italy Milan

National

Individual

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/ghiggia-intlg.html
  2. ↑ Bruce Douglas (20 May 2014). "World Cup stories: Ghiggia - the 'ghost' who silenced the Maracana". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  3. ↑ Bellos, Alex (2005). Futebol The Brazilian Way of Life. Bloomsbury, New York and London.
  4. ↑ http://girasolweb.tripod.com/tecnicos.htm
  5. ↑ "Brazil's Tormentor Ghiggia Honoured at Maracana ". The New York Times. 29 December 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-29.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alcides Ghiggia.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Arcadio Venturi		 Roma captain
1957-1958 		Succeeded by
Egidio Guarnacci