¡El Maracanãzo!

When I lived in Uruguay the World Cup was going on in Germany. At the time I was living roughly 6 blocks from the Brazilian border. It was pretty much a big city that was cut in half by an imaginary international line, yet everyone spoke portuguese.

White Line: International Border
Red A: My house

Uruguay didn't qualify, and Brazil had won it's group handily and just destroyed Ghana (who kept the USMNT out). So living there I could definitely tell my beloved Uruguay was in the shadow of mighty Brasil. I was having lunch with my friend Julio and talking futbol when he mentioned "El Maracanazo." For me this is probably the most in-your-face underdog story that I've ever heard in football, nay all sports- I'm looking at you "Rudy."

Let's go back to 1950. It had been 12 years since the last WC because of WWII. Earth was starving for football. The host nation was Brasil and the Samba Boys. They had just won their 2 previous playoff games by a deficit of +11. They were set to play little Uruguay in the final match to seal their place as the Champions. I'll use Wikipedia to help tell the story-

"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 team sports match that remains to this day)"

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.

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.", literally: "Boys, the outsiders are wooden.", roughly meaning that Brazilian fans had nothing to do with the match, and the game was to be played inside the field.

Summary

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!"

 (Is it weird that I have a man-crush on a guy who died 15 years ago?)

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.

"The Higher You Are The Harder You'll Fall"

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. 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.

If you listen close at around 2:17, you can hear the announcer begin to cry.

¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡GOL URUGUAYO!




I love Futbol Uruguayo. This story just adds to how much of a fan I am. They are no longer the kid brother of South America, the role they have played for a long, long time. FIFA has had them ranked in the top 10 for almost 2 years now. They have been in front of Argentina and Brasil for months, and trail only Spain, Netherlands, and Germany. They are the kings of South America and breezed their way through the Copa America final defeating Paraguay 3-0 this past summer. 


¡VIVA LA CELESTE!