On July 26, 1950, everything in Brazil was that the people of that country were on their way to celebrate their first World Cup title, and they were only 90 minutes away from that achievement.
That version was held in Brazil in particular, after the end of the Second World War, and the International Football Association (FIFA) succeeded in reviving the tournament, despite many challenges and obstacles.
The tournament system changed, to stabilize the group system in the first round and the final stage, after “FIFA” succumbed to the demands of the Brazilians, who threatened to withdraw from hosting the tournament.
The story of the 1950 World Cup Final
After the first round matches were held between 4 groups that included 13 teams, the leaders of Brazil, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay qualified for the second stage.
The hosts crushed Sweden and Spain in every sense of the word, so they played against the first and won 7-1, and they repeated the same thing against the second with a score of 6-1.
As for Uruguay, it was forced to share the points of its first match with Spain after a 2-2 draw, before snatching a late victory from Sweden 3-2, with Oscar Miguez scoring the winning goal 5 minutes before the end.
Remembering a Uruguay legend, who passed away 1⃣7⃣ years ago today.
Juan Alberto Schiaffino starred in the 1950 #WorldCup final, scoring one of the goals that broke Brazilian hearts in the fabled Maracanazo 🇺🇾🏆 @Uruguay |
#OnThisDay pic.twitter.com/nGfdnlb0RT
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) November 13, 2019
In light of these results, the third and final round match between Brazil and Uruguay became the final, in which the "samba dancers" needed at least a tie result, to unleash their joys, while "Celeste" had to win only.
blind trust
During the three days leading up to the final match, the Brazilians woven their dreams, seeing their players only as world champions, and no one there thought that anything might happen to upset their mood and spoil their celebrations.
The Brazilians reached the point of blind confidence, especially after scoring 13 goals in two matches, to the point that Angelo Mendes de Moraes, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, addressed the players, saying, "At the end of this day you will be world champions, no one on the face of the globe can stop you."
Brazilian newspapers raced to make headlines the day before that match, with Gazeta Sportiva printing a group photo of the national team on its front page with the headline “These are the world champions,” while O Mundo wrote, “Tomorrow we will defeat Uruguay.”
Things did not stop here, but extended to the Brazilians engraving the names of their players on 22 gold medals, in addition to all this, nearly 200,000 spectators marched to the stands of the “Maracana” stadium (a tenth of the city’s population, according to the BBC), which is the largest crowd in the world. History of the World Cup Finals.
On this, Alcidis Guigia, the Uruguayan player, said, "Brazil fans were jumping with joy as if they had already won the World Cup, everyone was saying that they would beat us with 3 or 4 goals."
On the green rectangle, Friaca brought the Brazilian dream closer than ever, when he scored the lead two minutes after the start of the second half, but Juan Schiavino returned the match to zero by scoring the equalizer in the 66th minute.
The goal that broke the Brazilians
Giggia shut the Brazilian throats by scoring the second goal for Uruguay in the 79th minute, a goal that the hosts were unable to compensate in the remaining minutes of the shock, while a terrible silence ran in the stands that were just full of noise.
About that goal, Guigia said, "I had a split second to decide what to do, I decided to shoot directly, and the ball went into the net from the post, it was the best goal I've ever scored in my life."
He added, "I noticed that silence fell on the place; 3 men succeeded in silencing the Maracana; Frank Sinatra (international American singer) and me and Pope John Paul II."
After the end of the match, Brazilian hospitals received dozens of cases of people who could not stand the shock;
At least 17 people died, dozens attempted suicide, and a general strike prevailed in the country.
Restaurants and bars closed their doors in Rio de Janeiro in particular and in Brazil in general, and headlines shifted from "world champions" to "drama, tragedy and farce."
The match was later known as 'Maracanazo', a term referring to this dark and disastrous day in Brazilian football history, meaning 'The Maracana's Great Strike'.
The white color (Brazil's dress at the time) was considered an ominous counterpart to the "samba dancers", so that the Brazilian Confederation of the Game decided not to wear it at all, and it was replaced by a yellow shirt and blue shorts.
24 days left until the World Cup
• 1950: @Uruguay 🇺🇾 2-1 🇧🇷 @CBF_Futebol pic.twitter.com/LY4Bir1Ds6
— Uruguay Football ENG (@UruguayFootENG) October 28, 2022
Brazil goalkeeper Pipes Barbosa was also subjected to a wave of harsh criticism, and the fans of his country blamed him for the second goal, so he decided to lock himself in his home until he died in it 50 years later, specifically on the seventh of April 2000.
A few days before his death, he complained that he was the only Brazilian to have been sentenced to life, even though the maximum penalties under Brazilian legislation are 30 years.
And left-back Begodi was also a scapegoat for the press, after Gigia eluded him twice before scoring, and said in this regard, "I thought about suicide, this was the right option for me. Then I said to myself even in my death that people will hate me forever."
After that, Brazilian football legend Pele admitted that for the first time in his life he saw his father crying, because of the loss of the Brazilian dream of winning the World Cup.
Pele was nine years old at the time, and stated that he promised to raise the cup one day, and did it 3 times.
Although Samba won the World Cup 5 times after that (1958, 1962, 1966, 1994 and 2002), Guigia confirmed that the Brazilians admitted to him on every visit to the country that they still felt the pain of “Maracanazo”.
"In fact, it was a severe blow to them, the Brazilians were celebrating that they were going to be world champions, but things went exactly the opposite," Gugia said.
It is interesting to note that Giggia, who died on July 16, 2015, was received in Brazil in a friendly manner after his arrival in 2013, to attend the draw for the 2014 World Cup finals.
Players "barefoot"
The World Cup was suspended for 12 years due to the World War, after which FIFA decided in 1946 to name the cup Jules Rimet due to "the services he provided during the war", and announced the accession of the British Federation to its custody after a radical dispute, and the membership of the Soviet Union was accepted.
The choice of Brazil was natural, because most European countries were emerging from a deadly war that destroyed their economy and infrastructure.
The finals took place from 24 June to 16 July, with the participation of 13 teams: 6 from Europe, 5 from South America, and 2 from North America.
Despite their elimination in the qualifiers, Portugal was invited instead of the withdrawing Turkey and changed its mind, while France demanded a change in its playing program in two cities 3,500 km away, and its request was rejected.
As for India, its players refused to participate because they were not allowed to play "barefoot"!
4/22
Superball Duplo T
Brasil 1950
This was the first world cup to use a valved ball rather than laced.
The poster design is by J Ney Damasceno.
Little is known abouth him, the design being chosen through a competition.
pic.twitter.com/5GGKJZ3dyN
— Matchball Displays (@MatchballD) November 2, 2022
A big surprise was scored in the tournament, with the submerged United States defeating England, the birthplace of the game, in Belo Horizonte, with the goal of Joe Gaetgens, a Haitian-born who also worked as a dishwasher in a restaurant.
At that time, the English rested their international star, Stanley Matthews, due to the ease of the match in front of a group of amateurs and semi-professionals.
Italy, champions of the last two editions, arrived but were not favourites, as training methods have changed since the third edition.
The first round confirmed that the competition will be limited to the hosts Brazil and the returning strong Uruguay, which swept Bolivia 8-0, while Brazil swept Sweden 7-1 and Spain 6-1 in the decisive round before the last dramatic match, and Uruguay narrowly beat Sweden 3-2 and drew with Spain 2-2.