Archives for category: Maracanazo (the underdog)

Goodbye South Africa, Hello Brazil!

July 13, 10 //

Spain has done it! They have become the 8th country in the history of the World Cup to proudly boast a star on their roja shirts! I am very happy for Iniesta who scored the winning goal. First of all he proves wrong all those that think that you need to have a body builded corpulence to make it in football. Then I like this player’s style. He plays forward, knows when to pass the ball and when to keep it and is one of the rare confrontational dribblers out there. In my mind he was the best player of the final. Another decisive factor in Spain’s win was Fabregas’s entry. He brought fast forward movements to the Spanish side who I felt was sometimes playing too laterally with Xavi.

I was very disappointed by the Dutch. Where have they left their flamboyant football? It is now the second time that they leave a violent mark on the World Cup, the first time being the infamous eighth final against Portugal in 2006. The quatuor which I had thought could make the difference was unable to get sufficient ammunitions from the midfield and Van Persie was transparent.

Apart from the final, here is my take on this 19th World Cup:

There were no new revolutionary or even marked evolutionary strategies.
The first round was as non-Cup like as usual.
I missed one single breathtaking game like Germany-Italy in 1970, Argentina-Peru in 1978, France-Germany in 1982, France-Brazil in 1986, England-Cameroon in 1990. The closest was probably Uruguay-Ghana for the incredible cliff-hanging suspense of that game.

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Long live the garra charrúa!

June 26, 10 //

Uruguay plays against South Korea ina few hours in the first eighth final. This could be a historic moment for the Celeste. The last time Uruguay made it through to the quarter finals was in 1970. As often at this stage of the competition, much will depend on the the mental strength of each individual player and the collective willpower of the team. This is the moment to display the famous Uruguayan garra charrúa. Astolfo Cagnacci defines in football terms garra charrúa as a “survival instinct running on the field, cementing a team in its collective definition.”

The Charrúas were a small Indian population of about 1000 living on the Uruguayan coast when the first conquistador Juan Diaz de Solis arrived in 1516. Solis was killed and this was the beginning of the legend of the Charrúas who were then gradually eliminated from the Uruguayan soil after Revolutionary leader Artigas left the country.

Garra is a combination of interior force and a ferocious willingness never to abandon. The combination of garra and charrua forever defines Uruguayan football. This small country of 3 million inhabitants, stuck between its 2 neighbouring giants Argentina and Brazil, has embraced football as the symbol of its own identity, a sport which can bring the best in the sacrifice of each player for the benefit of the team.

One of the most memorable definitions of garra was that of Jules Rimet, the President of the FIFA after the 1950 World Cup final in Brazil: “The fight was even. The Brazilian technique was drowned by the “garra” of the Uruguayans, who played well technically but who also showed the rage that makes their victory so well deserved. In football, playing well is not sufficient, you also need to feel it profoundly as does Uruguay.” And he went on to add: “It was one of the best games I ever saw during my long life as a sportsman, both in its technical virtousity and extraordinary fair-play.” Jules Rimet’s statement is important as too often non connaisseurs think of garra as just some form of violent behaviour which it is not!

I really like the following video showing a moment of garra charrúa just before Uruguay enters the pitch to play in the decisive qualifier against Costa Rica before this World Cup. Look at how captain Lugano shows (1’18) his team that football is “won in the head”.

Maracanazos have pride in the garra charrúa.

World Cup review: Greece

March 20, 10 //

After having covered Group E (Cameroon, Japan, Denmark, and the Netherlands), it is now time to see what’s up in Group B which is composed of Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, and Greece.

Greece has had limited success in international competitions with only 3 participations in the final tournaments of World Cup 1994 and Euros 1980 and 2004. It was in the latter that Greece stunned the world of football by winning the tournament. Another example of how sometimes the underdog wins it all! The 2004 Euro was held in Portugal and the Greeks, coming from nowhere, managed to defeat the host Portugal twice, including in the final 1 – 0, but also France, the previous winner of the Euro in 2000, and the Czech Republic in the quarter and semi finals! I didn’t like the style of the Greek team who favoured ultra defensive tactics. However, I must admit that I have never seen a team apply German coach Otto Rehhagel’s strategy and tactics with such obediance and will. You often see deviations from what a coach has planned for his team and what happens on the pitch (more on this later when I cover France…) but in the case of Greece in the Euro 2004, it was a masterpiece of applying to the letter what had been devised in the locker-room.

Greece will probably have a tough time getting through to the second round in the World Cup but you never know with such a competitive minded coach like Rehhagel.

Enjoy the following slideshow.

Maracanazos have respect for great coaches.

Rio 2014 here we come!

February 9, 10 //

Internet makes everything traceable right? So I have decided to commit myself online and I have promised my 2 sons (and my daughter and wife if they want to come as well of course) that we would be in the Maracana stadium for the 2014 World Cup final! Knowing my sons, they will keep this url alive until I deliver . If I manage to pull it off, this would be a very nice 360° completion of my father’s radio/live Maracana presence in the 1950 World Cup!

This promise will also enable me to post my progress in achieving this goal and discuss how the 2014 World Cup is progressing along the way.

Maracanazos like having ambitious goals!

Ghiggia leaves his footprint for eternity

January 12, 10 //

Ghiggia, the Uruguayan forward who scored the goal that made 70 million Brazilians cry, was honoured by the Maracana stadium organization who invited him to leave his footprint in the Maracana Walk of Fame. Ghiggia is the 100th player to do so and only the 6th non-Brazilian. Hats up to Brazil for such an elegant gesture. May I remind the readers of this blog that this goal clinched the victory of Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup held in Brazil and this event became known as the Maracanazo. You can read more here via the Estadao article (in Portuguese). Thanks to my sister for flagging the article!

Maracanazos like recognition.

You can only see this in African football!

January 11, 10 //

Host country Angola kicked off the Africa Cup of Nations yesterday against Mali which is my outsider for the competition. The least than can be said is that the game was an incredible roller coaster ride with Angola winning 4-0 until the 76th minute and Mali scoring 4 times in 15 minutes! I think that this type of scenario can only happen with African teams (and Liverpool of course ). The African way of playing the game can go from the highest exuberance to total decay. I think the trick for the coaches that head some of these teams is to infuse just the minimum level of “realism” but keep the magical “insanity” which makes African teams such a pleasure to watch.

Maracanazos like come-backs!

Why Maracanazo ?

November 24, 09 //

For all those that know about football (and I specify here once and for all that I mean the football played with a round ball also known as soccer in the US), Maracanazo might mean something. For me it means a lot and this blog is named after it as a living tribute to my father who so well has shared his passion for football with me since I was 5 or so (I am now 44).

My father grew up part of his life in Uruguay and happened to be there in 1950 when the World Cup was held in Brazil after 12 long years of interruption due to the Second World War. When I was a kid, my father actually made me believe he was in the Maracana stadium of Rio de Janeiro on the day of the final between Brazil and Uruguay. To this day we act as if it were a true story and it makes us both secretely enjoy the fantasy.

The reality was that my father was listening to the final on the radio as probably any other of the 3 million Uruguayans who could be next to one. Due to the round-robin system that had been decided for the second stage of this World Cup, the final game between the host Brazil and Uruguay only needed the former team to tie to win the Cup. Uruguay was in the obligation to win in front of a crowd of 210 000, the biggest ever to attend a football event. At half-time, the score was 0 – 0 and the Brazilian Prime Minister was already celebrating publicly with the crowd (not sure if this was true). Worse for Uruguay, 2 minutes into the 2nd half, Brazil scores meaning Uruguay had to score twice to win the championship. Then the unheard of happens. The Uruguayans led by their genius midfielder Juan Alberto Schiaffino score twice with the second goal just 11 minutes before the end of the game. The final score is 2 to 1 for Uruguay who win their 2nd World Cup after the first edition which they won at home in 1930. Imagine, this was the victory of a small country of 2.5 million people against their gigantic neighbor with a population at the time of 70 million. The result was a shock and became known as the Maracanazo which can be more or less translated as the Maracana blow.

Don’t get me wrong, I love everything Brazilian football stands for, its incredible talent, imagination and creativity. But what I admire even more is when the underdog wins it all. That is the magic of football, it happens rarely but it does happen.

This blog will try and share with you my absolute passion for the universal sport of football, its moments of drama, sadness, but also the incredible magic that a small round ball can bring about for millions of people around the globe.