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.
[...] my first post, I couldn’t resist showing video extract with commentaries from the Uruguayan radio of the [...]
[...] the Auriverde in relation to their gold and green colours) to beat la Celeste and make up for the Maracanazo of 1950. The game was very violent with the Uruguayans trying to intimidate the Brazilians with [...]
[...] shirt), Milanese fans would surely name Juan Alberto Schiaffino who I already wrote about in the first post of this blog, the Uruguayan midfielder who won the World Cup with Uruguay in 1950 and who later on [...]
Thank you for your article. You said that Schiaffano scored twice, didn’t Ghiggia score the second goal?
Roberto, thank you for your comment. I was referring to the Uruguayan team who scored twice in the second half and you are right that Ghiggia scored the second goal.
well longlife to maracanazo! you should get it traduced in other languages!
I will do that but later on. In Portuguese?
[...] 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 [...]
[...] . 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 [...]
just a problem if there were 3 million people next to their radio listening to the game, how can it be a country of 2.5 million people????
what you didn´t say is how and when and where you found out that he had not been at the maracana when the game played. so let me tell, it was in the mid 80´s if i remember well, whilst you were for the first time and only time (being that hopefully you will be there as you promised to your sons in 2014)
in rio, when we entered the maracana stadium in the afternoon and you kissed the soil of the stadium and there he did not have the courage to tell the story anymore and the truth came out!
[...] Conclusion: Only once in the last 9 World Cups did the favourite team actually win it. I am sure this trend is also valid if you go back to earlier World Cups, think Hungary in 1956 and of course Brazil in 1950! [...]
It’s strange to think that the Maracanazo was almost 60 years ago to this day!
Yes and Brazil and Uruguay are still qualified, they could perhaps play against each other, in the final?!
[...] 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 [...]
[...] project that Mel Young has grown from scratch in 2001. This blog is often centered on the underdog as you know. Don’t we often see homeless people as bound to loose? Mel and the people behind [...]
[...] the press has been all over with the Maracanazo of Sante Fe! Imagine, 61 years after Maracanazo I, the Celeste writes another extraordinary episode of world football by wiping Argentina out of its [...]