Maracanaço

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The Maracanã , site of the Maracanaço (June 1950, before the start of the tournament)

Maracanaço ( Portuguese ) or Maracanazo ( Spanish ), roughly “shock of Maracanã”, is a name that is particularly common in South America for the decisive game of the 1950 World Cup between Brazil and Uruguay , Brazil in front of a home crowd in the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro lost 1: 2.

With around 200,000 spectators, the game holds the audience record of all football games in history. The defeat as a high favorite in front of their own audience is still considered traumatic in Brazil . In a figurative sense, the term stands for an unexpected and final defeat. The game is considered the historic low of Brazilian football. It was not until the soccer World Cup in Brazil in 2014 that they lost 7-1 in the semifinals against Germany , which was given a similar status as Mineiraço (meaning “shock from Mineirão ”).

prehistory

Table after two game days
rank country G / U / V Gates Points
1 Flag of Brazil (1889–1960) .svg Brazil 2/0/0 13: 20 4-0
2 Flag of Uruguay.svg Uruguay 1/1/0 05: 40 3: 1
3 Flag of Spain (1945–1977) .svg Spain 0/1/1 03: 80 1: 3
4th Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden 0/0/2 03:10 0: 4

For the finals of the 1950 World Cup, only 13 teams had competed in Brazil; three qualified nations had canceled their participation for different reasons. Uruguay had only one opponent in the first group stage and only had to play one game, which was clearly won against Bolivia ( 8-0 ). Sweden prevailed in a group of three, Brazil and Spain each sovereign in regular groups of four.

For the first and only time, there was no knockout system and no actual endgame. Rather, the four group winners played a final round against each other, which was also due to the financial interest in a larger number of games. In the final round, the Brazilian team lived up to their role as favorites and outclassed Sweden and Spain with 7-1 and 6-1 respectively . Uruguay played less convincingly: they drew 2-2 against Spain and the Uruguayan side were 2-1 down against Sweden until 13 minutes before the end, before striker Óscar Míguez scored two goals for the lucky 3-2 win cared. Thus, a draw against Uruguay would have been enough for Brazil to win the tournament.

The selection of Brazil was the most experienced Brazilian national team to date. The players had played an average of 18.9 international matches. Eight years later, in the 1958 final , this figure was exceeded. The players in the first world championship teams ( 1930 , 1934 and 1938 ) had previously played an average of 22.1 games.

The last matchday on July 16, 1950

Postage stamp from Yemen about the 1950 World Cup

The de facto final took place in the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro , then the largest stadium in the world and built for the tournament from 1948 to 1950. On the day of the match, the stadium was open at eight in the morning, and by noon it was already overcrowded. Meanwhile, an improvised carnival took place outside, with a joyful look at the supposedly coming world championship title. How many spectators saw the game in the stadium exactly can no longer be determined. In any case, the number 173,850 is considered certain, and the number 199,854 or even 203,851 is often mentioned.

The game between Sweden and Spain, taking place at the Estádio do Pacaembu in São Paulo ( final score 3: 1 ) after the results of the first two game days of the final round could no longer have any effect on the decision about the tournament winner.

Preparations

Brazil

The pressure on Brazil's team was immense. On the day of the game, the players were already named world champions in the newspapers. The night before, the Brazilians had changed quarters. The team was no longer in peace and was welcomed by friends, family members, journalists and v. a. Visited politicians. Elections were to take place in Brazil at the end of the year and lunch was interrupted twice because the team had to overhear politicians talking. In addition, before the game, each player was given a watch with the words “The world champions” on the bottom. Proper preparation was hardly possible. In the pre-game session, national coach Flávio Costa stated that the most important thing was that the Brazilians showed the world that they weren't rough kicks, so the coach ordered: "No fouls !"

Uruguay

The Uruguayans knew they would be the underdogs and about 200,000 spectators against them. So they played with a defensive orientation. The Brazilians' passing game was to be stopped and Brazil's top striker Ademir , who had scored nine times in the tournament by then, got two opponents.

The game

Course of the game

The decisive game of the final round was the only game of this World Cup before which the anthems of both teams were played. This was followed by a speech by the Prefect of Rio de Janeiro, Mendes de Moraes, in which he expressed confidence in Brazil's victory.

The tactics of the Uruguayan team largely worked in the first half. Ademir was barely able to take action and the Brazilians' passing game didn't work either. The spectators celebrated anyway, because a draw was enough to win the Coupe Jules Rimet , the trophy of the world champions until 1970.

Two minutes into the second half, the Brazilians made it 1-0 through Friaça . The Uruguayans did not give up, however. Again and again they were driven by their team captain Obdulio Varela. Finally, Schiaffino equalized in the 66th minute after a presentation by Ghiggia .

After this hit, the Brazilian team is described as unsettled. Uruguay took control. In the 79th minute Ghiggia again let his opponent Bigode stand, pulled past him, faked a pass to Schiaffino, but shot into the near corner. Surprisingly for many, Uruguay led. The Brazilian radio reporter initially reported quite normally: “Schiaffino now has the ball in midfield and is holding it. Now on the outside to Ghiggia, who moves into the penalty area ... and 2-1 for Uruguay. " Then he noticed what had happened and said the same sentence seven times in a row: " Uruguay scored ... "

The cheers in the stadium broke off, Ghiggia later said: "Only three people silenced the Maracanã: Pope John Paul II , Frank Sinatra and me."

Closing table
rank country G / U / V Gates Points
1 Flag of Uruguay.svg Uruguay 2/1/0 07: 50 5: 1
2 Flag of Brazil (1889–1960) .svg Brazil 2/0/1 14: 40 4: 2
3 Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden 1/0/2 06:11 2: 4
4th Flag of Spain (1945–1977) .svg Spain 0/1/2 04:11 1: 5

Shortly before the goal, FIFA President Jules Rimet went down the stands into the interior of the stadium to present the trophy to the Brazilians after the game. However, while inside the stadium, Ghiggia shot the 1: 2. When Rimet arrived on the field, there was silence in the stadium, there was no award ceremony. The handover of the trophy took place in secret. Rimet later wrote:

“ When the score was 1: 1, I went through the tunnel of the giant grandstand to the victory celebration to present the trophy to the Brazilians. When I got on the pitch, the stadium was dead silence. Uruguay had just scored its second goal and was world champion. Suddenly there was no longer any honor guard, no national anthem, no speech in front of the microphone, no glamorous victory celebration. I found myself alone in the midst of the crowd, besieged on all sides, with the trophy in my hands, not knowing what to do. I looked out for the Uruguayan captain and handed him the trophy - almost in secret - and held out my hand to him without being able to say a word. Later the confusion subsided. The crowd broke up slowly, as if they were coming from the cemetery. Officials and Brazilian players congratulated the winners with a sad, but at the same time heartfelt bow. "

Game dates

Uruguay Brazil Lineup
UruguayUruguay
3rd match day of the final round
July 16, 1950 at 3:00 p.m. ( local time ) in Rio de Janeiro ( Maracanã )
Result: 2: 1 (0: 0)
Spectators: 173,850 (official), approx. 220,000 (unofficial), almost 200,000 (actual)
Referee: George Reader ( England ); Assistant Referees: Arthur Ellis ( England ), George Mitchell ( Scotland ) EnglandEngland 
EnglandEngland ScotlandScotland 
Match report
BrazilBrazil
Line up Uruguay against Brazil
Roque Máspoli , Matías González , Eusebio Tejera , Schubert Gambetta , Obdulio Varela , Víctor Rodríguez Andrade , Alcides Ghiggia , Julio Pérez , Oscar Míguez , Juan Schiaffino , Rubén Morán Trainer: Juan López(C)Captain of the crew
 Moacyr Barbosa , Augusto , Juvenal , Bauer , Danilo , Bigode , Friaça , Zizinho , Ademir , Jair , Chico Trainer: Flávio Costa(C)Captain of the crew

goal1: 1 Juan Schiaffino (66.)
goal2: 1 Alcides Ghiggia (79.) 		goal 0: 1 Friaça (47.)

After the game

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Tens of thousands of people sat in the stadium in silence for hours after the game. When the cleaners entered the stadium hours later, they discovered four bodies. Three spectators had died of a heart attack, another had committed suicide by throwing himself from the stands.

Uruguay's captain Varela was walking along the deserted Copacabana with the team's masseur in the evening and finally visited a bar when a Brazilian walked in, recognized him and burst into tears. In Rio de Janeiro the newspapers that appeared or should have appeared that day and in which the Brazilians were portrayed as world champions (“Today Brazil will be world champions!”) Were burned.

consequences

The Brazilian playing attire until the game ...
... and since then.

One consequence of the game was that the Brazilian national soccer team no longer played in white jerseys. This was the usual color until maracanaço . It was then replaced by blue and yellow, which is now a symbol of the Brazilian national team.

The Brazilian politicians who were involved in the preparation and implementation of the World Cup tried to distance themselves from the tournament and the national team, but President Eurico Gaspar Dutra, who had been in office since 1946, was defeated in the election at the end of 1950 .

With José Carlos Bauer , only one of the Brazilians from the game was called into the squad for the following World Cup in Switzerland . Out of sympathy for his opponents from that game, Uruguay's captain Varela invited all players from both teams to dinner on his birthday every year. Striker Zizinho always turned off his phone at the start of a World Cup so as not to be questioned about the 1950 game.

The worst hit was goalkeeper Moacyr Barbosa , who was often blamed for the defeat. The rest of his life was torture for him. Shortly before his death in 2000, he gave an interview in which he said: “The highest sentence in Brazil is 30 years in prison. But I've been paying for something I've not even committed for 50 years. "

The scorer of the winning goal, Ghiggia, was amazed when, 50 years after the game, when he was entering Brazil, a customs officer in her mid-twenties asked if he was the Ghiggia. Ghiggia said: "Yes, but that was 50 years ago." She replied: "But in Brazil we can still feel this moment today!"

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ¿Quiénes son los equipos que irán a Suiza? (PDF; 969 kB). In: Mundo Deportivo of May 30, 1954, p. 4 (esp.), Accessed on January 21, 2012: The number of visitors is stated as “more than 195,000 spectators”.
  2. ↑ a b Curi, p. 46
  3. ↑ Scolari takes guilt: "Worst defeat of all time". In: faz.net. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , July 9, 2014, accessed on July 9, 2014 .
  4. ↑ a b Curi, p. 47
  5. ↑ Bellos, p. 52
  6. ↑ Maracanazo: Brazil's Trauma. sport1 , accessed July 12, 2014 .
  7. ↑ a b c Curi, p. 48
  8. ↑ Jules Rimet : L'histoire merveilleuse de la Coupe du monde (Les championnats du monde de football) (Eng. The wonderful story of the World Cup ), Union européenne d'éditions, 1954
  9. ↑ Bellos, pp. 64-68
  10. ↑ Curi, p. 49
  11. ↑ Bellos, p. 56
  12. ↑ Bellos, p. 76