Obdulio Jacinto Varela

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Obdulio Varela (1943)

Obdulio Jacinto Muiños Varela (born September 20, 1917 in Montevideo , † August 2, 1996 ibid) was a Uruguayan football player . He was the captain of the national team that became world champions in Brazil in 1950.

Career

society

Obdulio Varela, who, contrary to the custom in Spanish-speaking countries, is known by the maternal part of his surname, was born in the Montevidean Barrio La Teja . He comes from a family with ten brothers. His parents lived separately. After he had a job at the age of 8 to improve his financial situation, at the age of 13 he began to earn money with car care in the Hotel del Prado , after which he sold newspapers in Paso Molino . After playing football in the local district, initially in smaller teams such as Fortaleza, Dublin and Pascual Somma, in 1937 he joined the Club Deportivo Juventud , which was playing in the Divisional de intermedia of the Asociación Uruguaya de Fútbol at that time . He then moved to the Montevideo Wanderers , where he began his professional career and for which he played for a total of five seasons. In 1938 he made his debut there. Varela completed 139 games for the club, in which he scored 13 goals. He then joined Peñarol . He belonged to the Aurinegros from 1943 to 1955 and was Uruguayan champion six times with the club. Ten years later, his nephew Luis Varela , who previously played for Liverpool FC , also joined Peñarol.

National team

Varela also had African ancestry and was named El Negro Jefe (The Black Chef) because of his dark skin and leadership role in the square . He was characterized by the fact that he showed a high willingness to run and was outstanding in both defensive and offensive areas. He became a national player at the age of 22 and played for the Celeste for the first time in 1939 . At the South American Championships in 1939 , 1941 , 1942 , 1945 and 1946 he was a member of the Uruguayan squad. In 1942 he won the title with the team. In 1940, 1946 and 1948 he led the Uruguayan national team successfully in the Baron de Rio Branco Cup. The career highlight was the World Cup in 1950 , when Uruguay defeated the Brazilian team 2-1 in the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro . Varela was the captain of this team and led it to victory. In the decisive final game of the final group of four teams (in which everyone had to play against everyone), Brazil only needed a draw in the game against Uruguay to become world champions and were 1-0 ahead at the beginning of the second half. But Uruguay won the upper hand and scored twice in front of an audience of 200,000.

This victory, also known as “ Maracanaço ”, was considered a miracle , started a myth and immortalized Varela in the eyes of the football-loving people of Uruguay. At the age of 37, he traveled to Switzerland with the national team to defend the title at the 1954 World Cup . At the time, he was the oldest player to ever take part in a World Cup. Scotland and Czechoslovakia were beaten with no problems in the preliminary round before Uruguay beat England 4-2 in the quarter-finals. Varela sustained a leg injury in that game. Back then there were no substitutes, so he had to finish the full 90 minutes with a lot of bandages.

Varela and two other key players did not recover in time for the semi-finals against Hungary, and Uruguay lost 4-2 after extra time. Varela ended his world championship career unbeaten after seven games. Overall, Varela completed from his debut on January 29, 1939 to his last use on June 26, 1954 45 internationals, in which he scored nine goals.

successes

  • Uruguay:
    • South American champion 1942
    • World Champion 1950
    • Fourth in the 1954 World Cup
  • Peñarol:
    • Uruguayan champions: 1944, 1945, 1949, 1951, 1953 and 1954

Awards

In 1994 Varela was awarded the FIFA Order of Merit.

Others

Before the decisive match against Brazil at the 1950 World Cup, Varela is said to have urinated on an edition of the newspaper in the hotel in which the Brazilian team had already been referred to as "The World Champions".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Estrellas de los Mundiales: Obdulio Varela (Spanish) on www.vavel.com from June 2, 2014, accessed on June 21, 2014
  2. ↑ Luciano Álvarez: Historia de Peñarol , 1st edition 2005, 526
  3. ↑ Statistical data on international appearances in the Uruguayan national team on rsssf.com , accessed on December 13, 2012
  4. ↑ List of FIFA Order of Merit recipients , accessed on October 25, 2012 (PDF; 71 kB)
  5. ↑ Matti Lieske: World Cup 2014: Why football is so important for Brazil. In: Berliner Zeitung. Accessed June 6, 2016 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Varela, Obdulio Jacinto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES El Negro Jefe (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Uruguayan soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH September 20, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Montevideo
DATE OF DEATH 2nd August 1996
Place of death Montevideo