As you may know, the nation of Brazil loves its soccer teams. That's why losing the Under-23 gold medal Olympics final to Mexico may yet cost head coach Mano Menezes his job. Yet whoever is coaching when Brazil hosts the 2014 Men's World Cup - will be under far, far more enormous pressure to win than any matches held in London.
Skeptical, perhaps? Well, let's consider an 85 year-old South American player (who recently came out of a coma following an automobile accident) whose goal against Brazil the last time they were World Cup hosts ... 62 years ago ... is still causing anxiety, as we'll see after the jump ....
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I have written in this space before about the 1950 World Cup, which featured the legendary first-round
US 1-0 victory over England - in which the US squad was super fortunate just to make it to the World Cup (and of the subsequent murder of goal-scorer
Joe Gaetjens at the hands of a Haitian dictator). That contest upset would have been enough for any one tournament.
But neither squad made it to the final round .... where another major upset took place. Not an upset by a squad which was questionable to begin with .... but instead, a loss by host nation Brazil - whose citizens were so certain of victory .... that subsequent World Cup championships have still not quite diminished the agony.
Alcides Ghiggia was born in the capital of Uruguay (Montivideo) in 1926. Standing only 5' 7", he was a quick right forward (an excellent dribbler) and a standout player in Uruguay's professional leagues. He was age 24 when he made his national team as the 1950 World Cup commenced.
With England eliminated during the first round, Brazilians were confident of winning the title when the final round began. Yet unlike in the years to come: that 1950 tournament did not have knock-out brackets leading to a definite championship match ... instead, the four preliminary round group winners were simply placed in a final round-robin group stage - and whoever had the best record in the final group would be declared champions.
However, there wound up being a de-facto championship match, anyway: as Uruguay and Brazil met on the last day of competition, with only those two squads capable of finishing atop the final group. And since Brazil had 4 points to Uruguay's 3 going into the final day: this meant host nation Brazil only needed a draw to win the World Cup; Uruguay needed a victory.
What's more: they would have to win before one of the largest crowds ever to witness a modern sporting event: nearly 200,000 people in Estádio do Maracanã (Maracanã Stadium) in Rio de Janeiro on July 16, 1950. (Today, this venue seats a more comfortable 85,000 people ... to the delight of Brazil's fire marshals).
Another factor going for the Brazilians was goalkeeper Moacir Barbosa - arguably the best in the world. Born in 1921 in the Brazilian city of Campinas, he was a standout with the Vasco de Gama professional team (winning league titles and individual awards) and at age 29 was in his prime. And he was also the first black goalkeeper to have a solid career on the national squad.
Further tempting fate for the Brazil supporters were these pre-match pronouncements:
"You, players, who in less than a few hours will be hailed as champions by millions of compatriots! You who have no rivals in the entire hemisphere! You who will overcome any other competitor! You, who I already salute as victors!" declared the mayor of Rio de Janeiro shortly before the match.
"These are the world champions!" screamed the headline of O Mundo, alongside a picture of the Brazil squad.
While the first half was scoreless, Brazil's Albino Friaça scored in the 46th minute - providing, in effect, a 2-goal margin - so that when Uruguay's Juan Schiffiano equalized twenty minutes later, Brazil was still set to claim the World Cup title ... as the clock wound down to eleven minutes left.
Then Alcides Ghiggia stuck a dagger into the hearts of Brazilians ... when he zipped down the right-hand side and tucked the ball past Moacir Barbosa (who was certain that Ghiggia would pass the ball to a streaking player down the middle). Roberto Muylaert, the biographer of the Brazilian goalkeeper, compares the black and white film of this goal with Abraham Zapruder's chance images of the Kennedy assassination in Dallas.
Meanwhile ....
“GOOOOL do Uruguay,” said Luiz Mendes, narrating for Rádio Globo, automatically and firmly. He repeated, asking in disbelief: “Gol do Uruguay?” He answered himself: “Gol do Uruguay!” He repeated the same three words six more times consecutively, each with completely different intonation - and various degrees of surprise, resignation and shock.
The stadium was silenced .... and when the end came ten minutes later, the Uruguay 2, Brazil 1 final score became known as the Maracanazo, or "the Maracana blow." The Brazilian playwright Nelson Rodrigues later wrote:
”Everywhere has its irremediable national catastrophe, something like a Hiroshima. Our catastrophe, our Hiroshima: was the defeat by Uruguay in 1950.”
Moacir Barbosa was blamed (
unfairly, in the eyes of many, when he had ten teammates) for the loss ... along with (some reports say) his other teammates of color (in 1950, Brazilian sports had not grown out of its racist past).
Some examples:
When he attempted to visit Brazil's training camp (in advance of the 1994 World Cup being held in the USA) he was not allowed to meet the players, as one superstitious coach thought he might bring bad luck. Nor was he allowed to be a TV analyst during one of the squad's preliminary matches that same year. In addition:
He told a documentary that the saddest moment of his life was not Gigghia's goal, but a comment he overheard at a market 20 years later. A woman pointed at him and said to the boy with her: "Look at him, son. He is the man that made all of Brazil cry."
He continued:
"People forget that in [the World Cups of] 1974 and 1978 there were worse humiliations for the national team. And what about the embarrassment by France in 1998 (where Brazil was shut-out 3-0 in the championship match)? But people still prefer to talk about 1950".
After retiring in 1963 (at the age of 41) he worked in the Maracanã Stadium offices ... and struggled financially later in life (losing his wife to bone marrow cancer in 1997) until his former pro team (Vasco de Gama) gave him a stipend so that he could pay his rent. In 2000, shortly before his
death at age 79, he said in an interview:
"The maximum punishment in Brazil is 30 years imprisonment, but I have been paying, for something I am not even responsible for, by now for 50 years."
Meanwhile: two years after his World Cup championship, Alcides Ghiggia attacked a referee during a match in the Uruguayan professional leagues and was given a one-year suspension. Instead of sitting-out: he emigrated to his (ancestral) Italy, and played professionally for several years before returning to Uruguay in 1961. He continued to play professionally until retiring in 1968 - and like Moacir Barbosa, also at the age of 41.
But even today: in South America that 1950 goal continues to define him (in part because at age 85, he is the sole surviving member of that 1950 championship club). In 1996, when the Macarena had its 15-minutes of international fame, Uruguayan band Casa de Jardinería recorded a cover version, with new lyrics: entitled "Maracanaã Macarena" and featured Ghiggia himself putting together a short scat singing final verse. In 2006 (at age 80), he was honored in his nation's Parliament and a postage stamp was issued with the words "Ghiggia moved us to tears".
Brazil seems to be coming to terms with - if not the defeat - then at least with Alcides Ghiggia. While travelling to Brazil in 2000, a young female Brazilian customs officer stared at the passport of an incoming passenger.
Ghiggia asked her, “Is something wrong?” The customs officer asked, “Are you THE Ghiggia?”. Stunned, Ghiggia said yes ... but noted it was 50 years ago. Too young to be born in 1950, she turned to him and said: “In Brazil, we feel it in our hearts every day.”
But nine years later in 2009, Ghiggia was invited to Rio de Janeiro to be honored for his achievement: to be inducted alongside greats (including Brazil's Pelé, Portugal's Eusébio and Germany's Franz Beckenbauer) at the Maracanã Stadium Walk of Fame.
Just two months ago, though, Alcides Ghiggia's life was in jeopardy. Driving back to his home, he was struck by a truck driver who ran a stop sign and wound up in a coma. A month later, he recovered and (at last report) was expected to be released.
Looking back at his famous goal, Alcides Ghiggia summed it up this way:
"Only three people have ever silenced 200,000 people at the Maracanã with a single gesture: Frank Sinatra, Pope John Paul II ...... and I".
Now, on to Top Comments:
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From vcmvo2
In the front-page story describing the TV ad that Bill Clinton made on behalf of the Obama-Biden ticket: Egalitair has a beautiful comment (worthy of its own diary) on declining wages and benefits.
From
MKSinSA:
In a diary by some old agnostic (a/k/a Rosebuddear) reviewing the new TV game show American Bible Challenge - our friend jayden treated us with a statement of wry acceptance ....
From
Land of Enchantment:
In the diary by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse welcoming the participation of former Vice President Al Gore in a climate change blogathon - it goes without saying that elfling is always cool. But this particular comment is super duper extra cool.
And from
Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the diary by volleyboy1 about the Texas official who actually wants a tax increase - to ward off, say, a black helicopter attack by the UN - BlackSheep1 found at least one silver lining: the most entertaining County Commissioners meeting in more than a decade.
TOP PHOTOS
August 22, 2012
Next: yesterday's Top Photos (as compiled by Jotter each day) - click on the photo to see the story behind it.
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And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
1) Isn't He Now in Direct Violation of His Oath of by Gooserock — 236
2) If what goes on routinely in our electoral process by Angela Quattrano — 192
3) Yes, yes they do by gchaucer2 — 171
4) I don't think it bizarre. As I was reading the by lineatus — 169
5) Digby again nails it: by Mike S — 137
6) A related clip of her speaking by OrangeMike — 123
7) "There is a difference between legal and lawful" by Tailfish — 121
8) You should have gone to business school instead by lotac — 108
9) Even crazy Bill O'Brien by AuntieRa — 107
10) the only stupid move by jfromga — 104
11) Heck, I live in Miami by CocoaLove — 100
12) Excellent. by TomP — 97
13) My husband would agree... by MsTribble — 95
14) Not even a hypothetical by sawgrass727 — 95
15) Yeah, this one aint going to fly by Sun dog — 85
16) Yes and very few county judges by texasmom — 85
17) In Texas, the County Judge by Kurt from CMH — 85
18) In summary by kscatlvr2001 — 79
19) No story here at all by durrati — 79
20) shooka,shooka,shooka,shooka... by Dood Abides — 78
21) I really like the way you think by teknohed — 78
22) A Few Years Ago When I Heard by webranding — 75
23) Taiban by Catkin — 75
24) Abrams is a criminal by Shawn Russell — 74
25) Not only should you not regret this diary by marykk — 72
26) L'awful is French for "bad?" by ZedMont — 71
27) Tipped, rec'ed, republished by Denise Oliver Velez — 70
28) I clicked the link, and read the first bunch of by jnhobbs — 69
29) Joe is one of those people who thinks that by litigatormom — 69
30) Thank you for saying what needed to be said by SYWTSAR — 69
31) Four more years for President Obama! by JeffW — 69