Uruguay Football Formation

Lineup (4-3-3)

Roque Máspoli · Matías González · Schubert Gambetta · Víctor Rodríguez Andrade · Eusebio Tejera · Obdulio Varela (c) · Omar Oscar Míguez · Julio Pérez · Rubén Morán · Alcides Ghiggia · Juan Alberto Schiaffino

Uruguay "Victorious XI" (1950)

Officially there were 173,850 at the Maracanã that day; in reality there were probably over 200,000. So overcome by nerves was Julio Pérez, Uruguay’s inside-right - or right-half, in the revised formation - that he wet himself during the anthems. Gradually, though, the pressure shifted. Brazil controlled the
early stages - López’s tactics perhaps subdued Brazil, but they did not neutralise them - but the opening goal would not come. Jair hit the post; Roque Máspoli, in Glanville’s words, performed acrobatic prodigies in goal’; but at half-time it was still goalless. Home nerves were mounting.

Evidently it was a battle between the brilliant Brazilian attack and Uruguayan Defense. Brazil required only a draw to win the World Cup. The two wing-halves, Schubert Gambetta and Victor Andrade, were set to man-mark the Brazilian wingers, Chico and Albino Friaça, while Varela and the two inside-forwards played deeper than usual in a system approaching Rappan’s 1-3-3-3.

Hindsight suggests the turning point came after twenty-eight minutes, when Varela punched Bigode, Brazil’s left-back. Both players agree it was barely more than a tap, but in the mythology of the game it was at that moment that the fear enveloped Bigode, at that moment that he became ‘a coward’, the taunt that would pursue him for the rest of his life.

Long story short, in the second half after Friaça scored the first for Brazil, Schiaffino equalised. Brazil were twenty-four minutes from victory when the first blow fell. Varela, who was becoming increasingly influential, advanced, and spread the ball right to Ghiggia. He had space to accelerate, checked as Bigode moved to close him down, then surged by him, crossing low for Juan Schiaffino to sweep the ball in at the near post. ‘Silence in the Maracanã,’ said Flávio Costa, ‘which terrified our players.’ As blame was apportioned after the game, even the crowd did not escape. ‘When the players needed the Maracanã the most, the Maracanã was silent,’ the musician Chico Buarque observed. ‘You can’t entrust yourself to a football stadium.’

A draw would still have been enough for Brazil, but the momentum had swung inexorably against them. Thirteen minutes later, Ghiggia again picked up the ball on the Uruguayan right. This time Bigode was closer to him, but isolated, so Ghiggia laid it back to Perez. Nerves forgotten, he held off Jair and slipped a return ball in behind Bigode. Ghiggia ran on, and with Moacyr Barbosa, the Brazilian goalkeeper, anticipating a cross, struck a bobbling shot in
at the near post. The unthinkable had happened, and Uruguay, not Brazil, were world champions.

Coach/Manager : Juan López Fontana