A day which left an entire nation devastated, heartbroken and filled all the hearts with sorrow to the maximum. An incident so tragic that it is even compared with the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombardment. This day gave the most terrible nightmares and the memories haunted the people for a very long time.
16th of July 1950, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: The
Brazilian National Football Team was all set to win their first ever FIFA World
Cup, in front of about 200,000 people in the stadium “Estadio do Maracana”. A
dream of entire Brazil was to be fulfilled by the efforts of the Brazilian
Team, but it only remained a dream for that day.
The Maracana Stadium (Estadio do Maracana)
It was a round robin final,
where even a draw would have crowned Brazil as the champions. The 1950 FIFA World Cup is the only one in the history where the champion was decided based on a round robin final. Brazil’s storming
victories of 7-1 & 6-1 over Sweden & Spain respectively made the status
of Uruguay look ‘Underdog’ in front of these Giants. There were announcements
made all over and several print media houses had already declared Brazil as the
Champions. The match seemed to be a mere formality for Brazil before lifting
the first Jules Rimet Cup.
There was an attendance of 199,854 which is till now the
highest recorded in the history of this stadium. The game started and there was
not much action in the 1st half and the score line was 0-0.
Right after the 2nd half started, the fans celebrated an uproarious goal in the 47th minute from Brazilian Striker Friaca. But in the 66th
minute was the equalizer from Uruguayan winger Schiaffino, even this result was
sufficient for Brazil. But in the 79th minute came the death blow
for Brazil from winger Ghigga which silenced the entire Maracana stadium.
Brazil tried hard but couldn’t equalize. In the last minute Brazil had a corner but they couldn't converted it into a goal and the dream of Brazil to win the FIFA
World Cup shattered and perished. The Brazilian Giants lost to the Uruguayan Underdogs in front of their 200,000 fellow countrymen.
The 2-1 result in favour of Uruguay brought devastating
aftermath in Brazil. Right after the final whistle a distressed fan committed
suicide and three others died from heart attack. The mayor of Rio was heavily
criticized for his premature congratulation and his bust was knocked over in
reaction. A famous radio announcer and soccer commentator by the name Ary
Barroso announced his retirement. There was no award ceremony for Uruguay as
nobody prepared any congratulatory speech; as a result Uruguay was presented
the trophy with any formal award ceremony. Even rumours spread that Brazilian
coach, Flavio Costa, escaped the stadium disguised as a nanny. The Brazilian
team didn’t participate in any match for the next two years and continued not
to play in Maracana for the next four years. And also they later adopted Blue
and Green shirts in place of White shirts which they wore in that particular
match.
The whole team was cursed but the greatest victim of that
particular match was the Goalkeeper, Moacir Barbosa. He suffered an endless
criticism from the fans throughout his life for swallowing the two goals and was
accused for being responsible for the defeat. He was mocked, criticized and
often racist remarks were made against him which made it worse. In 1994 he was
forbidden from meeting the then Brazilian Goalkeeper before a qualifying match
against Uruguay. Also he was not allowed to be a commentator during the broadcast
of one of Brazil’s international matches.
Moacir Barbosa
He was also turned away from a
training session because it was feared that he will jinx the team. He died on 7th
of April 2000, shortly before his death 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.” Maracanazo
destroyed his years of glory and people somehow forgot his marvelous
achievements in the previous years.
Even broken dreams inspire the toughest of hearts. A nine
year old boy witnessed his father crying over Brazil’s loss. That young soul
was heavily moved by the situation and he promised that he will win the World
Cup of Brazil someday. And that very boy at the age of 17 won the first ever
World Cup for Brazil and also won two more in his entire career. Yes, he is none
other than the Brazilian football legend Pele.
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