The worst Brazilian defeat? The 7-1 pasting at the hands of Germany in the 2014 World Cup. Try again. In terms of quantity, maybe. In historical importance, not even close. In 1950, Brazil as hosts were untouchable, the World Cup as good as theirs, a world removed from the shuffling, mumbling, embarrassed anointment of the 2014 Brazil side as favourites, as if home advantage would somehow bestow them the title overlooking the meretriciousness of those claims.
The newly erected Maracana, the largest in the world was designed to be the playground for the 50s team, to celebrate their coronation as best in the world. Who could dare to turn away Jair, Ademir, and Zizinho, such destructive force multipliers? Instead, it became the graveyard of their dreams. Eduardo Galeano, the iridescent chronicler of footballing history, wrote two hundred thousand fans shook the stadium when Friaca scored the first goal but then turned deathly silent as Uruguay’s Juan Alberto Schiaffino drew level and thereafter Alcides Ghiggia scored the winning goal. An unstoppable bull’s eye from the right flank after he was left clear escaping his marker.
When the match was over, Brazilian commentators were calling the defeat, “the worst tragedy in Brazil’s history” and a visibly shaken and befuddled Jules Rimet wandered around the field like a lost soul carrying the trophy that bore his name. He finally found Obdulia Varela, Uruguay’s captain and wordlessly handed him the trophy, shaking his hand as if in a fugue. In his pocket, burning a hole, a speech to congratulate what should have been the victorious Brazilians. The tragedy to this day is called the Maracanazo. A suffering so great that Ary Barosso, the legendary radio announcer retired and a number of fans took their lives. And to this day, Brazil looks on a match with Uruguay as one would a phantom over their shoulder.
Doing penance till the day he died, Brazilian goalie, Moacyr Barbosa, the best keeper in the world till he let in Ghiggia’s goal. He was never forgiven, dying in penury scraping by on his sister’s savings. In an interview he said, “In Brazil, the maximum you can get for any crime is thirty years. For forty three years, I’ve been paying for a crime I did not commit.”
Today, Alcides Ghiggia passed away, the last remaining survivor of Uruguay’s World Cup winning squad. Exactly 65 years to the day. RIP and thanks for all the fish finish.