World Cup 1950 · Men

World Championship
World Cup
BRASIL 1950

Rimet Cup

Winner / Winner:
URUGUAY

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The world resumes after the forced war break and Brazil's chosen seat is because Europe is still upset by the wounds of the long conflict. For the occasion two Italian engineers, Pierluigi Nervi and Cesare Valle, devise and realize the largest stadium in the world: the legendary Maracana. Here too, as in the Olympics, the ostracism that affects the defeated countries saves Italy. For the first time, however, England will participate, which will be mesmerly eliminated by Spain, losing also with the USA!

Before starting a single unofficial test against a Swiss selection won for 5-1 and played on three times (!). Italy is still shocked by the Superga disaster a year earlier and long ago, it is disputed how the long journey to South America should take place. At the end of mid-May we opt for the SISES motorboat that will take 15 days to cross the Atlantic. On the ship, of course, we cannot make a preparation worthy of this name, the balloons end up at sea and with them our hopes to win back the title.

On June 8, when you arrive at Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, the first ground training takes place that leads to Lorenzi and Boniperti injuries. Also on the snowmobile life takes place in the middle of dinners, receptions and various parties and to this is added the problem of sea sickness that afflicts some players. For the withdrawal some smart people refuse the offer of an optional Italian "fazendeiro" and you choose a hotel in the center of San Paolo that also houses an Argentine dance body, forcing the Italian leaders to guard the corridors.

Also on June 24th, eve of Italy-Sweden, San Paolo celebrates St. John and for most of the night noises prevent to sleep.

Originally, the tournament format would be that the 16 teams be divided into four first round groups (or "pools" as they were then called) of four teams, with the winning group advancing to a final group stage, playing in round-robin format to determine the winner. However, because only 13 teams competed, this left two round groups with four teams, another with three teams, and the last group with only two teams.

The draw took place in Rio de Janeiro, on 22-05-1950.[2] In fact, the entire tournament was arranged in such a way that the four first round groups had no geographical basis. Hence, several teams were obligatory to cover large distances to complete their program, although Brazil was allowed to play two of its three group matches in Rio de Janeiro while its other game was in (comparatively) nearby São Paulo.

A combined Great Britain team had recently beaten the rest of Europe 6-1 in an exhibition match and England went into the competition as one of the favourites. However, it was not to be, as they went crashing out in a shocking 1-0 defeat by the United States (when the score appeared in English newspapers, many thought it was a misprint) which, combined with their 1-0 defeat by Spain, led to England being eliminated.

The final group stage involved the teams who won their groups: Brazil, Spain, Sweden, and 1930 FIFA World Cup champions Uruguay, who were making their first World Cup appearance since winning the inaugural tournament. The World Cup winner would be the team that managed to finish on top of this group. The final group's six matches were shared between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Brazil played all its final group matches at the Estádio do Maracanã in Rio while the games that didn't involve the host nation were played in São Paulo.

Brazil won their first two matches with a 7-1 thrashing of Sweden and 6-1 rout of Spain. Before the decisive match, Brazil was sitting on top of the final group and had one game left to play against Uruguay, in second and only a point behind. On July 16, before a huge home crowd of 199,954 (some estimated as 205,000) in the Estádio do Maracanã, the host nation only had to draw Uruguay and the trophy would be theirs.

After such crushing victories over Spain and Sweden, it looked certain they would take the title, especially as the home nation went ahead in the second half, thanks to a goal from Friaça. However, Uruguay equalised and then with just over 11 minutes left to play, went ahead 2-1 when Alcides Ghiggia squeaked a goal past Moacyr Barbosa, and Uruguay was crowned World Cup winners for a second time. This stunning defeat of Brazil is referred to as the Maracanazo.

The average attendance of nearly 61,000 per game, aided increased by eight matches (including five featuring hosts Brazil) held in the newly-built Maracanã, set a record that would not be broken until 1994. Not counting the Maracanã matches, the average attendance was a still-impressive 37,500. However, the only venues that saw crowds compare to or greater than those in recent World Cups were the Maracanã and São Paulo. Other venues saw minor crowds.

ITALY 1950
C.T.: Novo, Bardelli, Copernicus and Biancone

• Portieri / Goalkeepers: Lucidio Sentimenti (Lazio), Giuseppe Moro (Torino), Giuseppe Casari (Atalanta)
• Defenders / Defenders: Ivano Blason (Triestina), Attilio Giovannini (Inter), Zeffiro Furiassi (Lazio), Carlo Parola (Juventus), Leandro Remondini (Lazio), Omero Tognon (Milan)
• Midfielders / Midfielders Carlo Annovazzi (Milan), Osvaldo Fattori (Inter), Auguso Magli (Fiorentina), Giacomo Mari (Juventus), Giampiero Boniperti (Juventus), Aldo Campatelli (Inter), Egisto Pandolfini (Fiorentina)
• Attacks / Forwards: Amedeo Amadei (Inter), Gino Cappello (Bologna), Emilio Caprile (Atalanta), Riccardo Carapellese (Torino) , Benito Lorenzi (Inter), Ermes Muccinelli (Juventus)

1st Round / 1st Round GROUPS/GROUP 1 24-06-1950, Rio de Janeiro
Brazil-Mexico 4-0
32’ Ademir, 66’ Jair, 72’ Baltazar, 81’ Ademir
25-06-1950, Belo Horizonte
Yugoslavia-Switzerland 3-0
58’ Mitic, 64’ Tomasevic, 82’ Ognjanov
28-06-1950, Saint Paul
Brazil - Switzerland 2-2
2’ Alfredo (B), 16’ Fatton (S), 31’ Baltazar (B), 88’ Fatton (S)
29-06-1950, Porto Alegre
Yugoslavia-Mexico 4-1
19’ Bobek (J), 22’ e 62’ Ciaikovski II (J), 81’ Tomasevic (J), 88’ Velazquez (M) rig.
01-07-1950, Rio de Janeiro
Brazil-Yugoslavia 2-0
3’ Ademir, 69’ Zizinho
02-07-1950, Porto Alegre
Switzerland-Mexico 2-1
12’ Bader (S), 45’ Tamini (S), 88’ Casarin (M) GROUP/GROUP 2 25-06-1950, Porto Alegre
United Kingdom 2-0
37’ Mortensen, 52’ Finney
25-06-1950, Curitiba
Spain-USA 3-1
18’ J. Souza (St), 80’ Basora (S), 85’ Zarra (S)
29-06-1950, Rio de Janeiro
Spain 2-0
19’ e 35’ Zarra
29-06-1950, Belo Horizonte
USA-England 1-0
39’ Gaetjens
02-07-1950, Rio de Janeiro
Spain-England 1-0
49’ Zarra
02-07-1950, Recife
Chile-USA 5-2
20’ Robledo (C), 32’ Riera (C), 46’ Wallace (S), 49’ E. Souza (S) rig, 54’ Cremaschi (C), 60’ Prieto (C), 82’ Cremaschi (C) GROUP/GROUP 3 25-06-1950, Saint Paul
Sweden - Italy 3-2
7’ Carapellese (I), 25’ Jeppson (S), 33’ Andersson (S), 68’ Jeppson (S), 75’ Muccinelli (I)
29-06-1950, Curitiba
Sweden-Paraguay 2-2
23’ Sundqvist (S), 25’ Palmer (S), 35’ e 80’ Lopez (P)
02-07-1950, Saint Paul
Italy-Paraguay 2-0
12’ Carapellese, 62’ Pandolfini GROUP/GROUP 4 02-07-1950, Belo Horizonte
Uruguay-Bolivia 8-0
14’ Schiaffino, 18’ Vidal, 23’, 45’, 56’ e 59’ Schiaffino, 73’ Perez, 83’ Ghiggia

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Final Tournament / Final Round 09-07-1950, Rio de Janeiro
Brazil-Sweden 7-1
17’, 36’ Ademir (B), 39’ Chico (B), 52’ e 54’ Ademir (B), 67’ Andersson (S) rig, 85’ Maneca, 88’ Chico
09-07-1950, Saint Paul
Spain - Uruguay 2-2
29’ Ghiggia (U), 32’ e 39’ Basora (S), 73’ Varela (U)
13-07-1950, Rio de Janeiro
Brazil-Spain 6-1
15’ Ademir (B), 21’ Jair (B), 31’ e 55’ Chico (B), 57’ Ademir (B), 67’ Zizinho (B), 71’ Igoa (S)
13-07-1950, Saint Paul
Uruguay-Sweden 3-2
5’ Palmer (S), 39’ Ghiggia (U), 40’ Sundqvist (S), 77’ e 85’ Miguez (U)
16-07-1950, Saint Paul
Sweden 3-1
15’ Sundqvist (Sv), 33’ Mellberg (Sv), 80’ Palmer (Sv), 82’ Zarra (Sp)
16-07-1950, Rio de Janeiro
Uruguay-Brazil 2-1
47’ Friaça (B), 66’ Schiaffino (U), 79’ Ghiggia (U)

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Final / Final 16-07-1950, Rio de Janeiro
(Maracanã)
Uruguay-Brazil 2-1
goal: 47’ Friaça, 66’ Schiaffino, 79’ Ghiggia
Uruguay: People, M. Gonzales, Tejera, Gambetta, Varela, Rodriguez Andrade, Ghiggia, Perez, Miguez, Schiaffino, Moran
Brazil: Barbosa, Augusto, Juvenal, Bauer, Danilo, Bigode, Friaça, Zizinho, Ademir, Jair, Chico
Referee: Reader (England)

goalscorers / TOP SCORER

9 goals: Ademir (Brazil); 6 goals: Schiaffino (Uruguay); 5 goals: Zarra (Spain); 4 goals: Chico (Brazil), Basora (Spain), Ghiggia (Uruguay); 3 goals: Palmer and Sundqvist (Sweden); 2 goals: Baltazar, Jair and Zizinho (Brazil), Cremaschi (Cile), Carapellese (Italy), Ciaikovski II and Tomasevic (Jugoslavia), Lopez (Paraguay), Andersson and Jeppson (Sweden), Fatton (Switzerland), Miguez (Uruguay); 1 goal: Alfredo, Friaça and Maneca (Brazil), Prieto, Riera and Robledo (Chile), Finney and Mortensen (England), Muccinelli and Pandolfini (Italy), Bobek, Mitic and Ognjanov (Jugoslavia), Casarin and Velazquez (Mexico, Igoa (Spain), Mellberg (Sweden), Bader and Tamini

Souza, J. Souza e Wallace (USA)