Terrence Clay escreveu:
https://unclemikesmusings.blogspot.com/2020/07/july-16-1950-maracanazo.html
5. The Brazilian Media. Modern observers of international tournaments see
how the media in England builds their national team up as sure winners.
The England theme in 2018 was "It's coming home." They were right, but not
in the way they think: "It," the World Cup trophy, is known as the Jules Rimet Trophy, for the longtime President of FIFA, who founded the tournament. And the tournament and the trophy were won by his homeland, France.
Just a little nitpick here: the current World Cup trophy is not the Jules Rimet Cup, which was awarded until 1970, when Brasil earned its definitive possession for being the first country to win it three times. The current trophy's debut was in 1974, with no provision of ever being permanently awarded
to any team, as far as I know. For what it's worth, here's its winners' count:
3 (West) Germany (1974, 1990, 2014) and Argentina (1978, 1986, 2022)
2 Italy (1982, 2006), Brasil (1994, 2002) and France (1998, 2018)
1 Spain (2010)
So, if a similar provision was in place for the current trophy, it would have been awarded definitely to Germany at Maracanã 2014 - indeed, it would have been a showdown between them and Argentina for it, just like 1970 had been between Brasil and Italy at Estadio Azteca.
Or, if one wants to count West Germany as a separate entity for whatever reason, then in 2022 we'd have another showdown for its permanent possession, now between Argentina and France. Messi would have been the last player to lift it.
[SNIP]
But in 1950, the Brazilian media were out of control, promoting the team.
And the overconfidence became insane. Each player on the winning team gets
a winner's medal, but, this time, 22 gold medals were made, with each player's name inscribed on them, before the Final.
In his book "O Negro no Futebol Brasileiro", Mario Filho describes the media frenzy as being exactly the kind of thing one never dared to do on the eve of a championship final, because "what if bad luck strikes?". Interestingly, he wrote the book in the early 60's. Seems like anti-weauxfing is a sports fan's concern for a long time already :-)
He cited the example of an evening newspaper releasing the headline "Brazil World Champion" at the night before the game, politicians and hangers-on disturbing the team camp to get a picture with the players or to ask their autograph on pre-printed celebratory materials, things like that. The huge victories over Sweden and Spain did a number on people's heads, putting them in a premature triumphant mood.
A "cup final song" is nothing new in England: Sometimes, both teams in the
FA Cup Final will be brought into a recording studio to record one. And the England team usually goes into a studio before leaving for a World Cup to record a song. In 1950, without the players participation, a song was composed, to be played after the Final: "Brasil Os Vencedores" (Brazil the Victors).
Ângelo Mendes de Morais, the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, met with the players on the morning before the Final, and told them, "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!" Even Rimet himself prepared
a congratulatory speech for Brazil.
He followed up the above words with "I kept my word by building this stadium, now go and do your duty by winning the World Cup".
And the Uruguayan players were RIGHT THERE hearing it all. The speech was given
with both sides lined up for the national anthems. Both Alcides Ghiggia and coach
Juan Lopez mentioned this speech as yet another motivating factor for Uruguay.
Victory wasn't just expected, it was assumed.
In fact, it seems like the only ones that were not caught up in the hysteria and
seemed to think of it all as a really bad idea were... the players themselves. But there was little they could do about it other than what they did: go out, play and try to win.
Indeed, they had played Uruguay three times in May 1950, one month before the World Cup, for Copa Rio Branco (a friendly cup then often held between the two teams). It was an extremely close affair. Uruguay won 4-3 in São Paulo, but later
lost twice in Rio, 3-2 and 1-0.
Those games were still fresh in the Brazilian players' minds, who knew exactly who they were going up against. They knew Uruguay was very far from being the dead rubber they were being pictured as. And conversely, although Uruguay lost that cup, those games also showed their players that their opponents, although very strong, were not the unbeatable machine trumped up by the local press.
4. Argentina. The other major South American power, though not what they would become in the 1970s, withdrew from the tournament, due to a dispute with the Brazilian Football Confederation.
Both federations were basically on war footing against each other, they wouldn't
take part of a tournament that the other participated or hosted. On this particular
instance there was also the hosting factor: Argentina was offended because they felt they should have been the hosts, just to see the Cup's organization being awarded to their hated rival.
Could they have caused problems for Brazil?
No doubt they could, since they had one of their finest generations ever, built around River Plate's "La Maquina", which featured a certain Alfredo di Stefano in their ranks. Brasil also had a very fine team too, though, and had the hosting
factor to tip the scales on their favor.
Could they have knocked Uruguay out, thus leaving a clearer path for Brazil? We'll never know.
The most likely scenario would be them being drawn in a different first round group and making it to the final round with both Brasil and Uruguay. And indeed,
things could have been wildly different, but Brasil's path would have been anything but "clearer".
What we do know is that the path for Brazil and Uruguay was clearer than it should have been, and not just because Argentina weren't there to stop either
of them:
Through no fault of their own, though (Brasil and Uruguay, I mean). You can only
play whoever's been put in front of you.
[SNIP The State of Postwar Europe & England]
1. Uruguay Were Better. It had been 20 years since the 1930 World Cup win, and
none of the players were the same.
Indeed. But there was a family relation between two of them: Victor Rodríguez Andrade, Uruguay's right halfback in 1950, was the nephew of the great José Leandro Andrade, the "black marvel", champion with La Celeste in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics and the 1930 World Cup.
But some of their 1950 players had been on the team that won the 1942 Copa América, and had reached the Semifinal in 1947.
No semifinal in the South American championship of 1947: it was a single round robin held in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The author probably looked up that Uruguay finished 3rd and assumed a semifinal exit, but it was actually their final standing.
Some would still be on it when they reached the Semifinal in 1953, 1955, 1956,
1957 and 1959, winning it in 1956 and 1959.
Again, no semifinals in any of these tournaments. Every edition of the South American Championship was played as a single round robin until 1967. At most you'd have a playoff if two teams finished tied for 1st.
They also reached the Semifinal of the 1954 World Cup.
Which was their first ever loss in a World Cup game, to Hungary's Magic Magyars.
Both teams were good in attack. But Uruguay were renowned for their defense, and Brazil were not. If any team was going to beat Brazil in this tournament, it was going to be Uruguay: They didn't have to travel far, they were used to the weather, they were used to the atmosphere, and they were familiar with their
opponents. To beat Brazil, they were ready, they were willing, and, clearly, they were able.
I'm not sure that travel, weather or atmosphere made any difference for Uruguay over other teams. Travel didn't keep Spain from beating the US or Chile, or Sweden
from getting past Paraguay, for example (just to stay in 1950). I think it is enough to point out that they were a worthy side that played a final the way it's
meant to be played, and made history on the merits of their own qualities.
VERDICT: Not Guilty. Still, there are old men in Brazil who remember, and pass
the story down to children who do not yet know it, who know their country as one
that has succeeded at this sport, and not as one with a self-esteem problem.
At the time, the 1950 defeat was a huge blow on Brasil's self-esteem. The thinking was "if we can't be champions only needing a draw at home, we're
not good for anything". Racist theories flourished over the decade, suggesting that it was psychological weakness due to this being a mixed race country. Indeed, the players who took most of the blame for the defeat were black: goalkeeper Barbosa and defenders Bigode and Juvenal.
This thinking may have influenced the Brazilian lineups at the start of WC'1958.
It was only in the third group stage game, in which Brasil had to beat the so-called
Soviet machine, that Pelé and Garrincha were brought into the team. And even that change required the interference of team leaders, such as Bellini, Nilton Santos and Didi. Djalma Santos had to wait until the final to get on the team.
Pelé would lay to rest the eugenics and racist bullshit in 1958, and the many victories that succeeded largely healed the self-esteem issue, but the stigma over the 1950 vice-champions lasted on for a while. It was only in 2014 that it
was put in due perspective once and for all. As put by the headline of Extra newspaper on July 9th, 2014: "Congratulations to the vice-champions of 1950, who
were always accused of the biggest embarassment of Brazilian football. Yesterday
we have learned what true embarassment looks like".
Better late than never, I guess, but still too little too late, though, since not a single squad member of 1950 was alive anymore to read it. Indeed, the only
person involved that still lived then, from both the Brazilian and Uruguayan squads,
was Ghiggia.
But anyway, I agree. Not Guilty indeed.
Best regards,
Lléo
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