Soccer World Cup History: 1950 World Cup Brazil

Number of participating teams: 13

Top scorer: Brazil’s Ademir (9 goals)

Number of games: 22

Total goals scored: 88

Average goals per game: 4.00

Highest scoring game: Uruguay’s 8-0 win over Bolivia on July 2

Total attendance: 1,337,000

Average attendance: 60,733

TOURNAMENT FORMAT

In total, 13 nations played in the tournament that sported a unique format. The teams were divided into four pools with the winner of each advancing to the round-robin final. Brazil, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay advanced to the final group where the country that finished on top would be crowned world champion. Technically, the 1950 tournament is the only World Cup not to have a “real” final, but the last match did determine the winner and is usually referred to, although erroneously, as the final.

THE FINAL

The final was a showdown between Brazil and Uruguay at Rio’s Maracana stadium on July 16. Having thrashed their previous two opponents by a combined score of 13-2 and buoyed by the home crowd (official attendance figures peg the crowd at 174,000, while some historians say it was over 200,000) at the Maracana, the invincible Brazilians were virtually assured of victory. What’s more, Uruguay had tied Spain in its first game of the final round and trailed Brazil by a point. All the Brazilians had to do was earn a draw against Uruguay, and they would be crowned world champions.

With the entire soccer-mad country of Brazil against them, Uruguay was pinned back in its half of the field for most of the opening 45 minutes. Two minutes into the second half, Brazil finally picked the lock on Uruguay’s defence. Ademir and Zizinho combined to draw Uruguay out of position and Ademir fed an on-rushing Friaca who blasted the ball past goalkeper Gaston Maspoli.

But the game turned in the 66th minute when Obdulio Varela rolled the ball to Alcides Ghiggia in the Brazilian half. Ghiggia skipped down the right flank and beat the Brazilian defender Bigode before crossing to an unmarked Juan Schiaffino in the middle. Schiaffino took a few strides before tucking the ball past Brazilian goalkeeper Moacir Barbosa. 1-1.

The Brazilians had the life knocked out of them and Uruguay confidently pressed forward in search of the winner. It came in the 79th minute when Ghiggia played a 1-2 pass with Julio Perez, beat Bigode one more time and scored at the near post. The final whistle blew 11 minutes later as the stunned and silent Maracana crowd broke into tears.

Group 1