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Lost ruins in brazil3/23/2023 "Now we have a stage of fantastic proportions in which the whole world can admire our prestige and sporting greatness," trumpeted Rio paper A Noite.īrazil began the tournament with a comfortable 4-0 win against Mexico. The competition was the most high-profile event ever to take place in Brazil, and in order to reflect the grandeur of national aspiration, a decision was taken to build the Maracana, by far the largest stadium in the world. It finally was scheduled for 1950, a 12-year interruption because of the Second World War. That year Brazil declared its intention to host the next World Cup. Striker Leonidas da Silva was top scorer and voted the World Cup's best player. Even so, the South Americans were the tournament's sensations. Brazil were knocked out in the semifinals, defeated by Italy, the eventual winners. Soccer also gave Brazil a newfound prominence on the world stage. The view that there was a magical Brazilian way of playing that reflected the country's unique racial mixture - first suggested in the 1930s by the writer Gilberto Freyre and then embraced by the nation - made Brazilians proud about their racially mixed heritage for the first time. Not only did they like playing and watching it, but they were very good at it, too. Soccer made Brazilians think differently about themselves. Anyone could play since all you needed was a vaguely spherical object that you could kick around. Originally played only by the white, European-descended elite, it quickly spread throughout the population. There were no national symbols that united the haves with the have-nots. "It is like a person who was once bitten by a dog and gets twitchy each time he hears a bark."Īt the beginning of the 20th century, Brazil had a social problem that was also a racial one - a large, poor and disenfranchised black underclass. "Every time I hear mention of Uruguay I still get anxious," he says. To fans in the stadium like Joao Luiz, the shock was a personal trauma. The Brazilian players were unable to respond and, when the whistle blew a dozen minutes later, Uruguay were unexpectedly world champions. The Maracana - crammed with 200,000 people, the largest crowd ever present at a soccer game - fell silent. "I have never forgotten that moment," says Joao Luiz, who is now 75. Brazil, the hosts and irresistible favourites, were playing Uruguay, their tiny South American neighbours.Īfter 33 minutes of the second half, with the score at 1-1, the Uruguayan winger Alcides Ghiggia darted into box and from a wide position shot to the left of Moacir Barbosa, the Brazilian keeper. Joao Luiz Albuquerque was 11 years old when he went to the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro for the final game of the 1950 World Cup.
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