1950! The Dramatic Final and the Hero of “Maracana`”, Obdulio Varella!

If for Brazil football is fantasy and spectacle, for Uruguay it is tactics and practicality!

What is considered the final match of the World Cup `50, is not in reality a real final, but only the final match of a final group with four teams.

Brazil and Uruguay.

First in the classification, the Brazilians only needed a draw….. Obdulio Varela, is the “king” of the midfield.

Born on September 20, 1917, he is written in history as the legendary captain of Uruguay, world champion in 1950, one of the greatest leaders of the team representing the blue jerseys and at the same time one of the greatest captains of world football. Known by the nickname “El negro Jefe” for the influence he had on the field on the team as well as for the color of his skin, there have been three clubs in which he has been active: “Deportivo Juventud”, with which he is a deputy in v. 1936, Montevideo Wanderers (1938-1943) and Penarol (1943-1955). He played 45 matches with the representative during the time period 1939-1954, scoring a total of 9 goals. In the final of v. 1950 he played a leading role in the team winning the World Cup.

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“Now I will tell you how the events happened. At that time, the Brazilians had a “terrible” formation. They were playing in their home. A whole world was waiting for them to win the World Cup. I was 33 years old, and many international matches were “held on my shoulders”…..they were stupid if they thought they could beat us without difficulty.

Before we went down to the field, the technical manager Juan Lopez said to me: “You will play the director of the team, you will lead the team on the field”

While we were walking slowly through the entrance tunnel to the field, I addressed the boys : “Don’t look up. “Don’t ever look in the direction of the stands, because the match is played down here on the field.”

When we entered the field, there was a crowd of 200,000 people who were screaming, a real hell. I did not shake the hand with the referee. I have never shaken hand with any referee in my life. Ah yes, I greeted, I treated them with respect, yes, but shaking hand, never.

Even though people say you should kiss the butt of the game director.

No, I don’t! I believe that it was 2 minutes ago that they scored the goal. And now I will tell you something that people do not know. Everyone has seen that I calmly took the ball in my hands and went to the middle of the field to “calm down” the troubled souls. What people don’t know… yes, I went to remind the referee of an offside position for their goal.

Yes, because the winger had raised the flag and then lowered it before they scored the goal. I took the ball and slowly – slowly I went to the middle of the field, and for the first time I looked up, in the direction of that crowd of people who were shouting non-stop, excited by the goal. I looked at them with a crooked look, with anger. I wanted to provoke that crowd. They wanted to see their “goal machine”. And I was stopping it.

I called the referee and asked for an interpreter, and by the time he arrived and said that it was an offside position, at least another minute had passed. Oh my god, what insulting shouts and calls were directed at me by the Brazilians.

From the stairs, people continued to scream and whistle. One of the footballers even came and slapped me!

I? Nothing, no action, calm without tension…

When we started playing again, the Brazilians didn’t even look at their own goal, because everything was directed straight ahead, like crazy… But a player should be like an actor , to dominate the stage, like a bullfighter, to dominate the arena, the public.

It is known that in a field outside that tent, you will not find applause, so then something must be done, the public, the opponent on the field, and the teammates must be dominated…

Well, when we scored the second goal with Ghiggia’s side, (the first was scored by Schiaffino), we couldn’t believe, world champions, world champions, that we were playing so badly until that moment of the tournament.

Brazilian women in mourning.

Tragedy.

* * *

That night I went for a walk around the bars, together with my manager, and that’s how we ended up in a bar…. yes, we had actually won the title of world champion but we didn’t have a single penny.

We “crouched” in a corner of the bar to drink a beer and watch people. Everyone was crying. It seemed like a lie. People still had tears in their eyes. In no time, a guy entered the bar, with a big, mammoth body, who was crying like a child, saying: “Obdulio Varela has fucked us all” . I was looking at him with pain. They had prepared the biggest carnival in the world, and the party was ruined.

Did you hear what that man was saying? I had ruined the party! I was feeling bad, maybe it would have been nice to see those carnivals, to see how people had fun, with something so simple. Yes, yes, nothing. We had ruined everything.

And for what? We had won the title, but what did that matter in the face of this great sadness of these people. Suddenly, the owner of the bar approaches that man with a mammoth physique, saying to him: “Do you know who this is here?” It’s Obdulio.” And then I thought “now he is going to kill me”. On the contrary, he looked at me and hugged me, continuing to cry, and later he said to me: “Obdulio, do you agree to come with us for some beer. We want to forget”

Eh, how could I say no. I spent the whole night going from one local to another, thinking that if he has to die tonight, so be it. But here I must note something that if I were given the opportunity to replay that final one more time, I would score a goal against, yes, yes against, don’t be surprised.

All that we won by taking the title as world champions was given to the leaders of the Uruguayan Football Federation..

We were forced to hand over the gold medals to them, leaders and players were given a copy of the silver medals.

I don’t even want you to remember it.

Ah leaders…”

Translated by Pjerin Bj and adapted in January 2007 

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Sports Vision / Champions Hour since 2013

Source: “Calcio 2000” personal collection as well as from “Palcoscenico – Tacalabala Goool”!