Uruguay hero remembers scoring 1950 goal - and then the silence

Ghiggia looks back on historic strike at famous Brazil soccer stadium

Alcides Ghiggia still remembers the shocked hush in the Maracana stadium, packed with more than 200,000 people, after he scored the goal that felled soccer's superpower.

It was a "great, stunning silence", Ghiggia, the only surviving player from the Uruguayan and Brazilian teams that disputed the decisive 1950 World Cup game, said.

Sixty-four years on, there is enduring agony in Brazil over his goal as the country races to be ready to host the World Cup finals again. Ghiggia, now 87, said it took him years to appreciate the importance of his heroics.

Barely 10 minutes from the end of the game that Brazil only needed to draw to win the tournament, Ghiggia escaped his marker on the right wing and shot into the net before Brazilian goalkeeper Moacir Barbosa had dived.

There were only a few dozen Uruguayans in the legendary stadium, where the attendance of more than 200,000 has never been surpassed at a sporting event.

"After the match we Uruguayans felt joy (but) there was this silence in the stadium and people crying," he said.

Ghiggia has since repeatedly told eager audiences, "Only three people have reduced the Maracana to silence: Frank Sinatra, the Pope and me.

"I first said that in an interview with Globo TV in the 1960s. I was asked about the 'Maracanazo' and the phrase just came to me, it wasn't scripted."

Brazilians call the humiliating 2-1 defeat the 'Maracanazo' and are still obsessed with the goal, even though their country has won the World Cup five times since.

Barbosa felt he was treated like a near criminal right up to his death in 2000.

Ghiggia is treated like a war hero but denies he is one like a soldier.

"I did something for my country," he said. But he will never forget that goal.

Goal that 'burned'

"It remains burned on my memory. I had to decide in a few seconds what I was going to do in that move. I was lucky enough to drive it home inside the post and score the second goal.

"It was a joyous moment as I thought of my family, my friends. That is the the most intimate memory I retain of this goal."

Asked how he feels looking back, Ghiggia said: "It's a lovely memory of having done something for my country. Our country is known for sport, especially football.

"I have traveled abroad extensively and people have always asked me 'how is it that such a small country has so many titles?'

"I always respond: Because the Uruguayans love football, live and breathe football, start playing very young. That's how we form players. So that's why there is nothing surprising that players such as ours should appear in such a country."

Ghiggia said he was too young, 23 at the time, to understand the significance of his goal when he claimed his World Cup medal in the stunned stadium.

"Not at the time, as I was very young. I only realized its impact several years later when people started writing books on the subject and asking me about it."

But Ghiggia rejects any idea he is a "hero".

"I am one of those who played and you don't play on your own - there are 11 of you. It is true the goal changed my life as it made my name and I went off to play in Europe, with Roma and Milan."

Brazilians say the legacy of the defeat is like a ghost in the Maracana, which will be used again for this year's World Cup final on July 13.

Ghiggia, who has left an impression of his feet on the Maracana walk of fame, denies he is the phantom.

"It was journalists who came up with that idea, not me. I wouldn't know if the ghost of Maracana is me or someone else," he said with a laugh.

Uruguay is back at the finals again, having narrowly qualified. But it have one of the has one of the world's great strikers in Luis Suarez.

Ghiggia does not rule out another 'Maracanazo', but is wary.

"In life, you don't know what's going to happen. We shall have to wait and see how Uruguay play. I always hope they win and I want to see them world champions. I hope to be with them."

Despite his patriotism and Brazil's role as favorite, Germany is Ghiggia's tip to win in 2014.

(China Daily 05/02/2014 page11)