Uruguay legend Ghiggia dies
Print Edition
ALCIDES Edgardo Ghiggia, who scored the winning goal in the final game of the 1950 World Cup to give Uruguay a stunning 2-1 victory over Brazil — still recalled as Brazil’s greatest defeat — died on Thursday. He was 88.
Ghiggia’s son, Arcadio, said his father died of a heart attack.
Ghiggia scored the deciding goal 10 minutes from time with the game tied 1-1. It gave Uruguay its second World Cup title in a match Brazilians fully expected to win before about 200,000 fans at Rio’s iconic Maracana stadium. Even a draw would have given Brazil the title. The loss is still known in Brazil as the “Maracanazo”.
Ghiggia also set up the tying goal by Juan Schiaffino earlier in the second half.
“Only three people have silenced the Maracana,” Ghiggia once said of the goal. “The Pope, Frank Sinatra and me.”
He was the last surviving Uruguayan player from the match and, poignantly, he died on Thursday, the 65th anniversary of that memorable game.
When he turned 80 he was honored by the Uruguayan congress, still a national hero a half decade later. “It was beautiful what happened” Ghiggia said. “It filled me with pride and was unforgettable. The biggest moment of my life was at the Maracana.”
Though he was viewed as the nation’s top soccer idol, Ghiggia played only 12 times for Uruguay and scored only four goals — all in the 1950 World Cup.
Ghiggia was born on December 22, 1926, and quickly emerged as a right winger with pace who could outrun defenses. He started his professional career with the famous Uruguayan club Penarol and later played in Italy with AS Roma and AC Milan.
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