Uruguay and Brazil World Cup Final 1950

The build-up

Unlike in the previous two finals, Uruguay didn’t play any warm-up games. They were so confident about the upcoming match that they didn’t bother with any practice games at all. The captain of the team even stated that they weren’t interested in winning the tournament and would prefer to lose the first match. Those statements were taken with a pinch of salt. Brazil, on the other hand, had a completely different approach. They played five warm-up games, which is more than any other team in history. They also changed their tactics from the previous final, which would come as no surprise. After all, one of the key players from the previous final was now coaching the team.

Uruguay’s plan

Uruguay knew that Brazil would be a lot more aggressive than in the previous final. Therefore, they planned to sit back and wait for the opponent to make a mistake. They didn’t want to lose the ball and then try to get it back as soon as humanly possible. They wanted to take their time and wait for Brazil to give them space to do exactly that. Since Brazil was only used to playing against European teams, they expected a different type of game. In the previous final they stayed patient and waited for the Europeans to make a mistake, but they weren’t able to do that against Uruguay. Unlike the teams they were used to playing, the South Americans were perfectly happy to sit back and let them have the ball.

Brazil’s plan

As mentioned, Brazil was very confident. They knew that they had the upper hand. Not only in the sense that Uruguay had lost the previous final but also in the sense that they had played against the South Americans quite a few times before. Therefore, they knew that the South Americans would play defensively. They expected them to wait for them to make a mistake and attempt to get the ball as soon as possible. Therefore, as mentioned before, Brazil wanted to take their time and make Uruguay wait for them to make a mistake. However, as mentioned earlier, this didn’t happen. The South Americans didn’t sit back and wait for them to make a mistake. It was the complete opposite. Uruguay sat back and waited for Brazil to make a mistake.

The match

Uruguay got the better start and was able to win a couple of corners in the first 15 minutes. They didn’t manage to score from any of them but they did manage to put Brazil on the back foot. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t able to keep it up and Brazil started to take control of the match. The South Americans had the majority of the time on the ball while Uruguay was trying to hurry up their attacks. However, the hosts weren’t able to turn their advantage into goals, and that’s when the match became open. Uruguay started to play more casually and Brazil was even able to score a goal. But it was wrongly called offside and the goal was erased from the records. Uruguay realized that they needed to change their tactics and start to play more aggressively to stand a chance. They also wanted to put some more pressure on the Brazilian defense. Luckily, it paid off. They were able to score from a set piece and take the lead. However, their lead didn’t last long. Brazil was able to equalize and make it 1-1 going into injury time.

Summary

The match was an intense one. If you remember, in the previous match it took 30 minutes for both sides to score and that was only because of a mistake by Uruguay’s goalkeeper. In this match, however, it took only 15 minutes for both sides to score. Both teams played very offensively and were constantly trying to get the ball. It’s very difficult to say who was the more offensive side. That’s why the match was very open and both defenses had to make some excellent saves to prevent an earlier end to the match. The match was tied at the end of 90 minutes and had to be decided with a replay. Interestingly enough, it was the same as the first match. It took 30 minutes for both sides to score and it was another mistake from the Uruguayan goalkeeper that allowed Brazil to break the deadlock. However, unlike the first match, it was Uruguay that managed to score the next goal. They were able to use the momentum from the previous goal to create another one. And, once again, it was thanks to the mistake by the Brazilian goalkeeper that allowed Uruguay to score. This time, though, it was Brazil’s turn to score in the dying minutes of the match. They were able to create another goal, but it was too late. Uruguay was already celebrating their second title.