The 1950 FIFA World Cup was staged at eight venues across Brazil – including the 200,000-capacity Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro – between June 24 and July 16, 1950, and marked the return of the tournament after cancellation in 1942 and 1946 due to World War II. Originally, 16 teams qualified, but India, Scotland and Turkey withdrew, while France, who had been eliminated in qualifying, initially accepted an invitation as a replacement, withdrew once the draw had been made.
Thus, the group stage featured two groups of four teams, one group of three and one group of two, with the top team in each group advancing to the final stage. The final stage was, once again, a round-robin, in which each team played three matches and the team with most points was declared the World Cup winner.
The late withdrawal of France meant that the eventual champions Uruguay qualified for the final round by playing just one match, an 8-0 annihilation of Bolivia at Estádio Independência in Belo Horizonte, during which Óscar Míguez scored a hat-trick. Thankfully, the final stage was more competitive, with Uruguay set to face Brazil, Spain and Sweden.
After a 2-2 draw with Spain at the Estádio do Pacaembu in São Paulo, where they came from a goal down, with captain Obdulio Varela scoring the equaliser after 73 minutes, Uruguay again came from behind to beat Sweden 3-2 at the same venue, thanks to two late goals from Míguez. In the decisive match against the hosts, Brazil, at Estádio do Maracanã, Uruguay again trailed 1-0 to a Albino Friaça Cardoso goal, vehemently disputed by Varela, early in the second half. However, yet again, Uruguay mustered an equaliser through inside-left Juan Alberto Schiaffino after 66 minutes and outside-right Alcides Ghiggia – who had the distinction of scoring in every game – silenced the crowd with what turned out to be the winning goal 11 minutes from the end of normal time.
Victory for the Uruguayan underdogs in the match later dubbed ‘Maracanaço’ or ‘Maracanazo’ had a lasting effect on the Brazilian footballing psyche. ‘El Fantasma del 50’, or ‘Phantom of 50’, has been a recurring theme in subsequent meetings between the teams.