Alcides Ghiggia, man who silenced Maracana, dies on 65th anniversary of Uruguay’s stunning World Cup win

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.

The death of the legendary forward was confirmed by the secretary general of the Uruguayan Football Association, Alejandro Balbi. 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 their second World Cup title in a match Brazilians fully expected to win before about 200,000 fans at Rio’s 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 he died on the 65th anniversary of the game.

“It was a beautiful what happened” Ghiggia said. “It filled me with pride and was unforgettable. The biggest moment of my life was at the Maracana.”

Oscar Tabarez, the current coach of Uruguay’s national team, said Ghiggia “meant a lot to Uruguayans.”

“It is impressive what that man did. What he did in his life, his leadership and his personality,” Tabarez said.

Though he was viewed as the nation’s top soccer idol, Ghiggia played only 12 times for the national team and scored only four goals – all in the 1950 World Cup.

Ghiggia was born December 22, 1926, and quickly emerged as a right winger with pace who could out run defences. He started his professional career with the famous Uruguayan club Penarol. He later played in Italy with Roma and AC Milan. Because of his Italian roots, he also played several matches with the Italian national team.

Ghiggia was visibly overwhelmed when he was honoured in 2009 at the Maracana, placing his footprints in a plastic mold along with other greats of the game like Pele, Eusebio and Franz Beckenbauer.