Moacir Barbosa do Nascimento (27 March 1921 – 7 April 2000) was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. His career spanned 22 years. He was regarded as one of the world's best goalkeepers in the 1940s and 1950s, and was known for not wearing gloves, as would be typical. Barbosa is mainly associated with Brazil's defeat against underdogs Uruguay in the decisive match of the 1950 FIFA World Cup, an upset dubbed the Maracanazo.

Moacir Barbosa

Barbosa in 1945
Personal information
Full name	Moacir Barbosa do Nascimento
Date of birth	(1921-03-27)27 March 1921
Place of birth	Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
Date of death	7 April 2000(2000-04-07) (aged 79)
Place of death	Praia Grande, Brazil
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1940–1941	ADCI-SP
1942–1944	Ypiranga-SP
1945–1955	Vasco da Gama	532	(0)
1956	→ Bonsucesso (loan)
1957	Santa Cruz	34	(0)
1958–1960	Vasco da Gama	151	(0)
1962	Campo Grande
National team
1945–1959	Brazil	20	(0)
Honours Men's Football Representing  Brazil FIFA World Cup Runner-up 1950 Brazil Copa América Winner 1949 Brazil Runner-up 1953 Peru 1959 Ecuador
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Success with Vasco da Gama

At club level, Barbosa had his greatest successes with Rio de Janeiro side CR Vasco da Gama. He won several trophies at Vasco, including the Campeonato Sul-Americano de Campeões in 1948, the original precursor to the Copa Libertadores.

International career

1949 Copa América

With the Brazilian national side, Barbosa won the 1949 Copa América. The 7–0 final victory over Paraguay remains to date the highest victory in a final of the competition.

The 1950 Maracanazo match and its aftermath

In the 1950 FIFA World Cup held on home soil, Brazil played Uruguay in the decisive match of the World Cup finals at the Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil was heavily favoured to win, and needed only a draw to win the round-robin tournament, but despite scoring first, Brazil lost 2–1 when Alcides Ghiggia scored the winning goal for Uruguay in the 79th minute after skilfully dribbling past Brazilian defender Bigode and then drilling the ball into the net while Barbosa was out of position, expecting a cross into the middle of the pitch. The loss stunned Brazilians and plunged the country into mourning, over what became known as the Maracanazo, or "the Maracana blow."

Barbosa was blamed for the defeat, for which he suffered for the rest of his life as the match became part of Brazilian folklore. In 2000, shortly before his death, he said in an interview: "The maximum punishment in Brazil is 30 years imprisonment, but I have been paying, for something I am not even responsible for, by now, for 50 years."[2] In 1993, the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, Ricardo Teixeira, did not allow him to be commentator during the broadcast of one of Brazil's international matches.[3]

In 1963, Barbosa was presented with the old square wooden goalposts from the Maracanã as a present, which he took home and burned.[4]

On 7 April 2000, he died of a heart attack at the age of 79.[5]

In popular culture

Barbosa plays a large role in Ian McDonald's science fiction novel Brasyl. Also, he is the main subject of the novel The Last Save of Moacyr Barbosa, by Darwin Pastorin.

A Brazilian short film named Barbosa, premiered in 1988.[6] In it, a 49-year-old man (played by Antônio Fagundes) travels back in time trying to avoid Ghiggia's goal.[7]

Honours

Club

Vasco da Gama

• Campeonato Sul-Americano de Campeões: 1948
• Torneio Rio-São Paulo: 1958
• Campeonato Carioca: 1945, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1958

Torneio Intercontinental Octogonal Rivadavia Correa Meyer: 1953,A terceira edição copa rio

International

Brazil

• Copa América: 1949

Unofficial tournaments

International

Brazil

• Copa Roca (unoff.)¹: 1945
• Copa Rio Branco (unoff.)²: 1947, 1950

¹) irregular friendly tournament between Brazil and Argentina
²) irregular friendly tournament between Brazil and Uruguay

Club

• Torneio Quadrangular do Rio (inoff.)¹: 1953
• Torneio Internacional de Santiago de Chile (inoff.)²: 1953

¹) with CR Vasco da Gama, CR Flamengo (both R.d Janeiro), CA Boca Juniors and. Racing Club (both Argentina)
²) with CR Vasco da Gama, Millonarios (Bogotá) and CSD Colo-Colo (Santiago)

Individual

• IFFHS Brazilian Keeper of the 20th Century: (3rd place)[8]
• IFFHS South American Keeper of the 20th Century: (11th place)[9]

References

External links

• El Mundo (Spain) – Obituary
• Casa do Cinema de Porto Alegre – Barbosa the film

Books

• Darwin Pastorin, L'ultima parata di Moacyr Barbosa (The Last Save of Moacyr Barbosa) Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 2005 (Published in Italy)
• Alex Bellos, Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life, Bloomsbury, 2002

На других языках

[es] Moacir Barbosa Nascimento

[fr] Moacir Barbosa Nascimento

[ru] Барбоза, Моасир