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The Man Who Made Brazil Cry

Number Ten

Tuesday, February 17th, 2004

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 On a summer’s day in 1950 the Maracana was packed
Just shy of two hundred thousand turned up for this expected joy
An inevitable Brazilian victory, the team everyone backed
The hosts showing us how to play using Uruguay as a toy.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 The headlines in the newspapers were already boasting
All this was before the game had even begun
It seemed elementary that the winners would be those hosting
The goals had flown in and the game was already won.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 The boys in white take the lead and the crowd go wild
Surely the goal rout would continue with relish
Not a hint that night of the Rio streets being mild
As their dreams were coming true, they didn’t think it’d turn hellish.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Uruguay equalise with time to play but still the crowds sing
No knockout in this cup it revolved around the group setup
A win or a draw is all Brazil need to win
But it looked like Uruguay’s attacks wouldn’t letup.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 The goal nobody foresaw eventually arrived
Uruguay were winning as Ghiggia thumped in a goal
The idea of the Brazilians being losers was now derived
Embedded into their lives trying to climb out of this hole.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 The Uruguayans celebrated as they had won the cup twice
However they weren’t to blame for this almighty disaster
Brazil looked at themselves and had to pay the price
Defenders and goalkeeper would take the flak that came after.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 The fans all flooded out most of them swamped with tears
They had all come for Brazil’s finest hour at this wonderful gala
But these morose figures stumbled out having faced their fears
Drenched in gloom as if walking from a funeral parlour.

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 The disaster imprinted on every Brazilian heart
Ghiggia’s goal had chopped down this great oak of a nation
And the goalkeeper Barbosa was blamed for his part
He didn’t guard the near post so his misery became a creation.

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 Barbosa, the one who had destroyed their greatest game
But Ghiggia says ‘He did what was logical’
This Uruguayan heartbreaker was not the one to blame
His shot had fired in and made this scenario ‘illogical’.

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 An obsession grew in the country over their loss
Zizinho and the rest had to listen and relive the nightmare
Barbosa regarded as a great was no longer the boss
‘The Fateful Final killed him’ they said with light care.

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 Their white shirts ripped off never to be worn again
So the yellow was born by a young student named Schlee
To see them play in any other colour now seems insane
This design was by a Uruguayan, it’s a subtle irony.

12 Leave a comment on verse 12 0 An encounter in a shop told of memories laced with hurt
A woman and her child rummaging around things to buy
Then they spot Barbosa and the woman’s message is curt
She says ‘There is the man who made Brazil cry’.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/the-man-who-made-brazil-cry/