Alcides Ghiggia, who scored winning goal for Uruguay in 1950 World Cup, dies at 88
Posted Jul 16, 2015 5:01 pm.
Last Updated Jul 16, 2015 6:28 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay – 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 — has died. He was 88.
The secretary general of the Uruguayan Football Association, Alejandro Balbi, announced that Ghiggia had died on Thursday. He did not give a cause of death.
Ghiggia scored the deciding goal 10 minutes from time with the match tied 1-1. It gave Uruguay its 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 at the “Maracanazo.”
