Moacir Barbosa do Nascimento (27 March 1921 – 7 April 2000) was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. 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 Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

's defeat against underdogs

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

in the decisive match of the

1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. The planned 1942 and 1946 World Cups were ...

, an upset dubbed the '' Maracanazo''.

Club career

Success with Vasco da Gama

At club level, Barbosa had his greatest successes with

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

side

CR Vasco da Gama Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama (), commonly referred as Vasco da Gama or simply Vasco, is a professional sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Originally a rowing club, Vasco is mostly known for its football team, who it currently compet ...

. He won several trophies at Vasco, including the

Campeonato Sul-Americano de Campeões The South American Championship of Champions ( es, Campeonato Sudamericano de Campeones, pt, Campeonato Sul-Americano de Campeões) was a football competition played in Santiago, Chile in 1948 and the first continental-wide football tournament in ...

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 Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

remains to date the highest victory in a final of the competition.

The 1950 ''Maracanazo'' match and its aftermath

In the

held on home soil, Brazil played

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 Alcides Edgardo Ghiggia Pereyra (; 22 December 1926 – 16 July 2015) was a Uruguayan-Italian football player, who played as a right winger. He achieved lasting fame for his decisive role in the final match of the 1950 World Cup, and at the ...

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 Maracanã 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." 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. In 1963, Barbosa was presented with the old square wooden goalposts from the Maracanã as a present, which he took home and burned. On 7 April 2000, he died of a heart attack at the age of 79.

In popular culture

Barbosa plays a large role in Ian McDonald's science fiction novel ''

Brasyl ''Brasyl'' is a 2007 novel by British author Ian McDonald. It was nominated for the 2008 Hugo Awards in the best novel category. In 2008 it was nominated for, and made the longlist of, the £50,000 Warwick Prize for Writing. It was also nominat ...

''. Also, he is the main subject of the novel ''

The Last Save of Moacyr Barbosa ''The Last Save of Moyacyr Barbosa'' (Italian: ''L'ultima parata di Moacyr Barbosa'') is a book by Darwin Pastorin, describing the life and times of the Brazilian goalkeeper of the 1950 World Cup, Moacyr Barbosa. Barbosa failed to stop a shot by ...

'', by Darwin Pastorin. A Brazilian short film named ''Barbosa'', premiered in 1988. In it, a 49-year-old man (played by

Antônio Fagundes Antônio José da Silva Fagundes Filho (born 18 April 1949) is a Brazilian actor, playwright, voice actor, and producer. Renowned for his several performances in stage, film and television, where he frequently works in telenovelas. Biography Fa ...

) travels back in time trying to avoid Ghiggia's goal.

Honours

Club

;Vasco da Gama *

: 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 Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...

(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 Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

(both R.d Janeiro), CA Boca Juniors and. Racing Club (both Argentina)
²) with CR Vasco da Gama,

Millonarios Millonarios Fútbol Club is a professional Colombian football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the El Campín stadium. Millonarios was initially created in 1937 by students f ...

(Bogotá) and CSD Colo-Colo (Santiago)

Individual

* IFFHS Brazilian Keeper of the 20th Century: (3rd place) * IFFHS South American Keeper of the 20th Century: (11th place)IFFHS' Century Elections
/ref>

References

External links

– Obituary
Casa do Cinema de Porto Alegre
– Barbosa the film

Books

* Darwin Pastorin, ''L'ultima parata di Moacyr Barbosa'' (''

'')

Arnoldo Mondadori Editore Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 1 ...

, 2005 (Published in Italy

*Alex Bellos, ''Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life'', Bloomsbury Publishing, Bloomsbury, 200

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbosa, Moacir 1921 births 2000 deaths Brazilian footballers Association football goalkeepers 1950 FIFA World Cup players CR Vasco da Gama players Santa Cruz Futebol Clube players Sportspeople from Campinas Brazil international footballers