This article contains weasel words, vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (February 2009)

Moacir Barbosa Nascimento (27 March 1921 – 8 April 2000) was a Brazilian international football goalkeeper whose career spanned 22 years. He was one of the world's best goalkeepers in the 1940s and 1950s and known for not wearing gloves because he wanted to feel the ball with his bare hands. Although he won many trophies, his fame is mainly associated with the defeat of Brazil in the decisive match of the World Cup 1950 against Uruguay. He died of a heart attack at age 79. ^[1]

[edit] Success with Vasco da Gama

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

[edit] Copa America 1949

With the national side he won the Copa America of 1949. The 7-0 win over Paraguay remains to date the highest victory in a final of this competition.

[edit] The 1950 match and its aftermath

In 1950 Brazil played Uruguay in a final match in the Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro. By losing 2-1, Brazil lost the top place and the tournament. Ghiggia scored the winning goal for Uruguay.

Barbosa was blamed for the defeat and especially for Ghiggia's goal. He was to suffer for a long time in the aftermath of this match which became as Maracanaço part of Brazilian folklore. Life became a torture for him. 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."^{[citation needed]}

Brazilians despised him for the rest of his days. Notably, the President of the Brazilian Football Association, who in 1993 would not allow him to commentate a broadcast of an international Brazil match.^[2]

In 1963 Barbosa was given the old square goal posts from the Maracanã as a present.

[edit] Clubs

• 1940–1941: ADCI-SP
• 1942–1944: Ypiranga-SP
• 1945–1955: Vasco da Gama-RJ
• 1955–1956: Santa Cruz-PE
• 1957: Bonsuccesso-RJ
• 1958–1960: Santa Cruz-PE
• 1962: Campo Grande-RJ

[edit] Honors

With Brazil:

• Copa América: 1949

Club Level:

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

[edit] Unofficial Tournaments

With Brasil:

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

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

Club Level:

• 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)

[edit] In Popular Culture

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

[edit] References & Links

1. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2000/apr/13/guardianobituaries.alexbellos
2. ^ Maracanã, the largest stadium of the world - Sambafoot.com

• El Mundo (Spain) - Obituary
• Excerpt on the 1950 World Cup from Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life

[edit] Books

• Darwin Pastorin, L'ultima parata di Moacyr Barbosa (The Last Save of Moacyr Barbosa) Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 2005 (Published in Italy) [1]
• Alex Bellos, Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life, Bloomsbury, 2002 [2]

v • d • e Brazil squad – 1950 FIFA World Cup Runners-up GK Barbosa • GK Castilho • DF Augusto • DF Ely • DF Juvenal • DF Nena • DF Nílton Santos • MF Bauer • MF Bigode • MF Danilo • MF Noronha • MF Rui • FW Adãozinho • FW Ademir • FW Alfredo • FW Baltazar • FW Chico • FW Friaça • FW Jair • FW Maneca • FW Rodrigues • FW Zizinho • Coach: Costa