The Unforgiven

Just when does the statute of limitations run out on some error or failure in life?

From time to time you run across old articles or film that raise such questions. Such is the case of Brazilian soccer player, Moacyr Barbosa. Barbosa (1921-2000) was the Brazilian keeper in a shocking 1950 World Cup championship loss that traumatized Brazil for decades. For his alleged error 12 minutes near the end of playing time, Barbosa for the greater part of his life remained "The Unforgiven", forever tagged as the man who "lost" Brazil its rightful place to soccer glory.

Expectations of victory
Most people are familar with the fanatical, almost religious passions with which Brazilians regard their soccer. In 1950, these passions were at fever pitch. Brazil was playing at home, and the country had just built the largest soccer stadium in the world for just that purpose, the gigantic Maracana stadium, holding almost 200,000 people. It was not simply soccer, it was a matter of patriotism. The sport authorities and indeed the entire nation was confident of victory. How could they lose? In addition to the home crowd, they had one of the finest attacking trios of the time, (Jair, Ademir and Zizinho) and a defense anchored by the man voted the best goalkeeper of the World Cup- the splendid, athletic Moacyr Barbosa. He was known for not wearing gloves because he wanted to feel the ball with his bare hands.

As Brazil's victories rolled on, the feeling of invincibility grew. In one triumph over Spain, a stadium band struck up 'Bullfights in Madrid', a popular carnival march. The entire stadium joined in, well over 100,000 people, an awesome cresendo of thunderous voices and riotous color that some writers at the time felt to be "one of the largest demonstrations of collective singing ever known.." According to some writers, it was as if the spectators were a musical counterpoint to the splendid national team- glory in play, glory in song.

The fatal loss: "Frank Sinatra, Pope John Paul II and me.."
Fate however was stalking the halls of glory. Brazil breezed through all opponents during the tournament, leaving only an obscure Uruguayan side to brush past for the destined victory. Uruguay had some good players, but the odds favored Brazil heavily on paper. On the fatal day, the "trio of death" went to work but despite entertaining play, got little change from the well organized Uruguayans. After half-time however Brazil scored and the crowd (estimated in excess of 200,000) vibrated in extravagant celebration.

1950 Brazil team: Barbosa - back row, far left

The Uruguayans however did not lose heart but stepped up their attack. Some 34 minutes later, Schiaffino, totally unmarked by the defence, tied the score, after Ghigghia had ran past Brazilian defender Bigode. The intense contest continued. The Brazilian attackers pressed hard but were always stymied by the plucky Uruguayans. Still the huge crowd was confident of inevitably victory. It was not to come. Twelve minutes from time, Gigghia again dribbled past Bigode and shot from a narrow angle. Barbosa dived to his left. It was too late- the fatal blow had been struck.

A spectral silence descended on the massive stadium. Media personnel reacted in disbelief. "GOOOOL do Uruguay,' said Luiz Mendes, narrating for Rádio Globo, automatically and firmly. He repeated, asking in disbelief: 'Gol do Uruguay?' He answered himself: 'Gol do Uruguay!' He repeated the same three words six more times consecutively, each with completely different intonation - with various degrees of surprise, resignation and shock.."
"Football's shrine was as quiet as a tomb. Gigghia said many years later: 'Only three people have, with just one motion, silenced the Maracanã: Frank Sinatra, Pope John Paul II and me."

To get a feel for how shocking this moment was, in American terms, it was comparable to the news of John F. Kennedy being shot, or announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor. That was how big it felt for many Brazilians. The final minutes ticked away despite desperate Brazilian efforts and then the 1950 World Cup was history. The fallout was intense and traumatic. An entire nation erupted in anger and mourning.

"To Roberto Muylaert, Barbosa's biographer, the black-and-white film is Brazil's Zapruder footage. The goal and the gunshot that killed Kennedy both have 'the same drama...the same movement, rhythm...the same precision of an inexorable trajectory...'They even share clouds of dust - one from a gun, one from Gigghia's left foot.

Paulo Perdigáo writes in Anatomy of a Defeat, an obsessive and brilliant biopsy of the game: 'It continues being the most famous goal in the history of Brazilian football...because none other transcended its status as a sporting fact...converting itself into a historic moment in the life of a nation.'

Barbosa: Blundering fool, or mislabeled victim?
As the days of rage smouldered, the scapegoat came to be Barbosa, who ironically, had been voted as the best goalkeeper in the overall tournament. Although he was to continue playing soccer, his days on the national team were over, and his name reviled. For the rest of his life, he was often seen as the man who choked- forever The Unforgiven.

A review of the video and description of events yields inconclusive results, in my opinion. Some say he was out of position, some not. It is hard to tell from the angles on film. What seems beyond dispute is that the porous Brazilian defence shares some culpability, repeatedly failing to shutdown Gigghia- provider of the first goal, and striker of the second. But none of this counted with a furious nation. A scapegoat was required. Barbosa fit the bill.

Barbosa's case also illustrates how time and chance alters destinies. In 1970, Brazil , led by Pele, won perhaps its most celebrated championship with a goalkeeper named Felix, who many analysts consider one of the worst World Cup goalkeepers of the major nations that played. Yet Felix, his blunders covered by the glittering play of Pele, Jair and company, has his place at the table as a man who helped bring home a championship. A much better goalkeeper, Barbosa however, was confined to the outer darkness. Brazil even changed its jersey to today’s famous yellow and green after the 1950 defeat. The national team would never again wear the all-white with blue collar shirts it wore in the defeat by Uruguay.

Sscapegoats in sun and shadow
Barbosa' s plight has received treatment at the hands of several Brazilian filmmakers and writers. A 1988 film posits a similar character going back through time, trying to undo the fatal day. Books such as Darwin Pastorin's L'ultima parata di Moacyr Barbosa (The Last Save of Moacyr Barbosa) detail his case. Some see Barbosa as just another sports figure, blamed by fans for an unfavorable outcome. Others such as writer Carlos da Sylvia sees Babosa in quasi-religious terms, fulfilling the ancient role of scapegoat, sacrificed to restore balance to the ruptured community.

Da Silva also explores the issue of race with Barbosa, being one of Brazil's few visibly black goalkeepers. Brazil was not to have another for over 50 years- with various commentators alleging that the powers that selected national teams considered black keepers to be bad luck, and thus kept out promising athletes while allowing mediocrities like Felix. As black, da Silva argues, Barbosa fulfilled all the classical functions of the scapegoat even more, his dark skin a stark reminder of the sin of losing.

"But I have never been forgiven.. "
Whatever the merits of these arguments or allegations, Barbosa's story still inspires attention despite the passage of half a century. In 1963 he was given the old square goal posts from the Maracanã Stadium, which he took home and burned. Still the revulsion of many Brazilians followed him- from the streets, to the executive suites.

In 1993, some 43 years after the event, the President of the Brazilian Football Confederation, would not allow him to commentate on a televised international Brazil match. The stigma of "The Unforgiven" still remained. In Uruguyan author Edward Galaeno's 1999 book, "Soccer in Sun and Shadow" Barbosa is quoted as saying "even a criminal when he as served his time, and paid his debt, is forgiven. But I have never been forgiven.."

Barbosa's last save..