Great World Cup moments No4

13 April 2012
Crowd record in Rio

The largest crowd to watch a World Cup match gathered at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro in 1950 in the expectation of seeing host nation Brazil crowned world champions.

More than 173,830 fans, with unofficial estimates putting the crowd at almost 200,000, packed into the Maracana on 16 July as Brazil went in search of the point they needed against Uruguay to win the competition. That year's tournament, which was poorly organised and blighted by the late withdrawal of several teams, was decided on a mini-league system and by a quirk of fate the only sides who could still win the trophy met in the final match.

Brazil went ahead just after half-time but Uruguay equalised and, with 11 minutes to go, Alcides Ghiggia scored the winner for the underdogs. The nation was stunned and Brazilian officials even forgot to present the Uruguayans with the trophy. It was left to Jules Rimet himself to go down onto the pitch in search of the Uruguayan captain to perform the ceremony.

England, by the way, were eliminated in the first-round stage after losing to the United States and Spain.

There are only 45 days to go until the 2002 World Cup kicks off and Standard Sport will continue its countdown with a daily series of famous moments from the 72-year history of the tournament, ranging from the great and the controversial to the downright miserable.

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