Even scored: when two Uruguay stars with São Paulo sank their own country | OneFootball

Reviving São Paulo’s historic connection with Uruguayan football, and as a warm-up for the pre-match coverage of Spain vs. Uruguay in the World Cup this Friday (26), the club’s Historical Archive brought back a great match played in 1974, when stars Pedro Rocha and Forlán represented the Tricolor against their own national team.

With only a few days left before the 1974 World Cup, the Uruguay national team asked São Paulo to release Forlán and Pedro Rocha, both called up, for training camp and preparatory friendlies. In return for this release, the Uruguayan association and the Tricolor arranged a charity friendly at the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo.

São Paulo came in on a roll, unbeaten in 18 matches. They had not tasted defeat since February, when they were beaten 1-0 by Cruzeiro at Mineirão. They had just thrashed Jorge Wilstermann 5-0 at home in a Copa Libertadores match, where they were leading their group — that season São Paulo would go on to finish as runners-up in the competition.

The squad, made up of Waldir Peres, Getúlio, Nelson, Samuel, Arlindo, Gilberto Sorriso, Chicão, Pedro Rocha, Mauro, Piau, Serginho Chulapa, Teodoro, Zé Carlos, Mirandinha, Gésum, Mauro and Silva, traveled to the neighboring country on May 9. Once there, they still had time for a physical training session and for Poy to decide the lineup.

The Tricolor were missing Terto, Ademir and Paranhos. Piau had inflamed eyes and was also not certain to play, even though he was part of the squad.

In the Uruguayan capital, local officials tried to convince the Tricolor delegation to let Pedro Rocha and Pablo Forlán play for La Celeste, or at least split a half with each team. No agreement was reached: they would play for the Tricolor, including Forlán, who was already in Uruguay and had reported to the national team, even featuring against Ireland.

THE OPPONENT

Uruguay, seeded in that year’s World Cup because they had been semifinalists in the 1970 tournament, had beaten Ireland 2-0 at home on May 8, with two goals from Morena. It was the team’s eighth warm-up match, but only Forlán’s first with them.

The standout names in that Uruguayan side were, besides Tricolor players Rocha and Forlán, goalkeeper Mazurkiewicz of Atlético Mineiro, midfielders Cubilla and Castillo (who would not play in the friendly), and full-back Pavoni — who would score La Celeste’s only goal at that year’s World Cup.

The team was far from universally admired in Uruguay (and as the World Cup results would later show, with good reason), and for that reason too the local press approved of the friendly against the strong Tricolor, calling it the ideal and toughest test of La Celeste’s entire preparation. Expectations for the match were high. Fired up, the home crowd packed the Centenario Stadium: 55,000 paying fans, more than 70,000 in attendance.

THE MATCH

“Excitement from the start” – that was the headline of O Estado de São Paulo’s report on May 12 about the match played the day before in Montevideo. It also noted that the game was “described as ‘thrilling’ by the local commentators themselves.” It was much more than that.

Just three minutes after kickoff, Waldir Peres made a spectacular save from a shot by full-back Pavoni. São Paulo settled into the match, however, and with composed passing began to take control.

The Tricolor lined up in a classic 4-2-4 of that era, trying to break through the Uruguayan system, which, though highly defensive, still allowed them to threaten the São Paulo goalkeeper’s goal. The first half ended with the scoreboard still untouched, but not for lack of chances on either side.

Shortly after the restart, in the third minute, came the decisive play of the match, the epic and unforgettable moment for everyone there: Pablo Forlán played the ball through to Pedro Rocha, who drove into La Celeste’s penalty area, went one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and delicately guided it into the back of the net. A São Paulo goal, scored by the Tricolor’s Uruguayans!

After the moment of silence and the round of applause that followed, the rest of the match was overshadowed. Uruguay desperately threw themselves into attack, but every effort was stopped by the São Paulo defense, especially goalkeeper Waldir Peres. Even Gilberto’s sending-off near the end did not put the scoreline at risk.

The day after the match, Uruguayan newspapers highlighted the value of the contest and São Paulo’s performance, calling them a “worthy representative of the Brazilian school,” but above all Pedro Rocha’s display on the day the captain scored a goal against his own homeland.

MATCH DETAILS URUGUAY NATIONAL TEAM 0 x 1 SÃO PAULO 05/11/1974, Saturday (4:00 PM) Dr. Cyro Ciambruno Trophy: Single Match Centenario Stadium, Montevideo (Uruguay) REFEREE: Hector Borra (Uruguay). GATE RECEIPTS: 50,000,000.00 pesos. ATTENDANCE: ~55,000 paid, ~70,000 present

SPFC: Waldir Peres; Pablo Forlán (Nelson), Samuel, Arlindo and Gilberto Sorriso; Chicão and Pedro Rocha; Mauro Madureira, Mirandinha, Zé Carlos and Piau (Teodoro). COACH: Jose Poy. GOAL: Pedro Rocha, 3’/2nd half. SENDING-OFF: Gilberto Sorriso.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.