For Tricolor, against his own homeland | OneFootball

Reviving São Paulo’s historic connection with Uruguayan football, and as a way of building anticipation for the Spain versus Uruguay pre-match at the 2026 World Cup, the Historical Archive brings back a great match played in 1974, when 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, who had been called up, for training camp and warm-up friendlies. In return for that release, the Uruguayan association and the Tricolor arranged a charity friendly at the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo.

São Paulo came into the match full of momentum, unbeaten in 18 games. The team had not known defeat since February, when it lost 1–0 to Cruzeiro at Mineirão. It had just beaten Jorge Wilstermann at home 5–0 in a Copa Libertadores match, a competition in which it led its group — that season São Paulo would go on to finish as runner-up.

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 would still have time for a physical training session and for Poy to decide the lineup. The Tricolor was 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 spend one 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 appearing against Ireland.

THE OPPONENT

Uruguay, a seeded team in that year’s World Cup for having been a semifinalist in the 1970 tournament, had beaten the Republic of Ireland on May 8 at home, 2–0, with both goals scored by Morena. It was the team’s eighth warm-up match, but only Forlán’s first with them.

The standout players on that Uruguayan side were, besides Rocha and Forlán, goalkeeper Mazurkiewicz of Atlético Mineiro, midfielders Cubilla and Castillo (neither of whom would play in the friendly), as well as full-back Pavoni — who would score La Celeste’s only goal at that year’s World Cup.

The team was far from unanimously supported in Uruguay (and, as the World Cup results would later show, for good reason), and for that reason as well the local press welcomed the friendly against the strong Tricolor, saying it would be 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 paid attendance, more than 70,000 present in total.

THE MATCH

“Excitement from the start” – That was the headline in O Estado de São Paulo’s May 12 report on 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 full-back Pavoni’s shot. São Paulo settled into the match, however, and with patient passing began tocontrol the game.

The Tricolor lined up in a classic 4-2-4, typical of the era, to try to break through the Uruguayan system, which, though strongly defensive, did not stop them from threatening the São Paulo goalkeeper’s net. The first half ended with the score still goalless, 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 in attendance: Pablo Forlán played the ball through to Pedro Rocha, who advanced into La Celeste’s penalty area, went one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and delicately guided it into the back of the net. Goal for São Paulo, goals 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 pushed forward, but every attack was stopped by São Paulo’s defense, above all by 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 it a “worthy representative of the Brazilian school,” but above all Pedro Rocha’s display, on that day when the captain scored a goal against his own homeland.

PRAISE

URUGUAY NATIONAL TEAM 0 x 1 SÃO PAULO05/11/1974. Saturday (4:00 p.m.). Dr. Cyro Ciambruno Trophy: Single Match. Montevideo (Uruguay), Centenario Stadium.

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