Home of the 1950 world champions | OneFootball

Some São Paulo supporters may not know it, but the Tricolor once had as its headquarters a pleasant retreat in the area where the Canindé Stadium stands today. From 1942 to 1956 (and from 1944 to 1955 as owner), São Paulo used the sports and social complex located there as a country headquarters and training ground for its football and athletics teams.

Just as when the club hosted the United States and Colombia national teams at its facilities at the Barra Funda Training Center and the Cotia Athlete Development Center during the 2014 World Cup, the Tricolor also had the honor of hosting a national team for the 1950 edition. None other than the country that would go on to win that tournament, defeating the home side, which had drawn more than 200,000 people to the Maracanã stadium.

Uruguay arrived in the city of São Paulo on July 5 for the final round-robin stage of the World Cup. At Pacaembu Stadium they would face Spain on the 9th and Sweden on the 13th of that month. The players, coaching staff, and officials then stayed at Canindé until their departure from the state capital, as on the 16th they would face Brazil in Rio de Janeiro.

TRICOLOR RETREAT

About this ten-day stay with the Tricolor, player Ghiggia says in the documentary “Maracaná” (Sebastián Bednarik and Andrés Varela, 2014) that “la concentración em San Pablo era muy linda, muy tranquila”. The documentary, incidentally, shows scenes of Uruguayan players training on the headquarters’ pitch (see below).

In addition to lodging, São Paulo helped the “Orientals” with training, sports equipment, and food. It is known that on July 6 the Uruguayan team held a familiarization session on the Pacaembu pitch, using Tricolor players to make up the reserve side, which, incidentally, beat the starters 7–5. Yeso, Toni, and Zequinha took part in that practice match.

The newspapers O Estado de São Paulo and Folha da Manhã, on July 12, reported an interesting episode about La Celeste’s training sessions at Canindé and that team’s fighting spirit. In a practice match against Arara Clube, two Uruguayan players, Godoy and Gambeta, got into a scuffle on the field (with each other or with opponents, the newspapers contradict one another) and caused the match, which they were winning 2–1, to end early.

DONA CATHARINA

About the guests’ meals, Dona Catharina Pugliese Serrone, São Paulo’s cook at the time, said the following in the São Paulo FC and Museu da Pessoa Multimedia History project (1994):

“The Uruguay national team stayed there in camp. There at Canindé. And they ate there, and at home. They were very polite. Sometimes they would come on foot from Canindé to my house, which was nearby. And they would come all together, in a single line, all together…”. When asked what the visitors ate, she replied immediately: “Oh, just meat! Meat, meat, meat, a little rice and pasta or soup”.

On another occasion: Serrone and Catharina welcome Ruy, Bauer, Teixeirinha, and other São Paulo athletes. Photo: São Paulo Antiga

As for the reputation of Obdulio Varela, the leader of the Uruguayan team, as a gruff commander, Dona Catharina agreed: “He was kind of tall, not very fat. Fierce! He shouted at the players. He was the one who gave orders to the players. He was the team captain”.

Fifteen days after returning to Uruguay as champions, the players gave Dona Catharina and her husband, Mr. Serrone (São Paulo’s kit man), airline tickets to visit Uruguay and stay there for two weeks.

HONOR

The tributes and thanks for the welcome did not stop there. Even before the end of the competition, the Celeste players praised São Paulo’s name by taking the field in a World Cup match with the Tricolor crest on their chest.

Uruguay’s team against Spain in a World Cup match. Goalkeeper Paz, on the right, wearing São Paulo’s colors

That was what goalkeeper Aníbal Paz (the backup) did in the match against Spain at Pacaembu. The game ended in a 2–2 draw and Paz did not play, but the photo (see above) was immortalized in magazines and newspapers. The feat makes São Paulo, alongside Malmö of Sweden (1958, with Argentina players), the only clubs to this day to have their emblems displayed on players in World Cup matches — other teams also outfitted national teams in the tournament, such as Napoli-ITA with Austria in 1938; Cruzeiro-RS with Mexico in 1950; and Kimberley-ARG with France in 1978.

The Uruguayans said goodbye to the Tricolors and to Canindé on July 14. Two days later they would shock Brazil and the world by defeating the Canarinho team 2–1, coming from behind, in an overcrowded stadium with more than 200,000 people hostile to the visitors. “El Maracanazo”.

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