They even scored: when two Uruguayans at São Paulo sank their own country | OneFootball

Reviving São Paulo’s historic connection with Uruguayan football, and as a way of building up to 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 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 to the squad, for training camp and warm-up friendlies. In return for this release, the Uruguayan association and Tricolor arranged a charity friendly at the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo.

São Paulo came in on a roll, unbeaten in 18 matches. The team had not tasted 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, where it was leading its 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.

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 split one half for each team. No agreement was reached: they would play for Tricolor, including Forlán, who was already in Uruguay and had reported to the national team, even playing 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 Ireland at home 2-0 on May 8, with both goals scored by Morena. It was the team’s eighth warm-up match, but only Forlán’s first with them.

The standout names on 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), as well as full-back Pavoni — who would score La Celeste’s only goal in that year’s World Cup.

The team was far from a consensus in Uruguay (and as the World Cup results would later show, for good reason), and for that reason the local press also approved 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 fans packed the Centenario Stadium: 55,000 paid attendance, more than 70,000 present.

THE MATCH

“Excitement from the start” – that was the headline in 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 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 a measured passing game began to take control.

Tricolor played in a classic 4-2-4, typical of the era, to try to break through the Uruguayan system which, despite being strongly defensive, still did not prevent them from threatening the São Paulo goalkeeper’s goal. The first half ended with the score still goalless, but not for lack of chances on either side.

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

After the minute of silence and the ensuing round of applause, the rest of the game was overshadowed. Uruguay desperately pushed forward, but every attack was stopped by São Paulo’s defense, especially goalkeeper Waldir Peres. Even Gilberto’s sending-off at the end of the match did not put the scoreline at risk.

The day after the match, Uruguayan newspapers highlighted the value of the clash and São Paulo’s performance, calling it 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 p.m.) 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.