![]() Barbosa in 1945
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Personal information | |||
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Full name | Moacir Barbosa Nascimento | ||
Date of birth | 27 March 1921 | ||
Place of birth | Río Branco (Acre), Brazil | ||
Date of death | 7 April 2000 | (aged 79)||
Place of death | Praia Grande, Brazil | ||
Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1940–1941 | ADCI-SP | ||
1942–1944 | Ypiranga-SP | ||
1945–1955 | Vasco da Gama | ||
1956 | → Bonsucesso (loan) | ||
1957 | Santa Cruz | ||
1958–1960 | Vasco da Gama | ||
1962 | Campo Grande | ||
National team | |||
1949–1953 | Brazil | 17 | (0) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
Moacir Barbosa Nascimento (27 March 1921 – 7 April 2000) was a Brazilian professional international football goalkeeper whose career spanned 22 years. He was one of the world's best goalkeepers in the 1940s and 1950s and known for not wearing gloves because he wanted to feel the ball with his bare hands. Although he won many trophies, his fame is mainly associated with the defeat of Brazil in the decisive match of the 1950 FIFA World Cup against Uruguay.
At club level, Barbosa had his greatest successes with CR Vasco da Gama, Rio de Janeiro. He won several trophies with the side, including the Campeonato Sul-Americano de Campeões in 1948, the original precursor to the Copa Libertadores.
With the Brazilian national side, Barbosa won the 1949 Copa América. The 7–0 final victory over Paraguay remains to date the highest victory in a final of the competition.
In the 1950 FIFA World Cup held on home soil, Brazil played Uruguay in the decisive match of the World Cup finals at the Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil was heavily favoured to win, and needed only a draw to win the round-robin tournament, but despite scoring first, Brazil lost 2–1 when Alcides Ghiggia scored the winning goal for Uruguay in the 79th minute after skilfully dribbling past Brazilian defender Bigode and then drilling the ball into the net while Barbosa was out of position, expecting a cross into the middle of the pitch. The loss stunned Brazilians and plunged the country into mourning, over what became known as the Maracanazo, or "the Maracana blow."