WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BRAZIL 1954
On the day of the final the Maracanazinho was packed with excited, roaring fans. Over 35,000
fans cramming the pavilion were already celebrating victory. The noise of the famous Rio carnival
was nothing compared to the noise inside the arena. However, as in the aforementioned football
world cup final, the optimistic atmosphere worked against the Brazilians. The US players were
relaxed and focussed as they stepped out onto the hardwood. The first half was a back and forth
affair in which USA made their defence and patience count. Time and time again Brazil crashed
into the wall formed by Solomon and Born and Stratton played his best minutes of the
championship. The meagre total of 19 points scored by Brazil in the first half tells its own story.
With a score of 35-19 at half time, only a miracle would allow the local crowd to dream of the title.
However, the North Americans did not allow a comeback. The home team crowd was silent as they
saw their team fall prey to impatience and impotence faced by a rival growing in confidence
minute by minute. As with the football fiasco, Brazil was devastated by the outcome (62-41). The
score was a clear reflection of the champion's firm defence but Brazil's performances against
other teams should not be overlooked. The Brazilian people took the defeat with a mixture of
sportsmanship and resignation and did not succumb to the same desperation suffered four years
before.
Apart from Brazil's defeat, which could be only considered as unexpected, the big surprise was the
emergence of the Philippines. Despite leaving Rio as the team to concede the highest number of
points in a match, 99 against Brazil, they more than compensated for this by finishing in third
place in the championship. In Carlos Loyzaga, Mariano Palentino and Ponciano Saldaña they had
a highly reliable trio of scorers that compensated for the short stature of the Asians. Narrow
victories in the final phase over France (66-60) and Uruguay (67-63) gave them the bronze medal
in their debut appearance.
France took fourth place and thus restored their image that had been damaged in the first
championship when they were unable to make their condition of 1948 Olympic silver medallists
tell. They were led by coach Robert Busnel and contained famous names such as Beugnot and
Monclar who had given the French public so much joy.
SCANDAL AND RULE CHANGE
As with their non-appearance against Spain in Buenos Aires, Yugoslavia was once again involved
in an off-the field controversy although this time as the victim. A scoring error in a match against
Uruguay threw their tournament hopes overboard.
The match against Uruguay started at 18.00 on 24 October, the first game in group C. Everything
was going normally and it was a tight match. Neither team was able to build up an advantage and
at the end of the first half the score was level (23-23) and this trend continued in the second half.
Then Uruguay had a two-point goal annulled for a foul in attack but as the line outs for a foul and
that for a goal were both from the baseline at that time, the table of scorers did not realise that
the goal had been annulled and marked up the two points on the score sheet, a mistake that was
not noticed by the Yugoslavians at the time. The match finished with an official score of 51-51
despite Yugoslavia's claims to victory thanks to these two points. The US referee, Earl Schlup,
deliberately ignored the protests and refused to alter the official result. Yugoslavia, clearly upset
and distracted by the incident, was unable to score more than a single point during the overtime
period and lost 55-52 which led to them not qualifying for the final phase and marked their
performance throughout the rest of the tournament. After this their only victory was against Peru
(86-84) and they finished in second last position.
180
FUNDACIÓN PEDRO FERRÁNDIZ