WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP URUGUAY 1967
steam testified to the Siberian cold withstood by everyone who entered “the fridge” as it became
known to all, both those who entered out of obligation (referees, Federation representatives,
technical staff and players) or devotion (spectators more long-suffering than ever). The supporters
responded quite well in the circumstances despite the poor performance of the home team. They
accepted the situation with good humour and turned up for the matches with blankets and directed
chants at the new president, Oscar Gestido, alluding to the temperature. Uruguay, as usual for the
home teams, entered the competition at the final phase. They had no chance of a medal but became
the judge of who would win. They started with a defeat against Brazil (63-54) and followed this by
losing to Argentina (79-75), USA (88-53) and the Soviet Union (60-54).
With no chance of a medal Uruguay calmly faced their penultimate match against Yugoslavia. It was
a poor game and at half time Yugoslavia had a single point lead an were unable to pull away in the
second half. The match was still undecided going into the final minute but the tide finally turned in
favour of Uruguay. This defeat was to cost Yugoslavia their first world title. In their final match
Uruguay lost to Poland (72-62) under the resentful gaze of the Yugoslavian staff worried that the
home side's only victory would make them pay dearly.
The Uruguayan victory against Yugoslavia was not the only surprise of the tournament. There were
moments of intense excitement, especially in the matches between the four medal contenders:
USSR, USA, Yugoslavia and Brazil. The latter two lost their chance for the gold medal quite early on
but kept fighting and were rewarded for their efforts.
This time Brazil was without the legendary Wlamir Marques, one of the craftsmen of the golden age
of Brazilian basketball, who was injured but still had a very solid team with Amaury as the undisputed
leader and a Ubiratan who had greatly matured since his debut in the previous world championship.
After an easy win against the hosts (63-54) they faced their first real test against the USSR. The
match provided forty minutes of the best basketball even seen in the history of FIBA. The teams were
tied at half time (42-42) and remained tight right to the end Even though Ubiratan and Amaury
fouled out Brazil were still in with a chance. This exciting match finally ended with a four-point win for
the Soviet Union /78-74).
Nevertheless, all was not lost for Brazil as the league system offered them a chance to recover from
the defeat. Their next test was against Yugoslavia so they had no time to dwell on the setback.
However, luck was not with them and despite leading by six points they were stunned by a Yugoslav
comeback in which a weak performance by Radivoj Korac was more than compensated for by those
of Borut Basin, Petar Skansi, Ivo Daneu and a very young Cresimir Cosic. This defeat put an end to
Brazil's chances of winning another world title but they kept their enthusiasm and kept fighting to the
end in hope of a medal.
TENSION BETWEEN THE TWO SUPERPOWERS
At the time duels between the USSR and USA took on an importance that far surpassed normal
sporting rivalry. Political differences were carried onto the sports field and although the USA held the
upper hand the gap was getting smaller (although the NBA stars did not take part) as demonstrated
in the previous Olympic meeting where the USA won by “only” 14 points.
The USSR went to Uruguay with all their forces at the disposal of Alexander Gomelski whereas the US
coach, Hal Fisher, although he had a good squad, was without the top college players of the time
such as Earl Monroe and Walt Frazier who would step up to the NBA a few weeks after the
tournament or Elvin Hayes, Wes Unseld and Bob Kauffman who would do so the following year.
However, USA had not come just to make up the numbers. Although they did not have the strongest
team possible it was by no means bad. Their main weakness was the inexperience of the players.
Among the players were, some of whom would reach the NBA such as Charles Paulk (Milwaukee and
Cincinnati) and Stanley McKenzie (Baltimore, Phoenix and Portland) as well as the ABA (the other
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FUNDACIÓN PEDRO FERRÁNDIZ