Uruguay

🌍 World Cup Story

Uruguay are the original world champions — they won the first ever World Cup in 1930 on home soil, defeating Argentina in the final in Montevideo. They won again in 1950 in one of the most famous results in football history: the "Maracanazo" — defeating Brazil 2-1 in the final game of the tournament, in Rio's Maracanã stadium with 200,000 people in attendance, most of them Brazilian. Brazil's defeat was so catastrophic that the Uruguayan scorer Alcides Ghiggia famously said: "Only three people have, with just one move, silenced the Maracanã: the Pope, Frank Sinatra, and me." Uruguay finished fourth in 1954 and 1970. In 2010 they reached the semifinals through Luis Suárez's controversial handball on the line. Now Fede Valverde and Darwin Núñez carry a proud two-star nation.