Nickname: "El Negro Jefe" ("The Black Chief")
Club: C.A. Peñarol
Number: 5
Position: *DMF, CB, CMF
Nationality: Uruguayan
Age: 30-32 (20/09/1917)
Era: 1948/1950
Foot: R
Side: B
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 77 kg
Attack: 73
Defence: 82
Balance: 89
Stamina: 93
Top Speed: 80
Acceleration: 82
Response: 88
Agility: 78
Dribble Accuracy: 81
Dribble Speed: 81
Short Pass Accuracy: 85
Short Pass Speed: 83
Long Pass Accuracy: 79
Long Pass Speed: 75
Shot Accuracy: 73
Shot Power: 83
Shot Technique: 71
Free Kick Accuracy: 68
Curling: 72
Header: 75
Jump: 80
Technique: 83
Aggression: 79
Mentality/Tenacity: 97
Goalkeeper Skills: 50
Team Work: 90
Injury Tolerance: B
Form/Condition/Fitness: 8
Weak Foot Accuracy: 5
Weak Foot Frequency: 5
Consistency: 7
Growth type: Standard/Lasting
CARDS:
P04: Anchor Man
P14: Enforcer
S07: Man Marking
S09: Covering
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
*Centre
*Marking
*Covering
Attack/Defence Awareness Card: Balanced
INFO:
Varela was nicknamed El Negro Jefe (The Black Chief), due to his dark skin and the influence he had on the pitch, and especially after the unlikely victory over Brazil. People recall Varela as one of the greatest classic centre halves, a midfield player equally adept in defence as in creating scoring chances. The 1950 World Cup final match Uruguay needed to win to become champion and Varela drove the Uruguayan team to victory against all odds. Before the match, Varela delivered an emotional speech about how they must face all the odds and not to be intimidated by the fans or the opposing team. Varela played a big role when he took the ball and disputed the validity of the goal called offside by referre George Reader in the final. Varela was finally subdued, then took the ball to the center of the field, and shouted to his team, "Now, it's time to win!". Uruguay came back and scored twice to win the match and become champions in front of nearly 200.000 spectators against all the odds.
That win is recalled as a miracle and made Obdulio Varela immortal in the eyes of the Uruguayan people. In 1940, 1946 and 1948, the Uruguayan team led by him had won the Baron de Rio Branco Cup and his club team Peñarol had won the Uruguayan league championship on six occasions. He was 37 when the national team travelled to Switzerland to defend their title in 1954. Varela was then the oldest ever player to have appeared in a World Cup, but that didn’t affect his game. Czechoslovakia and Scotland were beaten comfortably in the first round before Uruguay also beat England 4-2 in the quarterfinal when Varela picked up a leg injury. There were no substitutions back then so he had to play the full 90 minutes heavily bandaged.
Varela and two other key players did not get fit for the semifinal against Hungary which Uruguay lost 4-2 after extra time. Obdulio ended his World Cup career unbeaten in seven matches and many people believe a full strength Uruguay team would have beaten the magic Hungarians. A natural, street-wise and self-made man, he made the most of what he had and became a soccer legend and one of the best captains in the sport ever.
VIDEOS:
ADDITIONAL LINKS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obdulio_Varela
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obdulio_Varela
http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/pla ... index.html
http://www.planetworldcup.com/LEGENDS/varela.html
