Obdulio Jacinto Muiños Varela was born on September 20, 1917 in the neighborhood of La Teja, Montevideo, Uruguay. He chose the surname of his mother, Juana Varela, who raised him. Developing his style of fighting in the dusty foals of the Uruguayan capital, Varela's career as a player began as a midfielder in Deportivo Juventud, away from the first division of Uruguayan football. In two seasons, however, he had debuted in the top category with Montevideo Wanderers and had earned international honors for Uruguay. But it was when he joined the staff of Peñarol in 1943 at the age of 26 that his career really began to reach its peak.
In Peñarol, Varela, together with Juan Schiaffino and Alcides Ghiggia formed the so-called "Machine of the 49", a team that had the best scoring average until 1999.
He went international with Uruguay's national football team on 45 occasions, in which he scored 9 goals. With his selection he won the 1942 South American Championship. He debuted for the Uruguayan national team in 1939 for Copa America against Chile (3-2).
As captain of the Uruguayan national team, before the start of the 1950 Brazil World Cup final, Varela lifted the spirits of his teammates when he saw them cramping in the dressing room tunnel in front of the 203,850 local spectators at the Maracaná. In those instances he is assigned the following sentence:
"Don't think about all those people, don't look up, the game is played down and if we win nothing is going to happen, nothing ever happened." The outsiders are on the pole and in the field we'll be eleven for eleven... ". He was the great Uruguayan captain in the final, in what is known as the Maracanazo. He also played the 1954 Swiss World Cup, when the skies fell 4-2 against the favourite Hungary. Injury skeptic couldn't play that match. With him on court, Uruguay were undefeated in his world-class career.
His last match in Peñarol was played in 1955, appearing from the spare bench in a match with the Rio America club, back in the Maracaná.
Regarding his private life, in 1946 he married the Hungarian Catalina Keppel. He never had children, although he adopted a girl. Like many footballers of the time, he made little money with his career, living a modest life until his death on August 2, 1996 at the age of 78, but he remained loved and respected by fans of Uruguayan football as few. The hero of a nation who had done more than most to deliver his best hour.
Image. Obdulio Jacinto Muiños Varela (1917-1996) was an Uruguayan footballer nicknamed the black Chief. He is remembered for having been the captain of the Uruguayan national football team during the Brazil 1950 World Cup, starring the famous Maracanazo, when Uruguay surprised and beat Brazil 2 to 1.
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