Uruguay won 2–1; Brazil took the lead shortly after half-time thanks to a goal by Friaça, but Juan Alberto Schiaffino equalised midway through the second half, and Alcides Ghiggia completed the comeback with 11 minutes remaining.

Spectated officially by 173,850 people and possibly by over 200,000, the Maracanazo may have been the most highly attended football match ever played, challenged only by the 1923 FA Cup final.

Brazil had scored 21 goals in five games before the match with Uruguay, and had defeated both Spain and Sweden with larger margins than the Uruguayans had.

Newspapers such as the Gazeta Esportiva in São Paulo and O Mundo in Rio de Janeiro proclaimed victory the day before the game.

Moreover, in the Copa América, also held in Brazil the previous year, the hosts had won by scoring 46 goals in just eight matches.

"[3] A victory song, "Brasil Os Vencedores" ("Brazil the Victors"), was composed and practised, ready to be played after the final.

During a visit to the training session at the Estádio São Januário on the eve of the game, Paulo found several politicians making impassioned speeches to the players, as well as journalists, photographers and others arriving to join the "future champions".

An improvised carnival was organised, with thousands of signs celebrating the world title, and chants of "Brazil must win!".

The officially recorded crowd of 173,850 people at the Maracanã Stadium is an all-time high in terms of number of paid spectators for a football game; the actual attendance, including the thousands who entered the stadium illegally, amounted to up to 220,000 by some estimates,[1][6] and may only have been surpassed by that of the 1923 FA Cup final in England, where anywhere between 150,000 and over 300,000 people are believed to have attended.

Those figures are unlikely to be approached in an era when practically all high-profile matches are held in all-seater stadiums; until its first great remodelling in 1999, the Maracanã was mostly concrete grandstands with no seats.

The Brazilian newspaper O Mundo printed an early edition on the day of the final containing a photograph of Brazil with the caption "These are the world champions".

Disgusted with the premature assumption, Uruguay's captain, Obdulio Varela, bought as many copies as he could, laid them on his bathroom floor and encouraged his teammates to spit and urinate on them.

[7] In the moments prior to the match, coach Juan López informed his team in Uruguay's dressing room that their best chance of surviving the powerful offensive line of Brazil would come through adopting a defensive strategy.

Brazil scored the first goal of the match only two minutes after the interval, with São Paulo forward Friaça shooting low past goalkeeper Roque Máspoli.

When faced with a capable Uruguayan attack, Brazil showed their frail defense, and Juan Alberto Schiaffino scored the equaliser in the 66th minute.

The crowd went virtually silent after the second Uruguayan goal until English referee George Reader signalled the end of the match, with the final score being 2–1 to Uruguay.

Brazil's white shirts with blue collars that were worn in the final game were, in the wake of the defeat, subject to criticism by the country's sports federation for being "unpatriotic", with pressure mounting to change the colours.

[17] In 1953 and with the support of the Brazilian Sports Confederation,[18] a competition was held by the newspaper Correio da Manhã to design a new outfit,[19] with the rule being that it must incorporate the colours of the national flag.