Víctor Rodríguez Andrade
Víctor was José Leandro Andrade's nephew. He idolised his uncle so much he insisted on being referred to using both his parents' surnames, otherwise he would have just been one of a million Rodríguez's. He played as a right halfback just like him, although he was stronger in defensive phases while somewhat less adventurous going forward. Not that he didn't do it, but he was far more defensively sound than anyone around so it was usually the case that if one of the two had to play a more conservative game he would be the one doing it.
That tactical discipline and submission to what the team needed was further demonstrated at the 1950 World Cup when, in the absence of good quality leftbacks and with a fair few good rightbacks around, it was Rodríguez Andrade who was deployed on the left with Juan Carlos González on the right and then Gambetta when he got injured against Spain.
Gambetta was a good rightback and, in fact, the one the dribble is named after in South America (gambeta). His classic runs piling up rivals are referred to as "gambetear" to this day. However, he had spent the first half of the tourno messing about and acting as the official team photographer (he was a character), which may have contributed to him having an absolute mare against Sweden. With Zizinho starting on his side and Zizinho-to-Ademir being a proven devastatingly effective route to goal, things looked ominous. So Uruguay surprised Brazil on the day by starting Rodríguez Andrade on the right and Gambetta on the left.
Within five minutes though, the entire issue was sorted. The first or second time Zizinho gets the ball Víctor puts in one of those skeleton-busting tackles which are honest but dare you to try what dishonesty could be like. Zizinho didn't want to, and was largely anonymous for most of the game. Ever since then it has been a tried and tested stratagem, culminating in 1986 when Batista forgot the honest part of it and got himself into the record books as the fastest sending off in WC history. To make it an even more spectacular fail, Gordon XXX wasn't someone who would stop playing as a result.
But I digress. As the game progressed it was increasingly clear that Gambetta was fully focused and having a good game, but being on the left was occasionally presenting him some challenges. Still, Brazil was looking far more dangerous on the left, while Víctor's talent was getting pissed away on the right... So they swapped back. The odd thing was Brazil then swapped Zizinho and Jair. It has never been clear whether it was to keep Andrade away from Jair or because as soon as they swapped Gambetta tried to make a point to Zizinho and actually slid through him (Zizinho had been injured earlier in the WC and keeping people away from injury was important given no subs at the time). Or it may be a coincidence, feck knows, Jair wasn't one to follow tactical instructions anyway. Once Brazil scored he was supposedly asked to drop deep and help out his teammates who were struggling to contain Ghiggia. Apparently the instruction "didn't reach him".
The one time Zizinho and Ademir managed to link-up well Brazil scored through Friaca. Some say the linesman had actually raised his flag but then hid it up his arse when the stadium exploded in celebrations. Varela certainly hadn't seen that, his entire argument with the ref and linesman was predicated on one basic fact: rapid as Friaca was, there was no way he could beat Andrade in a sprint thus had to have been offside. He actually remained convinced to his death that the argument was watertight.
In any case, the Ghiggia show had long started and was about to bear fruit.
Four years later, Rodríguez Andrade was one of the main stars in the side (which had by now got itself a leftback). I've never come across anyone who could unequivocally say one tourno was better than the other, lots of ifs and buts and largely "he was just amazing in both". One fact that adds to this is how the semifinal unravelled. Puskas watched it from the stands and concluded Rodríguez Andrade was the best he had ever seen in his position. Czibor had scored, yes, but he had done the best job on him he had ever seen. Unfortunately, late in the first half of ET Andrade suffers a muscle tear. That was the tipping point, for the remaining 15-20 minutes Czibor had the freedom of that flank and the Czibor-Kocsis highway reactivated. Within a few minutes Hungary doubled their goal tally and put paid to the game.
PS: Question, can anyone think of any other case of different-generation relatives winning the World Cup?
". Now that you posted it here first it may go down to 6 out of 10 (would be five except the rival manager will be steering and lapping it up).
