O Vasco da Gama de 1945 conquistou o Campeonato Carioca daquele ano, encerrando um jejum iniciado em 1936, e formou a base do time apelidado de Expresso da Vitória.
Vasco da Gama 1945
Vasco da Gama's team from the 1945 season, Carioca champion and first formation of the group that became known as Expresso da Vitória. The squad was managed by coach Flávio Costa and had young Ademir de Menezes in the attack.
History
The 1945 Carioca Championship marked the end of a long winning drought for Vasco in the competition: the club had not won the state championship since 1936. Under the command of Flávio Costa, Vasco assembled a team with strong offensive power and won the title at São Januário. The squad built that year gave rise to the nickname Expresso da Vitória, used to describe the Vasco that dominated Carioca football in the second half of the 1940s, with new state titles in 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950. Among the key names of the period were goalkeeper Barbosa and striker Ademir de Menezes, both called up for the Brazilian national team that competed in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. Vasco's success in this cycle culminated in the 1948 South American Champions Championship in Santiago, a tournament considered one of the predecessors of the Copa Libertadores of America.