Vasco da Gama 1949

The Vasco da Gama of 1949 was one of the teams of the generation known as Expresso da Vitória, which dominated Rio de Janeiro football in the late 1940s. In that year, the club won the Campeonato Carioca, the fourth consecutive state title for the team.

History

The nickname Expresso da Vitória was born in the late 1940s, when Vasco gathered at São Januário a group of players who would form much of the Brazilian National Team for the 1950 World Cup. Goalkeeper Barbosa, fullback Augusto, midfielder Danilo Alvim and forwards Ademir de Menezes, Chico, Friaça, Maneca and Ipojucan were among the main names of the period. Between 1945 and 1952, the club won six Rio de Janeiro titles, including the sequence of 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950. In 1948, the team had won the South American Champions Championship, disputed in Santiago, considered one of the historical antecedents of the Copa Libertadores. The 1949 Rio de Janeiro title consolidated the group as a technical reference for Brazilian football. A few months later, Barbosa, Augusto, Danilo, Ademir, Chico and Friaça were called up for the 1950 World Cup, in which Ademir finished as the championship's leading scorer. São Januário, inaugurated in 1927, was the venue for most of these campaigns and remained as a symbol of the club's identity built during that period.