Sports never ceases to amaze us.  From stunning individual performances, to bone jarring collisions, furious rallies, extended win streaks, to epic collapses, through it all, we know that we always will be entertained.  We also know that anything can happen.  We may not believe it at the time, but the chance of the proverbial David beats Goliath potential is always there.  Any time two teams or individuals cross paths in the name of sports, there are no guarantees.

Ask the New England Patriots about that.  18-0, with a three point win against the 13-6 Giants under their belts, they got complacent and cocky.  They went as far as to obtain copyrights on 19-0 and "The Perfect Season."  Unfortunately for them, they failed to deliver, falling 17-14 in the most watched Super Bowl of all time, and the second most watched program in the history of television, behind the M*A*S*H finale.

Today we salute those teams and athletes who went the extra mile to achieve their hopes, their dreams, and who shocked the world when they did so.  Much like the Giants, these were shocking upsets.  Here's thirteen of them to mull over...

 1.  The antics and exploits of Joe Willie Namath:  The New York Jets were 18 point underdogs going into Super Bowl III, despite being the AFL champions.  They would face the 13-1 NFL champions, the Baltimore Colts.  This was actually the first game called the Super Bowl, the previous two were the AFL/NFL Championship Game, and were called the Super Bowl retroactively.

The Colts were led by Earl Morrall, who stepped in for Johnny Unitas, who had suffered an elbow injury early on in the season.  Morrall led the league in quarterback rating (93.2), threw for 2909 yards and 26 TD passes.  Tom Matte was the Pro Bowl running back, and they also featured deep threats in Jimmy Orr and Willie Richardson to go along with bruising tight end John Mackey.  Defensively, the Colts were dominating, as they entered on a ten game win streak, during which they allowed just seven touchdowns.  They allowed just 144 points on the season.  Their trip to the Super Bowl was complete when they pummeled the Cleveland Browns 34-0 in the NFL Championship, avenging their lone loss of the season.

The Jets were 11-3, and were led by the cocky Namath, who threw for 3147 yards despite completing just 49.2 percent of his throws and having more interceptions than TD passes (17-15.)  Matt Snell was the leading rusher, while Don Maynard and George Sauer were the big receiving targets, both men eclipsing the 1000 yard mark on the year.  Jim Turner booted 34 field goals and 43 PAT's for a total of 145 points.  The Jets run defense was the best in the league as well, allowing just 1195 yards total on the season with the ground game.

After winning the AFL championship, Namath said there were at least four quarterbacks in the AFL, including himself and his backup, 38-year old Babe Parilli, who were better than Earl Morrall.  Despite the Jets' accomplishments, AFL teams were generally not regarded as having the same caliber of talent as NFL teams. However, three days before the game, Namath appeared at the Miami Touchdown Club and boldly predicted to the audience, "We're (Jets) gonna win the game. I guarantee it." Namath later claimed he only made his famous "guarantee" in response to a rowdy Colts fan at the club, who boasted the Colts would easily defeat the Jets. Namath later claimed he never intended to make such a public prediction, and never would have done so if he had not been confronted by the fan.

Of course, the rest is history.  Snell scored on a four yard run, Turner booted three field goals, and the Colts did not score until the final minutes of the contest.  Namath was 17 of 28 for 206 yards with no TD passes while being named MVP.  He is the only QB to be named MVP while not throwing a touchdown pass.  The Colts turned the ball over five times, four deep in Jet territory, missed two field goals, and were punchless in a 16-7 defeat.

 2.  North Carolina State shocks Houston:  North Carolina State, coached by Jim Valvano, won the national title with a 54-52 victory in the final game over Houston, coached by Guy Lewis. The ending of the final is one of the most famous in college basketball history, with Lorenzo Charles' dunk at the buzzer off a high, arching alley-oop pass from 30 feet out by Dereck Whittenburg providing the final margin. This contributed to the nickname given to North Carolina State, the "Cardiac Pack", a reference to their often close games that came down to the wire — in fact, the team won 7 of its last 9 games after trailing with a minute left in the game. Both Charles' dunk and Valvano's running around the court in celebration immediately after the game have been staples of NCAA tournament coverage ever since. North Carolina State's victory has often been considered the greatest upset in college basketball history and one of the best in sports history.

Akeem Olajuwon of Houston was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, becoming the last player to date to earn this award while playing for a team that failed to win the national title.

 3.  The Miracle on Ice:  This refers to the United States stunning 4-3 win over the USSR at Lake Placid during the 1980 Winter Olympics. 

On February 9th, the two teams met for an exhibition match in order to practice for the upcoming competition. The Soviet Union won 10–3.

In Olympic group play, the United States surprised many observers with their physical, cohesive play. In their first game against favored Sweden, the U.S. earned a dramatic 2-2 tie by scoring with 30 seconds left after pulling goalie Jim Craig for an extra attacker. Then came a stunning 7–3 victory over Czechoslovakia, considered by many to be second only to the Soviet Union and a favorite for the Silver Medal. With their two toughest games in the group phase out of the way, The U.S. team finished with 3 more wins to go 4-0-1 and advance to the medal round from their group along with Sweden. In the other group, the Soviets stormed through their opposition undefeated, often by grossly lopsided scores – knocking off Japan 16–0, the Netherlands 17–4, and Poland 8–1 – and easily qualified for the next round although both the Finns and the Canadians gave the Russians unexpectedly tough games for two periods. In the end, the Soviet Union and Finland (who overcame a disastrous start after sensationally losing to lowly Poland in their opening game of the tournament but then rallied to upset Canada) advanced from their group.

The US and USSR prepared for the medal round in different ways. Coach Viktor Tikhonov of the Soviets rested most of his best players, preferring to let them study plays rather than actually skate. U.S. coach Herb Brooks, however, continued with his tough, confrontational style, skating "hard" practices, and berating his players for perceived weaknesses.

The day before the match, columnist Dave Anderson wrote in the New York Times, "Unless the ice melts, or unless the United States team or another team performs a miracle, as did the American squad in 1960, the Russians are expected to easily win the Olympic gold medal for the sixth time in the last seven tournaments." 

In a game that was 2-1 late in the first period, Mark Johnson flipped a rebound past all world goaltender Vladislav Tretiak, tying the score at 2 with one second remaining in the stanza.  Inexplicably, Tikhonov replaced Tretiak with backup goaltender Vladmir Myshkin when the second period was underway.  After Aleksander Maltsev scored on the power play to make it 3-2 in favor of the Soviets, which they carried to the intermission, seemed to bolster Tikhonov's resolve. 

Mark Johnson scored again for the U.S., 8:39 into the final period, firing a loose puck past Myshkin to tie the score just as a power play was ending. Only a couple shifts later, Mark Pavelich passed to U.S. captain Mike Eruzione, who was left undefended in the high slot. Eruzione fired a shot past Myshkin, who was screened by his own defenseman. This goal gave the U.S. a 4–3 lead with exactly 10 minutes to play in the contest.

Craig withstood another series of Soviet shots to finish the match, though surprisingly the Soviets did not remove their goalkeeper for an extra attacker. As the U.S. team tried desperately to clear the zone (move the puck over the blue line, which they did with seven seconds remaining), the crowd began to count down the seconds left. Sportscaster Al Michaels, who was calling the game on ABC along with former Montreal Canadiens goalie Ken Dryden, picked up on the countdown in his broadcast, and delivered his famous call:

“

...Eleven seconds, you've got ten seconds, the countdown going on right now! Morrow, up to Silk...five seconds left in the game...Do you believe in miracles? YES!!!

”

 4.  Buster Douglas stuns Mike Tyson:   The date was February 11, 1990, the place the Tokyo Dome in Japan.  Buster Douglas was fighting Mike Tyson for the heavyweight championship of the world.

Almost everyone assumed that the fight was going to be another quick Mike Tyson KO. Only one betting parlor in Las Vegas would hold odds for the fight, and many thought it was just a gag as Tyson was favored 42-1. Douglas surprised the world by dominating the fight from the beginning, using his 12" reach advantage to perfection, seemingly hitting Tyson at will with jabs and right hands and getting out of range when Tyson launched his own punches. Tyson did not bob and weave and slip his way in—his usual strategy—but rather set his feet and went for the big punch, standing straight up and often lunging in. By the fifth round the champion's left eye had swollen shut from Douglas landing so many right hands, and Tyson's corner was grossly unprepared. They had not brought an endswell to the fight so they put lukewarm water into a latex glove and held it over his eye; this was to no avail as it got worse and worse. Tyson told his corner that he would KO Douglas in the 8th, and he almost achieved this, knocking Douglas down with a right uppercut at the end of that very round. But Douglas returned shaken to his feet at the count of six. Then, in the 10th round, boxing history was made as Buster Douglas scored arguably the biggest upset in boxing history.

Tyson looked tired and flat footed from the start of the tenth round, and Douglas tested the champion at around the 55 second mark with a series of left jabs, only one of which Tyson partially blocked. Then at one minute and five seconds of round ten, Douglas continued forward and landed a devastating right uppercut which visibly jarred Tyson's head. Douglas immediately followed this with a right-left-right-left series of four hard hooks and straight shots, which floored the already dazed Tyson for the first time in his boxing career. When Tyson failed to climb to his feet in time, having in a delirium picked up his mouthpiece and stuck it into his mouth sideways, leaving it hanging halfway out of his mouth, the fight was ruled over, Tyson had been counted out, and Douglas had shocked the world by defeating "Iron Mike" and becoming the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World. The public reaction was encapsulated by the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine, with the headline "Rocky Lives!", an allusion to the fictional boxing hero Rocky Balboa who, against all odds, KO'd the champion.

Douglas tearfully dedicated his dramatic victory to his mother, who had died of a stroke shortly before the bout. After the fight, he talked about his religion and said he was not scared of Tyson.

5.  Man O' War suffers an Upset:  In Man o' War's only loss, the Sanford Memorial Stakes, he still was circling with his back to the starting line when the barrier was raised (though other accounts give other reasons, such as it was rigged.). After the jockey got Man o' War turned around, he already was far behind the pack. In frustration, Johnny Loftus, the jockey, made three major errors while in the race. Three times he put Man O' War in bad positions, getting boxed in by other horses in the race. Despite this, he still came close to winning, losing by only a half-length, as Man O' War charged across the finish line, going much faster than any other horse on the field, and ultimately finishing second. The horse that won was Upset, whose name is sometimes thought to have popularized a new phrase in sports ("upset" meaning an upstart beating the favorite). Also quite interesting is the fact that Upset's jockey's middle name was Sanford. Man o' War finished his 2-year-old campaign winning 9 of 10 races.

Upset's defeat of Man o' War was the only loss that he would suffer in 21 career races, that saw him rack up $249,465 in purses, then sired 64 stakes winners and 200 champion horses.  Still, the Sanford Memorial Stakes loss still haunts horse racing to this day.

 6.  Villanova shoots the lights out on Georgetown:  In 1985, under the direction of coach Rollie Massimino, the men's basketball team completed one of the most surprising runs in NCAA tournament history by winning the national championship in the first year of the 64-team field. The eighth-seeded Wildcats beat Dayton, then upset top-seeded Michigan, Maryland and second-seeded North Carolina to win the Southeast Regional en route to the Final Four in Lexington, Kentucky. After defeating 2-seed Memphis State, the only non Big East school in the Final Four, in the national semifinals, Villanova met defending champion and ten-point-favorite Georgetown, led by Patrick Ewing, in the title game.

Top-seeded Georgetown had beaten conference rival Villanova twice during the regular season, and had reached the title game with tenacious defense, which gave up less than 40% of their opponents' shots from the field in both the regular season and the postseason. But in perhaps the greatest shooting performance in NCAA history, the Wildcats went 22-of-28 from the field to convert a blistering 78.6% of their shots, including a second half where they missed only one basket. The Hoyas hung tough, converting 55% of their 53 attempts, but were unable to overcome the astounding shooting performance as Villanova won 66-64 to claim the NCAA championship. The Wildcat squad remains the only eight-seed and the lowest overall seed in tournament history to win the championship, and their overall team shooting percentage remains an NCAA tournament record for a single game. The game is often cited among the greatest upsets in college basketball history.  Ed Pinckney, who shot 5-of-7 and had 16 points in the game, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

 7.  Chaminade chops down Ralph Sampson and Virginia:  Chaminade 77, No. 1 Virginia 72.

On Dec. 23, 1982, an 800-student NAIA school that didn't even have its own gymnasium defeated the nation's No. 1 team led by 7-foot-4 center Ralph Sampson, who was en route to his third straight national player of the year award.  The Silverswords didn't even have a team until 1976-77, and were coming off a loss to Wayland Baptist.

The Cavaliers seemed poised for another run at the NCAA title, having beaten Utah and an explosive Houston squad led by Akeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler in Tokyo despite playing without an ill Sampson.

Before traveling to Asia, Virginia won by 13 points at Duke and beat Georgetown and Patrick Ewing in a matchup of superstar center billed "The Game of the Decade."  Against Chaminade, Sampson was harassed and struggled, pulling down 17 rebounds but scoring just nine points.  Sports Illustrated and newspapers across the country blazed the headline, "Yes, Virginia, there really is a Chaminade."

 8.  Owings stuns Gable:  There is no disputing that Dan Gable is the most recognizable name in collegiate and U.S. Olympic wrestling history. The challenge is determining whether Gable wrote a greater legacy as a wrestler or coach. He was a rarity: the exceptional athlete who taught at the same level he performed.

On the mat, he had an amazing run through high school and college, compiling a combined 182-1 record. After winning his first 117 matches at Iowa State, including two NCAA championships, the three-time All-American suffered his lone defeat when he was upset as a senior in the 1970 NCAA final.

"Right out of high school I never had the fear of getting beat, which is how most people lose," Gable said. "They're scared of somebody. But I really didn't have a clue how I'd do in college. I knew I could beat guys in practice, and I did well, but there were guys I had trouble with."

Not too much trouble as evidenced by his record. As a sophomore, he went 37-0 and won the NCAA 130-pound title. As a junior, he was 30-0 and began a string of 25 straight pins, an NCAA record. At 137 pounds, he was also named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the NCAA Tournament in leading Iowa State to the first of back-to-back championships.

Gable earned the Gorrarian Award as a junior and senior for the most pins in the least time in the NCAA Tournament. In 1969, he pinned five opponents in a total of 20 minutes, 59 seconds. The next year, he pinned five opponents in 22:08.

But in the 1970 NCAA 142-pound final, it would be a different story when Gable met Washington sophomore Larry Owings, normally a 150-pounder who pared weight to compete in Gable's class. Gable rallied from a 7-2 deficit to tie the match 8-8 in the third period before Owings re-established control and pulled off a 13-11 shocker.

The defeat left Gable in tears. "At first, I couldn't face my parents," he said. "I felt I had let them down. Two weeks later I won the national AAUs, was voted the Outstanding Wrestler there and that got me back on the right road."

 9.  The Nuggets break the Sonics:  Nobody gave the Denver Nuggets much of a chance at upsetting the Seattle SuperSonics in their First Round playoff series in 1994. The Sonics had just posted a franchise-record 63 victories, while the Nuggets had slipped into the playoffs with a ho-hum 42-40 record. Besides, no No. 8 seed had ever beaten a No. 1 seed since the NBA adopted its current playoff format in 1984.

When the Sonics handily won the first two games in Seattle, a sweep seemed a foregone conclusion. Dan Issel, the Hall of Fame center who was coaching the Nuggets, made the most of the situation. He told his players they had nothing to lose as the series shifted to Denver. "To be honest, we just wanted to get some playoff experience this year," he told the media, further easing the burden on his team.

It turned out to be quite an experience. The loose and lively Nuggets pounded the Sonics 110-93 in Game 3, then pulled out a 94-85 overtime win in Game 4. Suddenly the series was tied and going back to Seattle, where the Sonics won 39 of 43 outings in the 1993-94 regular season and playoffs. But that statistic was irrelevant when compared to the attitudes of the two teams going into the showdown.

"I can't deny the butterflies felt like rocks," said Sonics coach George Karl. Issel, meanwhile, looked at his team and suggested, "I don't think our kids knew they were supposed to be nervous."

Denver center Dikembe Mutombo put it this way: "I don't like to be rude, but these are the playoffs. Nobody invites you into their house. You just have to go in and get comfortable."

Not even Seattle's tenacious full-court press could rattle the Nuggets, who played like battle-tested veterans and committed just 11 turnovers. On offense they slowed the pace of the game and worked the ball into their big men, Mutombo, LaPhonso Ellis and Brian Williams. On defense they focused on stopping Seattle's stars. Gary Payton was ineffective after an early foot injury while Shawn Kemp could manage only 19 points, including just six in the second half.

Mutombo dominated the lane defensively, reserve guard Robert Pack scored 10 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, Ellis tallied 19 and Williams posted 17 points and 19 rebounds. Seattle's Kendall Gill forced overtime with a last-second layup at the end of regulation, but he only postponed the unthinkable. Denver edged Seattle 98-94 in overtime. When the final buzzer sounded, Mutombo grabbed the last rebound and fell to the floor, a look of sheer joy on his face as his teammates piled upon him in celebration.

No. 8 had beaten No. 1. Though the Nuggets would lose to Utah in seven games in the next round, they had carved their place in history.

10.  Appalachian State quiets the Big House:  Chances are, most of the 110,000 fans at Michigan Stadium had no idea exactly where Appalachian State is located. By the time they saw a blocked field goal in the final seconds, this much was certain: The little Mountaineers had pulled off one of the greatest upsets in college football history.

The final score was Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32. The team from Boone, North Carolina, took the lead with 26 seconds left Saturday when Julian Rauch kicked a 24-yard field goal. Corey Lynch blocked a 37-yard try on the final play, and the Mountaineers sealed a jaw-dropping upset that might have no equal.

"It was David versus Goliath," said Dexter Jackson, a receiver for Appalachian State, which plays in college football's equivalent of the minor leagues.  No Division I-AA team had beaten a team ranked in The Associated Press poll between 1989 and 2006, and it's unlikely that it had ever happened before. The Division I subdivisions were created in 1978.

Michigan's three stars on offense and its coach came back this season, putting the National Football League and retirement on hold, with high hopes: Big Ten title and national championship. They came into the game ranked No. 5 by The Associated Press.  Appalachian State would go on to win the FCS title for the third consecutive year, while Michigan beat Florida in the Capital One Bowl.

11.  Rulon Gardner knocks off Aleksandr Karelin:  Karelin was a three time gold medal winner in the Olympics for wrestling, winning in 1988, 1992 and 1996.  He was undefeated in international competition from 1987 to 2000, including the final six years of the run without allowing a single point by his opponents.

Karelin tries throwing Gardner repeatedly in the first three minutes of the Olympic showdown, but he is unsuccessful, as Gardner stays chest-to-chest, shoulder-to-shoulder, never allowing Karelin to get leverage or a chance to toss him for points. Over and over, Karelin tries to hoist Gardner, but Gardner squirms or battles free.

Neither wrestler is able to gain an advantage or score a point in the first three-minute round. The rules, in this situation, dictate that a coin toss determines who chooses his preferred position at the start of the second round.

The toss is won by the sleek, trim, bald and menacing Karelin, who immediately locks onto Gardner. But Gardner, who never even captured a NCAA title while wrestling at the University of Nebraska, locks right back.

After 30 seconds of grappling and yanking and pulling, Gardner keeps his hands clinched and Karelin's slips apart. Gasps are heard from the crowd as Gardner receives a point -- the first point Karelin has yielded in 15 years. The score is so subtle, so unbelievable, that judges actually need to confirm it via videotape.  There is, however, the rest of the second round to get through and then a three-minute overtime because a wrestler has to score three points to win in regular time. With each passing moment, as Gardner withstands Karelin's withering attacks, head slaps and attempts to pick him up and bulldoze him, Gardner grows more confident, more aggressive.

Gardner nows Karelin may be tired from two matches earlier in the day, and thinks, "He's got to be feeling it in his legs . . . and his lungs might be burning, too." Gardner is fresher, having wrestled just once the same day, earning a semifinal overtime victory over Juri Yevseychyc of Israel.

Overtime begins. Everyone in wrestling knows a reverse lift is Karelin's trademark move, and everyone is bracing for it. But he is unable to execute it against Gardner, who has surprising speed for a man with a 54-inch chest. "I knew I was strong enough and quick enough to stop his lift," Gardner would say.

Still trailing by one point, Karelin starts grabbing the sides of Gardner's face, clawing at him, as if he's trying to rip off his opponents' head. Gardner keeps flashing back to lessons he learned as a farm boy, building his muscle the old-fashioned way, by bailing hay and carrying pails of milk to feed cows on his family's 160-acre dairy farm. "When you work the farm," he would say, "you never stop to take a break."

Chants of "USA! USA!" resound throughout the arena. Then, with five seconds left in the overtime period, Karelin rises from the mat and takes a step back, and, as the arena goes silent, not knowing what is happening, he shockingly concedes the match. The arena explodes with a roar; everyone realizes they are witnessing one of the greatest upsets not only in wrestling history, but in Olympic history and sports history as well.

12.  The Miracle on Grass:  On June 29, 1950, at the 1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the United States defeated the English team 1–0 in group play. The event is also known as the Miracle on Grass. The match was held in Belo Horizonte at Estádio Independência.

At the time, the English were considered the "Kings of Football", with a post-war record of 23 wins, 4 losses, and 3 draws. Conversely, the Americans had lost their last seven international matches (including the 1934 World Cup and 1948 Summer Olympics) by the combined score of 45–2. The odds were 3–1 the English would win the Cup, and 500–1 for the U.S.

England had Stanley Matthews available, considered the best player in the world at the time, but he had not played with the English team in the three international matches prior to the World Cup (in fact, he had joined the team late, having been touring Canada as part of another group of English internationals). As such, the selection committee (consisting of one man, Arthur Drewry), opted to stay with the team that had just defeated Chile. As there were no substitutes allowed in those days, Matthews watched the game with the other reserves. Drewry, at one time the Football League president, would become the Secretary of FIFA following the death of Jules Rimet.

England won the toss and elected to kick off. Within ninety seconds, Stanley Mortensen sent a cross from the left wing to Roy Bentley, who let off a shot that was barely pushed aside by U.S. goalkeeper Frank Borghi. By the twelfth minute, England had six clear shots on goal but could not convert, with two shots hitting the post, one just going over the top, and another brilliantly saved by Borghi.

The U.S. struggled to move to the offense, and finally managed a shot on goal in the twenty-fifth minute, which was blocked by Bert Williams. The English counterattacked with three successive clear shots at the goal in minutes 30, 31, and 32, but failed to score. Mortensen twice went over the crossbar, and Tom Finney's header to the top corner was tipped away by Borghi.

In the thirty-seventh minute, Walter Bahr crossed the ball from approximately twenty-five yards out, but as Williams moved to intercept, Joe Gaetjens dove headlong and grazed the ball enough to put it past the reach of the English goalkeeper and into the back of the net. The crowd exploded as the U.S. improbably led 1–0. As the half drew to a close, Finney had a chance to tie the score, but the whistle blew before he could shoot.

With renewed confidence, the U.S. played tougher as the second half opened, creating another scoring opportunity in the ninth minute. In the 59th minute England were awarded a direct free kick but Mortensen's shot was well saved by Borghi. But England began threatening again, and it was fifteen minutes before the Americans were able to get another shot. With eight minutes left, Charlie Colombo brought down Mortensen with an illegal tackle at the edge of the penalty area. England pleaded for a penalty kick, but the referee ruled it was outside the box. On the resulting free kick, James Mullen headed the ball for what he thought was a goal, failing to notice that Borghi had tipped it away at the last second, denying the English on their chance to tie the game.

England had no more chances on goal and the game ended in victory for the U.S. team. England then lost their next match and failed to qualify for the knockout stage. The U.S. team was able to score two goals against Chile, but still lost that match 5–2 to end their World Cup run. They would not qualify for the World Cup again until 1990.

John Souza, the U.S. inside right forward, was selected to a World Cup All-Star team by the Brazilian sports newspaper Mundo Esportivo, and remained the only American player ever selected to a World Cup All-Star team until Claudio Reyna in 2002.

13.  Uruguay chops down Brazil, claims World Cup:  In that same World Cup as the Miracle on Grass, the  deciding match of the final group stage took place between Brazil and Uruguay.  Brazil only needed a draw to clinch the World Cup. Uruguay beat their Brazilian counterpart 2–1 at the Maracanã stadium, and as a result, the term Maracanazo (Portuguese: 'Maracanaço', roughly translated as "The Maracana Blow") has come to be used in reference to this game. It is considered to be one of the biggest upsets in football history.

The game began like most people had already foreseen: an avalanche of Brazilian attacks against the defensive line of Uruguay. Unlike Spain and Sweden, however, the defensive line of Uruguay managed to withstand the barrage of shots launched against their goal by the Brazilian strikers. The first half ended scoreless, and even though the result still favored Brazil, Uruguay's strategy managed to decrease the intensity of the crowd.

Brazil scored the first goal of the match only two minutes after the start of the second half, which ignited the crowd's reaction. Once again, Varela played a big role when he took the ball and disputed the validity of the goal to the referee (arguing that the player was offside). Varela was finally subdued, then took the ball to the center of the field, and shouted to his team, "Now, it's time to win!".

Then, Uruguay actually managed to turn the tide on Brazil. Faced with a capable offensive, Brazil showed their defensive faults, and Juan Alberto Schiaffino scored the equalizer in the 66th minute. The crowd died down a bit, before erupting into cheers for their local team again shortly after (since the draw still favored Brazil). Later, Alcides Edgardo Ghiggia, running down the right side of the field, scored another goal, with only 11 minutes remaining on the clock. The crowd was now dead quiet and remained so until English referee George Reader signaled the end of the match with Uruguay winning 2–1. Former FIFA president and mastermind of the World Cup, Jules Rimet, would then comment about what happened, "The silence was morbid, sometimes too difficult to bear". The once roaring crowd of two hundred thousand people stood in disbelief as they were being "stripped" of a title they had already considered rightfully theirs.

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