Random News Generator- Uruguay

My regular RNG list is in the shop, so the FIFA World Rankings stand in as a substitute today... and spit out 18th-ranked Uruguay.

And of course the Uruguay wires are flooded with- what a lucky thing we used the FIFA rankings- World Cup news. But we've already covered Uruguay's biggest World Cup coup in our regular blogging; the 1950 final, a 2-1 victory over Brazil in Rio de Janeiro's Maracana, a win that so demoralized the overconfident Brazilians that fans were jumping from the nose-bleed section.

There's some scattered economic talk, but it's near-impenetrable and in Uruguay it's really just World Cup, World Cup, World Cup right now. Anything Uruguay notices about their economy, they probably won't notice until La Celeste has been eliminated. So let's just go with it.

But Uruguay... you list off names of World Cup winners, and in 18 tournaments, you expect the list to be longer than seven: Brazil, Italy, Argentina, Germany, England, France... and Uruguay. Who now seem unlikely, but when they won, they were still legit contenders. And the first time they won, they were the host.

But the tournament is, for an individual team, just seven games. Anyone that's watched baseball knows that a seven-game set's just not enough to truly determine the best team. So there should be more surprising winners than this, right?

Right?

Here's Uruguay's World Cup hub on ESPN; you should be able to reach the other 31 from there with no trouble.

Gol do Uruguay! ...gol do Uruguay?!

If, in June, you plan to be watching the World Cup, well, so will I. (I promise I won't do a month straight of soccer stuff.)

But if this is your first World Cup, you should get an idea of just how big this thing is. And there's no better place to start than what is probably the most legendary game in soccer history, the 1950 final between Brazil and Uruguay.

Let's set the stage before throwing it to YouTube: Brazil had not yet won the World Cup, but had a really good feeling about this one, held on home soil. The final phase that year was a four-team group, and as it happened, Brazil and Uruguay were effectively playing a final in the last pairing. Sweden and Spain had already fallen away. Uruguay needed to win, Brazil needed only to tie to get a win on goal differential.

Brazil wanted it. Brazil needed it. Brazil thought they already had it wrapped up. A crowd as estimated as highly as 210,000 people- the most ever to attend a soccer game- crammed into the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro to bear witness to the coronation.