That was when the planet's fourth-ever World Cup took place in Brazil. Team A did not qualify, Team B reached its first semifinal, Team C was banned from participation and Team D won its second title in four tries.
Who are A, B, C, and D?
Holland, Spain, Germany, and Uruguay, respectively. Not exactly what you'd expect, right?
A lot has changed in 60 years, and I'm not talking about that whole Cold War thing. Holland emerged in the disco era as the purveyors of Europe's finest soccer. Spain became the world's greatest underachievers, not making it back to the semis until this year. Germany got its revenge for the post-World War II ban, making it out of the group stage in the next 15 competitions, all of them to this day. And Uruguay, well, it hasn't been heard of since … until now.
So how will history be rewritten? We're fewer than 48 hours from finding out.
Holland vs Uruguay 2:30 p.m. ET, July 6, Green Point Stadium, Cape Town
It's hard to imagine a team would ever just be "happy to be here" in a World Cup semifinal, but how could Uruguay not be? Its escape act against Ghana was truly something that the world has never seen — handballing a goal off the goal line with seconds left in extra time, surviving a penalty kick and then winning a shootout. Uruguay's defense is decimated with Jorge Fucile out on yellow cards, and Diego Lugano and Diego Godin likely aren't fit due to injuries. Then, of course, there is the issue of star striker Luis Suarez, La Celeste's handball hero, whose red card rules him out for the match against Holland.
As has been the case throughout the tournament, Uruguay will have to rely heavily on goalkeeper Fernando Muslera and offensive force Diego Forlan.
La Celeste's strategy, prior to the injuries and cards, has been quite simple. Sit back on defense and then get the ball to Forlan. Expect this to be only more true in the semifinal against Holland, a team apt to possess the ball for the vast majority of the contest.
If Uruguay had to rely on one man, though, it would surely pick Forlan. Son of Uruguayan soccer legend Pablo Forlan, Diego is Uruguay's greatest player of the generation, and he plays to honor his family, dedicating each goal scored to his sister, paralyzed in a car crash at age 4.
And he's scored a lot of them — in a lot of different ways. Like this:
And this:
The question is: Can he possibly do enough against a Holland side that is a perfect 5-0 so far in South Africa, including a victory over world No. 1 Brazil in the quarterfinals?
The Dutch Masters have lived up to their name so far, scoring nine goals while only conceding three throughout the competition.
Led by the attack of world-class playmaker Wesley Sneijder, the scrappy Dirk Kuyt, the technically unparalleled Robin Van Persie and soccer's galloping answer to "And 1 Mixtapes" Arjen Robben, Holland has been nearly impossible to stop.
Just ask Brazil, widely regarded as having the world's stoutest defense by a fair margin. To further complicate matters for Uruguay, Holland is far from weak defensively, with captain Giovanni Van Bronckhorst anchoring the backline and Maarten Stekelenburg in net.
Holland will be without defender Gregory van der Weil and defensive midfielder Nigel de Jong due to yellow cards, and its central defense looked suspect against Brazil (who's wouldn't?), but Clockwork Oranje likely has too much for the Uruguayans.
The Dutch will be back in the finals for the first time since Grease topped the box office in 1978.
Prediction: Holland 3, Uruguay 1
Germany vs Spain 2:30 p.m. ET, July 7, Durban Stadium, Durban
In 2008, Spain claimed its second European Championship by defeating Germany 1-0 on the strength of a Fernando Torres strike.
Don't expect the Germans to let that happen again.
Sure, Spain is the more talented team, having a starting lineup that arguably includes 11 of the world's 50 best players, but La Furia Roja haven't added up to the sum of their parts so far in the tournament. In fact, if you subtract striker David Villa from the mix, the team has scored only a single goal, and its defense hasn't exactly been pitching perfect games.
You can't just subtract Villa, though.
For Spain to win, it will need a big game out of midfielder Andres Iniesta. If Germany has a weakness, it is perhaps that their defenders are more physical than they are technical, and Spain's best dribbler could exploit that.
If Iniesta is capable of all of that, he is capable of anything against Germany.
EuroCup hero Torres has struggled to the extent that he may be replaced for the semifinal, particularly in light of Germany's physicality (one of Torres' weak points). Cesc Fabregas, Pedro, David Silva, or Jesus Navas all may provide more pace and dribbling technique than Torres could muster.
As always, Spain's defense will look to attack, particularly through Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos and Carlos Puyol, but against Germany, that may not be such a good thing.
Germany's near-perfect spacing and teamwork would allow them to be quick to pounce if the Spanish defense finds itself too far forward, and with the pace of Mesut Ozil, that is a particularly threatening notion.
And then there's Miroslav Klose, who's scored a staggering 14 World Cup goals in his career and will be gunning for Ronaldo's mark of 15.
If he ties that record to give Germany a lead, you'll probably see another celebration that puts Chad Ochocinco's best efforts to shame.
Germany, even with Thomas Muller out on yellow cards, simply is playing with too much spirit and intelligence to lose to a still-underachieving Spanish team.
Prediction: Germany 1, Spain 0
Whatever happens, it's been a long time coming since 1950.
Who is the best player remaining in the World Cup?customer surveys
