Football in the 1930's
1930 World Cup 1934 World Cup 1938 World Cup
The 1930 world cup was held in Uruguay, and the hosts rightfully won it in front of a home crowd of 80000. They had been given the opportunity to host the first world cup above 4 other European challengers for the honour after making an extraordinary offer considering that they only had a population of two million. They would pay all travelling and hotel expenses for the visiting teams and would even build a new stadium in central Montevideo called the Centenary Stadium to celebrate a hundred years of independence (and would do that in just 8 months)!! However, the world cup being held in South America, and it being a long 3 weeks journey there at that time, European countries just did not want to take part in this world cup. In fact, two months before the tournament was to kick off, there wasn't even one entrant from Europe. This greatly embittered the Latin American football federation, and they even threatened to leave FIFA….problems of this nature were to become very common in the years to come. Eventually, France, Yugoslavia and Belgium did turn up for the tournament, but only after lots of pressure. So when the world cup kicked off, twelve teams competed for the honour of being the first world cup champions…. Uruguay were definitely the favorites, and Argentina were their closest rivals. Eventually, the final was to be fought between them. Uruguay won….
Uruguay 4-2 Argentina (HT: 1-2)
Stadium: Centenario, Montevideo
Referee: J. Langenus (Belgium)
Spectators: 80.000
Goals: 1-0, 1-1, 1-2, 2-2, 3-2, 4-2
Uruguay: Dorado (1), Iriarte (1),Castro (1), Cea (1)
Argentina: Peucelle (1), Stabile (1)
Uruguay: Ballesteros; Nasazzi (captain), Mascheroni, Andrade, Gestido
Fernández, Dorado, Scarone, Castro, Cea, Iriarte
Argentina: Botasso; Della Torre, Paternoster, J. Evaristo, Monti
Suárez, Peucelle, Varallo, Stabile, Ferreyra (captain), M. Evaristo
Argentina 6-1 USA
Uruguay 6-1 Yugoslavia
Following the first world cup won by Uruguay on home soil, the world cup of 1934 was held in Italy, and again, it was the hosts that took back the trophy. This time, the world cup had become a much bigger thing. A total of 32 teams were to take part in this tournament: 22 from Europe, 8 from the Americas and 1 each from Asia and Africa. Uruguay did not return to defend their cup, partly because of the humiliation the Europeans had given them by not attending theirs four years before, and partly because they were suffering from player strikes and instability, a problem which would plague them for a long time. This tournament was to be played on a knock-out basis unlike the previous one, which had been played on a pool basis (as it is today). Italy playing on home soil, really took it to their advantage, creating a "winning" atmosphere which eventually brought them the cup through many tough matches. Their main challengers were Austria with their "Wunderteam" which was argubly the best in Europe at that time, and they met them in the semi-finals, beating them narrowly by just one goal. Italy not only got the cup out of this tournament, they also made a profit of a million lire in the process, showing how popular a sport and a competition the world cup for soccer had become.
Italy 2-1 Czecoslovakia (0-0), second half (1-1), (extra time)
Stadium: Rome
Referee: I. Eklind (Sweden)
Spectators: 55.000
Goals: 0-1, 1-1, 2-1
Italy: Orsi (1), Schiavio (1)
Czecoslovakia: Puc (1)
Germany FR - Austria: 3-2
Italy - Austria: 1-0
Czechoslovakia - Germany FR: 3-1
France 1938 saw the cup holders Italy retain their trophy. By this time, Europe was in turmoil. Germany had already swallowed up Austria (and snatched their best players into the German national team), while Spain was still in the midst of a civil war. Uruguay still refused to come for the same reasons, and Argentina also abstained, sulking because it wasn't given the chance to host this world cup.
Italy 4-2 Hungary (3-1)
Stadium: Paris
Referee: G. Capdeville (France)
Spectators: 65.000
Goals: 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 3-2, 4-2
Italy: Colaussi (2), Piola (2)
Czecoslovakia: Titkos (1), Sarosi (1)
Brazil - Sweden: 4-2
Italy - Brazil: 2-1
Hungary - Sweden: 5-1
