Greatest World Cup matches: Italy-Czechoslovakia (1934)

The scourge of Fascism had descended on a Europe in crisis, and in Italy Benito Mussolini had wanted to promote his regime by staging the second World Cup in 1934. A major propaganda campaign was launched before the tournament and everything was done for Italy to win, including sending coach Vittorio Pozzo sent to England to study football tactics, and players were retrieved from the outside Italy.
Five players on the Italian national team were technically not Italians; Orsi, Guatia, Monti and Demaria were Argentinians (Luis Monti had indeed been one of the backbones of Argentina's 1930 World Cup team) and Guarisi was Brazilian. The first three had crucial roles in an Italian team that qualified to the World Cup after a 4-0 victory over Greece, where the Greeks subsequently withdrew after the Italians promised to build a new stadium for them.
Despite a solid team led by the legendary goalkeeper Giampiero Combi, Italy had some controversial help from the referees in the quarter- and semi-finals against Spain and Austria respectively. After a scandalous 1-1 tie with Spain, Italy won the extra match 1-0, that still led to the Swiss referee Rene Mercer becoming excluded for life from refereeing by the Swiss Football Federation.
A narrow 1-0 victory in the semifinal on goals by Guatia against the excellent Austrian team, then gave Italy a place in the finals against Czechoslovakia.
Led by their outstanding captain and goalkeeper Franticek Planicka, the Czechoslovaks had played excellent, and had outplayed Germany in the semifinal, where a 3-1 victory did not reveal the qualitative different between the two teams. Oldřich Nejedly, the eventual top scorer of the tournament, scored two goals against the Germans.
The Final was a great day for Mussolini who presided over the stadium in Rome as as a Cesar for a gladiatorial match (Planicka is credited to have said about Mussolini that players greeted him as a gladiator greeted Caesar before they died in combat).
Mussolini would not accept defeat, and the pressure on the Italian team was huge. Luis Monti, who had also played in Uruguay in 1930, commented ironically many years later, that in 1930 he had feared being killed if Argentina won, and in 1934 he feared what should happen if they didn’t win.
As if the pressure was not large enough, Mussolini sent a personal message to the team to "win or die," and another note to coach Pozzo that read "May God help you if you do not win."
At the same time the Swedish referee Ivan Eklind, was subjected to great pressure; he was personally invited to dinner by Mussolini, and numerous allegations of corruption came to the fore after the match, where it was said that Eklind cheated the Czechs for a penalty and missed a couple of red cards to Italian players.
It must be added though, that nothing was ever proven and Mr. Eklind continued his international career as a referee after the World Cup.
The match between the elegant Czechoslovaks and the tactical Italians caught the attention of an unprecedented number of the international media of the time, and the game was watched and listened to in many parts of Europe.
They were not disappointed as they were witness to a dramatic battle between two different football philosophies in the midst of the ideological conflicts that were engulfing Europe. The Czechoslovaks combined skillfully and beautifully, while the Italians were more aggressive and tactically clever. In spite of this, there were no goals until 25 minutes into the second half, when the well-playing Czechoslovaks finally got started by Antonin Puc, whose long range effort was simply too hard for the Italian goalkeeper Combi to react to.
The goal nevertheless set the Italians in motion, perhaps for fear of how Mussolini would react to a defeat. The started attacking eagerly and only eight minutes before the end of the match the Argentine Juventus star Raimundo Orsi equalized for Italy. The goal was a brilliant piece of skill: he turned quickly, cheated a defender with a quick move and scored on an outstanding shot. Orsi was asked to repeat the feat in front of the press on the following day, but after many attempts was unable to do it!
After the goal, the physically strong Italians began to completely dominate the match, but the shaken Czechoslovaks still managed to get the 1-1, so the match went into extra time.
Five minutes into the extra time the legendary Milan attacker Giusseppe Meazza was allowed to rush down the right side and made a cross to Guaita in front of goal. Guaita stopped the ball and quickly turned to make the pass to the Bologna striker Angelo Schiavio who scored a deserved winner for the Italians.
It is perhaps a pity that so much doubt has been put on the Italian victory due to the controversial referees. There is no doubt that Italy had an outstanding team, one of the best in the world at the time (together with Uruguay, Argentina, Austria, England, Czechoslovakia and Hungary) and surely would have been a candidate for the World Cup title in spite of the controversies surrounding their victory (and they showed this four years later).
In 1934 Italy had become World champions at home in front of an ecstatic audience and a delighted Mussolini. It was the first - but not last - time, Italy, one of the world's biggest footballing nations took the title.

Match Stats:

• 10th June, 1934, Stadio PNF, Rome
• Attendance: 55,000
• Referee: Ivan Eklind (Sweden)

Italy-Czechoslovakia 2-1 (After Extra Time)
Goals: 0-1 Puc (70), 1-1 Orsi (82), 2-1 Schiavio (95)

Teams:
Italy: Combi, Monzeglio, Allemandi, Ferraris IV, Monti, Bertolini, Guaita, Meazza, Schiavio, Ferrari, Orsi
Czechoslovakia: Planicka, Ctyroky, Zenisek, Kostalek, Cambal, Krcil, Junek, Svoboda, Sobatka, Nejedly, Puc

Top 5 Best teams that never won a World Cup

With the World Cup coming up, the World Cup historical geeks start discussing before games. An interesting one I heard recently was the a discussion on the top 5 best teams that had not won a World Cup. I have spent some time thinking about this list. I find it a big difficult, because should it entail teams that almost won it? Teams that played very well but did not make it far, or teams that should have won it, but lost after huge upset?

My very personal top 5 (which I will defend any time though) is:

5. Brazil 1950: Brazil should have won its first World Cup ever in 1950, at home in Maracana, in front of a record crowd of 200,000 spectators. Instead, facing all the adversity in the world, little Uruguay put a stop to the celebrations in all Brazil, to give the Brazilians their most painful defeat ever, by winning 2-1. Brazil has still never won the World Championship on own soil.

4. Czechoslovakia 1934: The Czechoslovaks had one of the best teams of the world in the mid 1930's, although playing a World Cup final in Rome during Mussolini was never going to be an easy task. Il Duce made sure that Italy would have all advantages, even a very friendly referee. In spite of this, the Italians only managed a narrow 2-1 victory after extra time.

3. Brazil 1982: 1982 and 1986 probably were the two World Cups with most of the legendary players assembled at one time. The teams were amazing, and it is difficult to choose one that could not have been a worthy champion (France, Germany, Poland...). However, I have chosen Brazil, because it was undoubtfully one of the most talented generations of Brazilian football: Zico, Socrates, Falcao, Junior, Cerezo, etc. In spite of their magic, they never lifted the trophy.

2. Netherlands 1974: This team, led by the legendary Johann Cruyff, took the world with storm with its relaxed attitude and marvelous "Total Football". They were a beauty to watch, and were far superior to every team in 1974 in Germany. Until the final, they had cruised through, even trashing the mighty Brazilians. In the final in Munich, they started with a pentalty goal in the first minute against the West German hosts. However, the Germans managed to fight back to win 2-1 in one of the most legendary finals of all time.

1. Hungary 1954: In the first half of the 1950's, Hungary had the best team in the world. Led by legendary Puskas, and with amazing strikers such as Hidegkuti and Koscic, Hungary entered the 1954 World Cup without having lost a game for 3 years. In Switzerland, they started amazing, scoring amazing 25 goals in 4 games. In the final against Germany, they started by getting ahead 2-0 after 8 minutes, and the whole world thought that was the end... However, in one of the most amazing comebacks ever, West Germany won 3-2, to get their first World Cup ever. Hungary has never really recovered...

This was my list. Any opinions?

BBC Documentary: Football and Fascism (review)

I recently watched a BBC documentary on football and fascism in the Europe of the 1930's. It showed how Mussolini, Hitler and Franco respectively used football as a political propaganda tool. As a person with a keen interest in both European 20th century history and in football, it was interesting programme, although the programme at times often rather simplified the hsitorical context, such as the German annexation of Austria or the reasons for the Falagist victory in the Spanish civil war.

But the programme was certainly interesting in regard to how football was used by these regimes as a tool in their propaganda machine. For instance the way in which Mussolini in the 1930's sponsored and pressured Italian football, leading directly to the victories in the world cups of 1934 and 1938.
In 1934 Mussolini directly influenced the Swedish referee Ivan Eklind, who dined with Mussolini before refereeing the final against Czechoslovakia. Mr. Eklind had also been referee in the semifinal between Italy and Austria, where he had gone very far in what he allowed the Italian players to do. The programme strongly suggests that Italy should not have won, but goes on to largely ignore the fact that Italy also was victorious in France in 1938. Italy did have an extremely good team in the 1930's. While the quality of the team always will be put in doubt by Mr. Mussolini's actions, the fact remains that they were victorious in two world cups, and their players were leading in what was one of the world's best leagues at the time.
Austria of the 1930's plays a important part in the programme's part on Nazi Germany. In the 1930's, Austria's national team was one of the bets in the world, led by the charismatic and popular Max Sendelar, one of the greatest players of the time. With the 'Anchluss', that is Germany's annexation of Austria in 1938, many Austrian players were absorbed into the German team. But Max Sendelar became a symbol of Austrian nationalism, and died under mysterious circumstances in 1939. The program focuses much on these mysterious circumstances under which he was found gassed in bed, together with his Italian girlfriend. It is obviously insinuated that he was killed by the Nazis. Nothing has ever been clarified, but the method would be very like the Nazis.
But this is not the only focus on Hitler. As is well-known, the Nazis were exceptional in using propaganda as a political tool. The 1936 Olympics were the first with the massive use of a mayor sporting event to promote the political agenda of the Nazis. The German football team was also part of this political machinery, and the programme alledges that the only football game Hitler ever went to was when Germany sensationally was defeated by Norway in the 1936 Olympics. I guess Norway were the Jessee Owen of football by this great result!
However, the programme tends to exaggerate the importance of this result, insinuating it undermined the regime. While football is a valuable propaganda tool, it was more an expression of the society and politics of 1930's Europe, and not a direct influence on the sustanability of the regime. This is a fault in the programme which is continued in the last part, which is about how Francisco Franco, in Spain, used football, and in particular the success of Real Madrid, as a tool in its relations with the outside world. That the international success of Real Madrid during the 1950's was central in ending Spain's isolation after World War II, is an overstatement to say the least. It ignores the whole cold war and anti-communist context leading US foreign policy at the time.
But that Franco was indeed a Real Madrid fan, and used its success as a stage to show off, is beyond doubt. It is interesting to hear an interview with the great Alfredo Di Stefano, who largely tells the period as he saw it: "We were just playing football, and paid little attention to the politics around us".
Real Madrid's success played an important element in attesting the superiority of Madrid over other Spanish regions, notably Barcelona. Today the rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid stems very much from this period, where also Catalan nationalism uses the football of FC Barcelona as a political platform - a fact mentioned shortly, but otherwise largely ignored by the programme.
There is little doubt that Real Madrid had the upper hand in the 1950's, also showed by Real Madrid's amazing team of those years; by far the world's best at the time. Truly "Galacticos" - whose record will probably never be beaten: five European cups and six Spanish championships. Mr. Di Stefano's own transfer to Real Madrid was part of the upper-hand of Real Madrid: Barcelona had confirmed the transfer (according to Mr. Di Stefano himself, he was already ready to go to Barcelona), but at the last moment, there was a mysterious intervention to get him to Madrid. As we all know today, he was the greatest player ever in Real Madrid, which is not a small feat!
The BBC programme is recommendable to anyone interested in the role of politics in football, and viceversa. Politics and football do go hand in hand more often than not. As such, football was also used by fascist dictatorships, and the programme gives a good, although at times simplified, view of how it happened. But it is important to notice that football was just one little element of the political game, and that the use of football as a political tool is in no way an exception to these regimes.