I was just looking at some information on USA in the world cups and came across a mystery which I would like to hear if someone knows more about.
The USA made it to the semifinal of the very first World Cup in 1930, in Uruguay, where they were destroyed 6-1 by Argentina. The other semifinal was between Uruguay and Yugoslavia, with Uruguay also winning 6-1.
Now, according to official information, there was no game for third place, which was thus shared between the USA and Yugoslavia. However, according to a 1984 FIFA bulletin (which I have not been able to find, but have found some references to, notably from RSSSF), there was a match for bronze, which Yugoslavia won 3-1!
How can there be no information on this? What about some notice in a Uruguayan newspaper from the time, or, even better, some of the players that played back then? Of course, most have probably passed away, but some of them became great players and passed away at an advanced age, and might be able to tell something? I found that Aleksandar Tirnanic was the young star of the Yugoslav time and coached Yugoslavia in the World Cups of 1954 and 1958, and only passed away in 1992. Bane Sekulic passed away in 1968, but coached Switzerland, Red Star Belgrade and Juventus, while Blagoje Marjanovic passed away in 1984.
Of the US players there is even more information, as there has been controversy on whether they were actually legit to play, as many were important Scottish and English players. The point nevertheless is: don't any of these people or their descendants have any information on this forgotten match?
I would love to hear if anyone has any information!
Showing posts with label 1930. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1930. Show all posts
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Olympic football
The Olympic games in Berlin are about to start, and football is one of the sports where the country's will be competing.
The history of olympic football has always been rather awkward, and still today, the position of olympic history is very strange: something in between a semi-youth tournament supplemented with some star players.
For the first Olympic games, when there was no world cup, the Olympics were considered like the world cup, dominated by Europeans. This was just until unknown Uruguay in 1924 blew all Europeans away, and the groundwork was laid for the first world cup in 1930 in Uruguay. Then, for many years, olympic football became the ground of amateurs, dominated by Eastern Europeans, who had "state amateurs".
In general, it was a bore, and no competition with the World Cup: one can also see this in relation to countries that were the best in the world, were not to be seen in the Olympics: Brazil, England, West Germany, Argentina... (with only possible exception of some Eastern European countries).
Over the last years this has started to change, and the allowing of new players has made the tournament a bit more interesting, although some participating nations still only show off with a secondary youth team.
The great exceptions for these Olympics in Beijing are Brazil and Argentina. Argentina are defending champions from 2004, and Brazil is keen on winning its first gold ever in football. They therefore have shown up with very strong teams, and are by far the favourites to win the whole thing.
Nevertheles, because olympic football is such a bore, one doesn't know what may happen. However, I may add that it is not really worth bothering with games in the first rounds, until the semi-finals, unless you are from one of the countries playing.
The history of olympic football has always been rather awkward, and still today, the position of olympic history is very strange: something in between a semi-youth tournament supplemented with some star players.
For the first Olympic games, when there was no world cup, the Olympics were considered like the world cup, dominated by Europeans. This was just until unknown Uruguay in 1924 blew all Europeans away, and the groundwork was laid for the first world cup in 1930 in Uruguay. Then, for many years, olympic football became the ground of amateurs, dominated by Eastern Europeans, who had "state amateurs".
In general, it was a bore, and no competition with the World Cup: one can also see this in relation to countries that were the best in the world, were not to be seen in the Olympics: Brazil, England, West Germany, Argentina... (with only possible exception of some Eastern European countries).
Over the last years this has started to change, and the allowing of new players has made the tournament a bit more interesting, although some participating nations still only show off with a secondary youth team.
The great exceptions for these Olympics in Beijing are Brazil and Argentina. Argentina are defending champions from 2004, and Brazil is keen on winning its first gold ever in football. They therefore have shown up with very strong teams, and are by far the favourites to win the whole thing.
Nevertheles, because olympic football is such a bore, one doesn't know what may happen. However, I may add that it is not really worth bothering with games in the first rounds, until the semi-finals, unless you are from one of the countries playing.
| Olympics | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1900 Paris | Great Britain | France | Belgium |
| 1904 St. Loius | Canada | United States | |
| 1908 London | Great Britain | Denmark | Netherlands |
| 1912 Stockholm | Great Britain | Denmark | Netherlands |
| 1920 Antwerpen | Belgium | Spain | Netherlands |
| 1924 Paris | Uruguay | Switzerland | Sweden |
| 1928 Amsterdam | Uruguay | Argentina | Italy |
| 1936 Berlin | Italy | Austria | Norway |
| 1948 London | Sweden | Yugoslavia | Denmark |
| 1952 Helsinki | Hungary | Yugoslavia | Sweden |
| 1956 Melbourne | USSR | Yugoslavia | Bulgaria |
| 1960 Rome | Yugoslavia | Denmark | Hungary |
| 1964 Tokyo | Hungary | Czechoslovakia | East Germany |
| 1968 Mexico City | Hungary | Bulgaria | Japan |
| 1972 Munich | Poland | Hungary | USSR |
| 1976 Montreal | East Germany | Poland | USSR |
| 1980 Moscow | Czechoslovakia | East Germany | USSR |
| 1984 Los Angeles | France | Brazil | Yugoslavia |
| 1988 Seoul | USSR | Brazil | West Germany |
| 1992 Barcelona | Spain | Poland | Ghana |
| 1996 Atlanta | Nigeria | Argentina | Brazil |
| 2000 Sydney | Cameroun | Spain | Chile |
| 2004 Athens | Argentina | Paraguay | Italy |
| 2008 Beijing | |||
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