USA made it to the semifinals.
Can something similar happen today...?
Showing posts with label World Cup 1930. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Cup 1930. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
Belgium-USA, 1930
Belgium and USA have played a World Cup match before: in 1930, at the very first World Cup. USA won 3-0. One of the goals was scored by Bert Patenaude, the first player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup (against Paraguay).
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Greatest World Cup matches: Uruguay-Argentina (1930)
The very first World Cup final took place in Montevideo’s Estadio Monumental, specially built for the World Cup. he home team of Uruguay and Argentina both made it to the final after winning 6-1 over Yugoslavia and the United States respectively, and the stage was set to one of the biggest rivalries in football: the countries that had also played for Olympic gold in 1928 (when Uruguay won), and had stood face to face in the South American championships many times during the 1920s (most recently in 1929 when Argentina was over with the title after a 2-0 victory over Uruguay).
There was therefore an enormous pressure on the players from both sides, although the Argentines were being subject to hateful harassment. The tension was so intense that some Argentine players expressed fears about what would happen if they in fact won the match!
One of Argentina's most important player was the defensive midfieler from San Lorenzo, Luis Monti. He had played an excellent tournament, and was with his hard but efficient style one of the best players in the world at the time. Up to the final, he received numerous death threats against himself and his family, and eventually played a very anonymous final, which some have attributed as a major reason for Argentina’s defeat. (There have subsequently been conspiracy theories that attribute the threats against Monti to Italian agents, since Mussolini wanted Monti to play for Italy: Immediately after the tournament Monti got a contract with Juventus, which he eventually won three championships with, and became a crucial player on the Italian national team that won the World Cup in 1934!)
The tension between the countries was not limited to their supporters. The legendary Argentine tango singer Carlos Gardel, who had sung for the Argentine national team before the Olympic final in Amsterdam, tried to bring both teams together for a cozy gathering with tango music, which unfortunately ended in a brawl between the Argentinean Raimundo Orsi and the Uruguayan Leandro Andrade…
There were 93,000 fanatical supporters for the final battle in Montevideo. Thousands had also tried to arrive from Buenos Aires, where large crowds had gathered together around radios.
The atmosphere was so intense that the Belgian referee, Jan Langenus, had felt so threatened up to the final that he had pleaded FIFA to take out a life insurance on him, and after the match he left directly from the stadium to the boat that would sail him to Europe. He was also at the center stage even before the start of the match, as both teams insisted on playing with their own balls, and in a Solomonic solution, he decided that each team would get one half with their own ball.
The Argentinian lineup was somewhat weakened before the match, as their strong striker, "Pacho" Varallo was injured, but on the order of the directors of the Argentine Football Association, he was forced to play nevertheless. After only ten minutes his knees were in such pain that he had to be taken out. Since substitutions were not allowed until 1970 Argentina had to play the rest of the match with only ten players.
In line with the expectations from the home supporters, Uruguay went ahead by Pablo Dorado after only 12 minutes. But the mood changed within half an hour when first the great technical player Carlos Peucelle equalized for Argentina, and then Guillermo Stabile put Argentina ahead on a beautiful goal from a very sharp angle.
It was Stabile’s eighth goal in the tournament, and made him the first World Cup's top scorer. Somewhat ironically, he had come to the World Cup as a substitute for Roberto Cherro who left the tournament before the first match due to nerves. Stabile went on to score hat-trick in his debut against Mexico!
In the second half the Uruguayans came out with renewed energy, while the Argentineans seemed somewhat tense, possibly because of the strong pressure and hateful atmosphere in the stadium.
Uruguay played extremely hard as well; the Argentinian goalkeeper Botasso suffered a brutal tackle that made that he could hardly stand throughout the second half (and remember that subsitutions were not allowed!). However, The Argentine captain Manuel Ferreira, later said that Uruguay always played hard, and the Uruguayan attacker Pedro Cea defended the style with "it was certainly not match battle between married and unmarried people; but it was the World Cup title!"
Uruguay finally came into the match: Pedro Cea equalized to 2-2, after which Santos Iriarte brought the celebration to Montevideo when he made it 3-2 in the 68th minute with an outstanding long shot.
Argentina tried to put pressure on Uruguay, but the home team well in defense, led by José Nasazzi and José Andrade, who threw themselves heroically to block the Argentinean shots. And as so often happens in football, the efficient Uruguayans made it 4-2 in a last minute counter-attack on a header by the one-armed Hector Castro.
Uruguay became a huge celebration as the legendary argues Jose Nasazzi received Jules Rimet trophy for the first time in history.
The following day was declared a national holiday.
The mood was somewhat different in Argentina; disappointed fans attacked the Uruguayan consulate and diplomatic relations with the neighboring country were icy.
The existing rivalry between these two countries (which are the two national teams that have met most times in football history) was only reinforced by this World Cup final.
It is perhaps tempting to say that this World Cup was not a reflection of the real footballing power then. However, this is not correct: Uruguay, a small nation of 3 million inhabitants - one of the smallest nations that have participated in the World Cup at all -, remains the only country with less than 40 million people that has won a World Cup medal at all!
Match Stats:
There was therefore an enormous pressure on the players from both sides, although the Argentines were being subject to hateful harassment. The tension was so intense that some Argentine players expressed fears about what would happen if they in fact won the match!
One of Argentina's most important player was the defensive midfieler from San Lorenzo, Luis Monti. He had played an excellent tournament, and was with his hard but efficient style one of the best players in the world at the time. Up to the final, he received numerous death threats against himself and his family, and eventually played a very anonymous final, which some have attributed as a major reason for Argentina’s defeat. (There have subsequently been conspiracy theories that attribute the threats against Monti to Italian agents, since Mussolini wanted Monti to play for Italy: Immediately after the tournament Monti got a contract with Juventus, which he eventually won three championships with, and became a crucial player on the Italian national team that won the World Cup in 1934!)
The tension between the countries was not limited to their supporters. The legendary Argentine tango singer Carlos Gardel, who had sung for the Argentine national team before the Olympic final in Amsterdam, tried to bring both teams together for a cozy gathering with tango music, which unfortunately ended in a brawl between the Argentinean Raimundo Orsi and the Uruguayan Leandro Andrade…
There were 93,000 fanatical supporters for the final battle in Montevideo. Thousands had also tried to arrive from Buenos Aires, where large crowds had gathered together around radios.
The atmosphere was so intense that the Belgian referee, Jan Langenus, had felt so threatened up to the final that he had pleaded FIFA to take out a life insurance on him, and after the match he left directly from the stadium to the boat that would sail him to Europe. He was also at the center stage even before the start of the match, as both teams insisted on playing with their own balls, and in a Solomonic solution, he decided that each team would get one half with their own ball.
The Argentinian lineup was somewhat weakened before the match, as their strong striker, "Pacho" Varallo was injured, but on the order of the directors of the Argentine Football Association, he was forced to play nevertheless. After only ten minutes his knees were in such pain that he had to be taken out. Since substitutions were not allowed until 1970 Argentina had to play the rest of the match with only ten players.
In line with the expectations from the home supporters, Uruguay went ahead by Pablo Dorado after only 12 minutes. But the mood changed within half an hour when first the great technical player Carlos Peucelle equalized for Argentina, and then Guillermo Stabile put Argentina ahead on a beautiful goal from a very sharp angle.
It was Stabile’s eighth goal in the tournament, and made him the first World Cup's top scorer. Somewhat ironically, he had come to the World Cup as a substitute for Roberto Cherro who left the tournament before the first match due to nerves. Stabile went on to score hat-trick in his debut against Mexico!
In the second half the Uruguayans came out with renewed energy, while the Argentineans seemed somewhat tense, possibly because of the strong pressure and hateful atmosphere in the stadium.
Uruguay played extremely hard as well; the Argentinian goalkeeper Botasso suffered a brutal tackle that made that he could hardly stand throughout the second half (and remember that subsitutions were not allowed!). However, The Argentine captain Manuel Ferreira, later said that Uruguay always played hard, and the Uruguayan attacker Pedro Cea defended the style with "it was certainly not match battle between married and unmarried people; but it was the World Cup title!"
Uruguay finally came into the match: Pedro Cea equalized to 2-2, after which Santos Iriarte brought the celebration to Montevideo when he made it 3-2 in the 68th minute with an outstanding long shot.
Argentina tried to put pressure on Uruguay, but the home team well in defense, led by José Nasazzi and José Andrade, who threw themselves heroically to block the Argentinean shots. And as so often happens in football, the efficient Uruguayans made it 4-2 in a last minute counter-attack on a header by the one-armed Hector Castro.
Uruguay became a huge celebration as the legendary argues Jose Nasazzi received Jules Rimet trophy for the first time in history.
The following day was declared a national holiday.
The mood was somewhat different in Argentina; disappointed fans attacked the Uruguayan consulate and diplomatic relations with the neighboring country were icy.
The existing rivalry between these two countries (which are the two national teams that have met most times in football history) was only reinforced by this World Cup final.
It is perhaps tempting to say that this World Cup was not a reflection of the real footballing power then. However, this is not correct: Uruguay, a small nation of 3 million inhabitants - one of the smallest nations that have participated in the World Cup at all -, remains the only country with less than 40 million people that has won a World Cup medal at all!
Match Stats:
- 30th July, 1930, Estadio Centenario (Montevideo)
- Spectators: 93,000
- Referee: John Langenus (Belgium)
Goals: 1-0 Dorado (12), 1-1 Peucelle (20), 1-2 Stabile (37), 2-2 Cea (57), 3-2 Iriarte (68), 4-2 Castro (90)
Teams:
Uruguay: Ballesteros, Nasazzi, Mascheroni, Andrade, Fernandez, Gestido, Dorado, Scarone, Castro, Cea, Iriarte
Argentina: Botasso, Della Torre, Paternoster, J. Evaristo, Monti, Suarez, Peucelle, Varallo, Stabile, Ferreira, M. Evaristo
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Greatest World Cup matches: France-Mexico (1930)
There are 40 weeks left to the world cup in South Africa, and as a preparation to the event, I will try to make a weekly blog-posting on the greatest world cup matches in history. By "greatest", I mean matches that have had a historical significance and/or have caught the attention of the world or football historians in some way or another. As I have no way of ranking the matches, I will do them in chronological order, starting with the World Cup in Uruguay in 1930:
Until 1930 the Olympic Games were the unofficial world championships. In the 1924 and 1928 Olympics little Uruguay had taken the European nations by storm by taking the gold medals twice in a row.
South America was thus emerging as the main power of football, not only by tactical and physical qualities, but also on how they played: many passes, speed and technical prowess that was unprecedented in European football, and eventually changed the game of football itself.
It had been discussed before to hold a World Cup, and after Julet Rimet became FIFA Secretary General, and the fact that football was taken out by the 1932 Olympics, FIFA decided to give the hosting of the world's first World Cup to the strong Uruguayans on the year of the centenary of Uruguay's Constitution.
All FIFA members were invited to participate, but only four European nations (France, Yugoslavia, Romania and Belgium) accepted to take the long trip to South America. However, this could not dampen the Uruguayans enthusiasm and pride at having been given the World Cup for their country. A whole new Stadium, the Centenario (named after the Constitution), with space for nearly 100,000 spectators was built in just over six months to accommodate the tournament.
The very first match of a tournament that would become the greatest sporting event in the world, didn’t take place in the Centenario, but in the smaller local stadium, Pocitos, where the local club of Peñarol played until they moved to the Centenario after the World Cup (The Centenario was said to be a large version of the Pocitos, that demolished a few years later).
France faced Mexico in the first World Cup match ever. Both teams had travelled far to be in Uruguay, and there were not many spectators at Pocitos to see when Lucien Laurent scored the very first goal in World Cup history. Interestingly this player was the only player alive from the 1930 team to see France lift the World Cup trophy in 1998.
Both France and Mexico were eliminated after the first round. France nevertheless went on to host the 1938 World Cup, and has been at the forefront of world football since then.
Mexico was the leading nation of the Concacaf region for many years, but still had problems when at the world stage. It wasn’t until 1962 that they won their very first match, and only made it to a quarterfinal when hosting the World Cup in 1970 and then again in 1986.
This match was perhaps not the greatest in the history of football, but it was the the first, and thus deserves to be remembered.
Match Stats:
Goals: 1-0 Laurent (19), 2-0 Langiller (40), 3-0 Maschinot (43), 3-1 Carreño (70), 4-1 Maschinot (87)
Teams:
France: Thépot; Mattler, Capelle, Chantrel, Villaplane, Delfour, Pinel, Laurent, Maschinot, Liberati, Langiller
Mexico: Bonfiglio; Garza Gutiérrez, M. Rosas, Amezcua, A. Sánchez, F. Rosas, López, Ruíz, Mejía, Carreño, Pérez
Until 1930 the Olympic Games were the unofficial world championships. In the 1924 and 1928 Olympics little Uruguay had taken the European nations by storm by taking the gold medals twice in a row.
South America was thus emerging as the main power of football, not only by tactical and physical qualities, but also on how they played: many passes, speed and technical prowess that was unprecedented in European football, and eventually changed the game of football itself.
It had been discussed before to hold a World Cup, and after Julet Rimet became FIFA Secretary General, and the fact that football was taken out by the 1932 Olympics, FIFA decided to give the hosting of the world's first World Cup to the strong Uruguayans on the year of the centenary of Uruguay's Constitution.
All FIFA members were invited to participate, but only four European nations (France, Yugoslavia, Romania and Belgium) accepted to take the long trip to South America. However, this could not dampen the Uruguayans enthusiasm and pride at having been given the World Cup for their country. A whole new Stadium, the Centenario (named after the Constitution), with space for nearly 100,000 spectators was built in just over six months to accommodate the tournament.
The very first match of a tournament that would become the greatest sporting event in the world, didn’t take place in the Centenario, but in the smaller local stadium, Pocitos, where the local club of Peñarol played until they moved to the Centenario after the World Cup (The Centenario was said to be a large version of the Pocitos, that demolished a few years later).
France faced Mexico in the first World Cup match ever. Both teams had travelled far to be in Uruguay, and there were not many spectators at Pocitos to see when Lucien Laurent scored the very first goal in World Cup history. Interestingly this player was the only player alive from the 1930 team to see France lift the World Cup trophy in 1998.
Both France and Mexico were eliminated after the first round. France nevertheless went on to host the 1938 World Cup, and has been at the forefront of world football since then.
Mexico was the leading nation of the Concacaf region for many years, but still had problems when at the world stage. It wasn’t until 1962 that they won their very first match, and only made it to a quarterfinal when hosting the World Cup in 1970 and then again in 1986.
This match was perhaps not the greatest in the history of football, but it was the the first, and thus deserves to be remembered.
Match Stats:
- July 13th 1930, Estadio Pocitos (Montevideo)
- Attendance: 1000
- Referee: Lombardi (Uruguay)
Goals: 1-0 Laurent (19), 2-0 Langiller (40), 3-0 Maschinot (43), 3-1 Carreño (70), 4-1 Maschinot (87)
Teams:
France: Thépot; Mattler, Capelle, Chantrel, Villaplane, Delfour, Pinel, Laurent, Maschinot, Liberati, Langiller
Mexico: Bonfiglio; Garza Gutiérrez, M. Rosas, Amezcua, A. Sánchez, F. Rosas, López, Ruíz, Mejía, Carreño, Pérez
Thursday, July 02, 2009
The mysterious 1930 bronze match
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!
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!
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