WORLD CUP NOSTALGIA - 1930-1938

I am going to look back over the past 18 World Cup's, to see what's happened in the past, heroes and villains, great goals and gaffes, and hopefully whet the appetite for what we have to look forward to in South Africa!

URUGUAY 1930

So, this lad from France called Jules Rimet comes up with the idea of tems all over the world coming together and competing to see who was the best in the world. This wouldn't take off, would it? Well, 80 years later, and being the pinaccle of a player's career should they win it, it seems like it has. Although, at the start, it was barely a 'World Cup.' Although four European countries took up the invitation, giants like Italy, Germany, England and Spain stayed at home. It was an odd World Cup in many ways: in a four team group, France played twice before Chile had even played once; in Argentina's match against Mexico, five penalties, three of them controversial, were awarded; Brazil's star player, Preguinho, represented his country at volleyball, basketball, waterpolo, swimming, hockey and track and field; both semi-finals resulted in easy 6-1 wins for Argentina and Uruguay respectively, and this led to the final everyone expected to see. And so to some more bizarre and controversial moments in the first World Cup final in Montevideo, on July 30 1930. Uruguay included their one-armed centre-forward Hector Castro! Also, no-one could decide which ball to use so they settled on a compromise - the Argentinians in the first half, and the Uruguyans in the second. It is probably purely coincidental that Argentina were leading 2-1 at half-time, but Uruguay eventually triumphed 4-2. Uruguay took the lead through Dorado, only for Argentina to have turned it around by half-time, thanks to goals by Peucelle and nthe tournament's star, Guillermo Stabile. But Uruguay stormed back in the second-half - goals by Cea, Iriate and the one-armed Castro clinched the World Cup for the hosts. Cue wild celebrations in Montevideo! The day after was declared a national holiday! And lastly, showing tremendous longevity, Francisco Varello on the Argentine side celebrated his 100th birthday on February 5th just gone!

CONTROVERSY

The 1930 World Cup was the first one where there was no qualification - it was invitation only. Although, until a couple of months before the tournament, no European teams had agreed to take up this invitation. Thanks to the intervention of Rimet, who was FIFA President at the time, four countries were persuaded to make the trip. But we shouldn't be too harsh on the pluck Europeans - in the days before mass air travel, it was an incredibly long and arduous journey by sea and land to Uruguay. Belgium, France, Romania and Yugoslavia all joined the party, with only the latter making the semi-finals.

GOAL OF THE TOURNAMENT - Lucien Laurent vs Mexico.

With very little footage or coverage, I have decided to go with the most historic goal of the World Cup - the first one!, scored by Lucien Laurent. It was a volley in the 19th minute of the opening game, and wrote his name into World Cup folklore for the rest of his life. This only ended in 2005, at the age of 97. But he wasn't to know how momentous this moment was to be - listen to these words straight from his mouth: 'everyone was pleased but we didn't roll around on the ground - nobody realised history was being made.'

GAFFE OF THE TOURNAMENT

This award wihtout doubt goes to a referee. In the Argentina vs France match in the group phase, and with the Ardgentines winning 1-0, Spanish referee Almeido Rego blow his full-time whistle with Frenchman Marcel Langiller. French protests caused the remaining time to be played, but this could not stop the French from slipping to defeat, and eventually out of the tournament.

PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT - GUILLERMO STABILE

The stand-out player of the first World Cup, and he wasn't even in the team to begin with! He came into the team for the second game against Mexico, and promptly scored a hat-trick on what was his international debut, followed by two against Chile. In the semi-final he scored another two, followed by his final goal, which wasn't enough to win the World Cup for his compatriots. But eight goals in your first four international games - not bad! In a quirk of fate, Stabile would never play for Argentina again. So, in an international career spanning just four game, he wrote his name into football history by being the first top scorer in World Cup history.

VERDICT - 5/10

This World Cup was odd in many ways. The format was odd, and 13 teams cannot constitute a stabile tournament. It's debateable whether the best team won, but ask Hungary in 1954, Holland in 1974 and 1978 and Brazil in 1982 to ask whether this is always the case! There were a great deal of controversial moments. But there were goals galore, and most importantly, a star was born!



ITALY 1934

And so we moved onto Europe for the second World Cup. There was qualification for the first time, and it became a straight knock-out tournament. But at least there were an even number of teams! The Europeans gained 12 places, contested between 21 teams, the Americas three places contested by eight teams (although Peru and Chile withdrew meaning Brazil and Argentina qualified by default) and one place for Asia contested by three teams. There were still no British nations involved in qualifying, as they were having disagreements with FIFA. Some things never change! Setting a trend which would be followed by Germany and Hitler in the Berlin Olympics, this was also a sporting event which was used for overt political motives. It was meant to be a vehicle for Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator, to promote fascism. If the last World Cup was the South American's, this was undoubtedly the European's. This was obviously in part due to Uruguay's non-participation, and Argentina's policy to only include home-grown players (many of their stars, like Stabile and Monti, had moved to Europe). So perhaps it was not a coincidence that all the non-European teams were knocked out in the first round. Again, there were goals galore. This included: Italy 7-1 USA, Hungary 4-2 Egypt, Germany 5-2 Belgium, Apparently, defences hadn't been invented yet! But I'm sure the spectators weren't complaining. Non-Italisn stars included the five goal top scorer Oldrich Nedjedly, who scored a hat-trick in the semi-final win against Germany, and Ricardo Zamora, the Spanish goalkeeper (he's so good, the goalkeeper who concedes least goals each season in La Liga wins the Zamora trophy!) This all culminated in an Italy against Czechoslovakia final - and there was almost a colossal upset! With 15 minutes remaining, Puc gave the Cezechs the lead. But this was to last just five minutes, Orsi equalised from a pass from his fellow Argentina Guaita. The match went into extra-time, where Schiavio won it for the hosts, and spared the blushes of Mussolini et al. Maybe it's a good job the Czechs didn't win - maybe Mussolini would have been more active in his support of Hitler when the Nazis invaded Czechoslovkia in 1938! The Italian triumph didn't raise one interesting quirk - the liberal use of citizenship laws (and 'switching' nationalities). As well as Orsi and Guaita, Monti followed his 1930 World Cup final appearance with a winner's medal for Italy. Sepp Blatter and co would not let such things slide by so easily in the modern era, showing football still needed to be brought up to date!

CONTROVERSY

The main controversy was again off the pitch, as it often tends to be. In a petty show of 'you didn't come to my party, so I'm not coming to yours,' world champions Uruguay declined to participate. So it was the only World Cup where the reigning champions were not present. This can only have affected the credibility of the World Cup, but the Europeans may have still reigned supreme anyway, on their home continent.

PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT - GUISEPPE MEAZZA

A superb player who came to life at Italy's home tournament - a god-send to Mussolini and manager Vittorio Pozzo. In the words of his adorned manager - 'having him on the team was like starting 1-0 up.' The player with a stadium named after him (although you might know it better as the San Siro), he was the driving force behind the Italian triumph. He may have scored only two goals, one in the 7-1 first round defeat of USA, but the second one slightly more importantly being the winner in the quarter-final replay aginst Spain (in the days before England could be disappointed by penalties!) But he held the team together, had great vision and was a superb passer. Despite being injured in the final, he still had the wherewithall to help set up the winner goal for Schiavio. It just proves the best players should be marked even when they're injured!

GOAL OF THE TOURNAMENT - ANTONIN PUC

The goal which could have won the trophy for the Czechs, only turned out to be a goal in gallant defeat. He took a corner, and when it was cleared to him, he smashed home a shot from an acute angle. But, rather than history remembering Puc as the man who scored the winning goal in the 1934 World Cup final, the name of Schiavio was on everyone's lips.

GAFFE OF THE TOURNAMENT

This 'prestigious' award goes to the whole Czechoslovakia team, for negelcting to mark Meazza in the crucial passage of play in the final. Just because he was struggling with an injury, a great player is still a great player!

VERDICT - 6/10

Better than Uruguay, if only for the fact there was a semblance of qualification, a more structured tournament, and an increase in professionalism. There were plenty of goals, but there was still a long way to go before we reached the modern beast we have today. This was the World Cup, but not as we know it.



FRANCE 1938

The tournament stayed in Europe for the last edition in 12 years, before a hiatus was forced by Hitler, Mussolini and Chamberlain, for what was another world event - but didn't quite share the same feel-good factor! Again, as seems to be a pattern with the pre-war World Cup's, there appears to have been more drama off the pitch as on it. As with 1930, there was an odd number of participants. Originally, 16 teams qualified. However, due to their Anschluss with Germany, Austria were forced to withdraw, meaning Sweden had a walkover in the first round. Italy, as champions, were not forced to qualify, sparking a precedent which would continue until Brazil, as 2002 champions, had to qujalify for the 2006 edition. And yet still no home nation participation! We would have to wait until 1950 for England's debut - gut judgin by what happened, some would have wished that it would be delayed a little bit longer! There were some quite extraordinary matches, none more so than Brazil against Poland in the first round. Brazil won 6-5 after extra-time, and I'm pretty sure Ersnt Wilimowski was the only player to score four goals in a World Cup game and end up on the losing side. There was not quite the European monopoly of four years previously. Brazil, and more surprisngly, Cuba, qualified for the quarter-finals. Cuba's luck was to run out, though, as they were thrashed 8-0 by Sweden, who in turn lost their semi-final to Hungary 5-1. Such scorelines seem to have been commonplace in the older tournaments. There was to be more farce, as the tournament's outstanding player, Leonidas, was dropped for the semi-final, to rest him for the final. Now if that's not arrogance I don't know what is! They went on to lose 2-1 to Italy in that semi-final, and they went on to retain the trophy with a 4-2 victory against Hungary, with goals from Silvio Piola and Gino Colaussi scoring two apiece. a feat only repeated by Brazil by winning in the 1958 and 1962 tournaments. But how different it could have been, as the Italians only scraped past Norway in the first round, 2-1 after extra time. What a funny game football is! Including their 1934 triumph, and the interlude brought on by war, the Italians would go on to hold the trophy for a record 16 years. This ending was not without controversy though. Some thought the Hungarians 'let' the Italians win through fear of threats from Mussolini on the Italian team. A footnote - rumour has it that during the war, Dr Ottorino Barassi, then vice-president of FIFA, hid the trophy under his bed to keep it from occupying troops. Talk about safe-keeping!


CONTROVERSY

Where to start. There were two main controversies in this tournament. Inevitably, one of them centred around non-participation. The South Americans were furious that the World Cup was to be staged in Europe again, as FIFA had led them to believe the tournament would alternate between the two continents. Argentina and Uruguay both refused to participate, which again, affected the overall quality of the tournament. Only after the war was a better structure implemented to avoid such disagreements in future. However, the choice of France was probably in part as an honour to Jules Rimet, the World Cup's creator, and because the first tournament in Uruguay had been a logistical nightmare. In a precursor to what was to come, with World War Two, Spain, who had impressed in Italy, became the first country to not participate due to their involvement in a war. This was the Spanish Civil War, which could in itself be seen as a precursor of what was to come in the next decade.

PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT - SILVIO PIOLA

Leonidas might have been the top scorer, but Piola was the outstanding player, and the outstanding centre-forward. As Meazza was in 1934, he was the player who held his team together and led Italy to back-to-back titles. He scored two crucial goals in the final, scoring the goal which put Italy 2-1 up and also clinched the title. A typical penalty box poacher, that is where he did his best work. But he was also invaluable for the team.

GOAL OF THE TOURNAMENT - GINO COLAUSSI

Scorer of the opening goal in the final, this epitomised the team-spirit and togetherness portrayed by the Italians, to defeat their sometimes more technically superior Hungarian opponents. He finished off a great passing move to volley into the corner past the suspect Szabo. Although Hungary equalised two minutes later, this was a sign of things to come!

GAFFE OF THE TOURNAMENT

Brazil's decision to rest top scorer Leonidas in the semi-final against world champions Italy, to rest him for the final. Brazil lost 2-1, their goal being a last minute consolation, and we would have to wait another 20 years for a Brazilian to get their hands on the trophy, when a 17-year-old kid called Pele proved himself to be rather useful! Leonidas was recalled for the third place play-off with Sweden, where he promptly scored twice! That decision appeared both folly and extremely arogant, and came back to bite the Brazilians in the arse!

VERDICT - 6/10

Slightly more organised than fouor years previously, the organisers could not have known the Anschluss agreement was on the horizon. But it may have been a sound idea to have Latvia replace Austria, who were defeated by them in the qualifiers. But a 12 year break was to ensue due to the war, and judging by the 1950 tournament, which has a rather muddled schedule, with no actual final, the organisers clearly did not use the intervening years productively! There were still plenty of goals though, as the formations, with more attackers than defenders, meant high scorelines were racked up. This would not change for a few tournaments yet!