FIFA World Cup 1930

The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the first FIFA World Cup, the world championship for international football teams. It was played in Uruguay from 13 July to 30 July.

There were thirteen teams participants – nine from the Americas and four from Europe. Few European teams chose to participate due to the duration and cost of travel. The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously, and were won by France and the USA, who beat Mexico 4-1 and Belgium 3-0, respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was scored by Lucien Laurent of France. In the final, hosts and pre-tournament favourites Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people, and became the first nation to win a World Cup.

Participants

The first World Cup was the only one without qualification. Every country affiliated with FIFA was invited to compete. February 28, 1930 was set for teams to accept Uruguay’s invitations. Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, the United States and Mexico all registered in time, but the date passed without a single trans-Atlantic country agreeing to play. Due to the long and costly trip across the Atlantic Ocean, very few European teams were attracted enough to take part. The Uruguayan Football Association even sent a letter of invitation to the Football Association (at that time not a member of FIFA). This was rejected by the FA Committee on November 18 , 1929; two months before the tournament started, no team from Europe had officially entered. FIFA president Jules Rimet intervened, along with the Uruguayan government, which promised to pay the travel expenses of any European team.

Eventually four European teams made the sea trip: Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia.

Summary

Group 1

The first group was the only one to contain four teams: Argentina, Chile, France and Mexico. Two days after France’s victory over Mexico, they faced Argentina. The only goal of the game was scored by Argentina’s Luis Monti from a free kick.

Guillermo Stabile scored a hat-trick on his international debut as Argentina won 6-3. Qualification was decided by the final group match, between Argentina and Chile who had beaten France and Mexico respectively. The game which was marred by a brawl sparked by a foul on Arturo Torres by Monti. Argentina won 3-1 against their neighbours and progressed to the semi-finals.

Group 2

The second group contained Brazil, Bolivia and Yugoslavia. Brazil, the group seeds, sent a team composed primarily of players from Rio de Janeiro due to an internal dispute, but were nonetheless expected to progress. However, in the group’s opening match Yugoslavia gained an unexpected 2-1 victory. Both teams beat Bolivia comfortably (although there was considerable confusion during the Brazil v Bolivia game when, for 45 minutes, the teams were attired in the same colours. Ulises Saucedo ‘s side finally changing into an alternate kit). Yugoslavia qualified for the semi-finals.

Group 3

Hosts Uruguay were in a group with Peru and Romania. The opening match in this group saw the first sending off in the competition. The hosts won a tight match against Peru 1-0 which was viewed as a poor performance by the Uruguayan press, but lauded in Peru. Uruguay subsequently defeated Romania with ease, scoring four first half goals to win 4-0.

Group 4

The United States dominated the fourth group. Their first opponents, Belgium, were beaten 3-0. The group’s second match witnessed the first tournament hat-trick, scored by Bert Patenaude of the United States against Paraguay. Until November 10, 2006 the first hat-trick that FIFA acknowledged had been scored by Guillermo Stabile of Argentina, two days after Patenaude; however, in 2006 FIFA announced that Bert Patenaude’s claim to being the first hat-trick scorer was valid, as teammate Tom Florie’s goal in the match against Paraguay was reattributed to Patenaude. The four eventual group winners, Argentina, Yugoslavia, Uruguay, and the United States, moved to the semi-finals.

Semi-finals

The two semi-final matches saw identical scores. In the first semi-final, a Monti goal half-way through the first half gave Argentina a 1-0 half-time lead against the United States. In the second half the strength of the United States team was overwhelmed by the pace of the Argentinian attacks, the match finishing 6-1 to Argentina. The American management made their anger felt to Jean Langenus but without appeal.

In the second semi-final; shades of the 1924 Summer Olympics match between Yugoslavia and Uruguay. Here, though, Yugoslavia took a surprise lead through Sekulic. Uruguay then took a 2-1 lead, but shortly before half-time Yugoslavia had a goal disallowed due to a controversial offside decision. The hosts scored four more in the second half to win 6-1, Pedro Cea completing a hat-trick.

Final

The final was thus contested between the finalists from the 1928 Olympics, Uruguay and Argentina. Because the now-traditional third-place match was not established until 1934, the 1930 World Cup is unique in not having any games take place between the semi-finals and the final.

The final was played at the Estadio Centenario on July 30. The game ended 4-2 to Uruguay (who had trailed 2-1 at half time) who added the title World Cup winners to the mantle of Olympic Champions, as Jules Rimet presented the World Cup Trophy, which was later named for him.

France, Yugoslavia and the United States all undertook friendlies in South America following the competition. Brazil played France on August 1,1930, Yugoslavia on August 10,1930 and the United States on August 17,1930, while Argentina hosted Yugoslavia on August 3,1930 .

Venues

All matches took place in Montevideo. Three stadiums were used: Estadio Centenario, Estadio Pocitos, Estadio Parque Central. The 100,000 capacity Estadio Centenario was built both for the tournament and as a celebration of the centenary of Uruguayan independence.