World Cup History: Uruguay 1930

Written by flyfra on 05 December 2009 | No comments yet | in: World Cup

world cup uruguay 1930

1930 World Cup in Uruguay: at 2PM of July 13th 1930 started the most popular football competition, the World Cup.

The organization of this big event needed a great expediture, but six nations candidated themselves as host country. The FIFA, whose President was Jules Rimet, choosed the Uruguay for a reason: the national team of Uruguay won the gold medal in the two previous Olympic games, in 1924 and 1928 and, in 1930, celebrated the 1st Century of its Costitution.

In spite of the great financial effort of the South American nation, hit by the Great Depression and the financial crisis in Wall Street, and the involvement of the population to face the expenses, several nations declined the invite. While England and Scotland refused for a matter of principle, other big European teams, among which Italy, didn’t join the Tournament for the high expenses and stress for an transoceanic transfer. Even The FIFA President Jules Rimet, had to organize at the last minute an emergency French team for the tournament.
The nations who joined the World Cup were:

* Uruguay
* Argentina
* Belgium
* Bolivia
* Brazil
* Chile
* France
* Jugoslavia
* Mexico
* Paraguay
* Perù
* Romania
* USA

For the occasion Uruguay builded one of the most spectacular Stadium of the South America: l’Estadio Centenario”.

The World Cup started on July 13, 1930 with the match France-Mexico, won by France 4-1. The teams were 13, splitted in 4 groups, whose winner gaines the semi-finals.

With no sensational developments the teams who gains the final were Uruguay and Argentina. The same teams met 2 years before for the Olimpic final of ‘28, in a match that people used to call “the most beautiful match of all times”. Even the semifinals result was the same: 6-1 for Uruguay against Jugoslavia, while Argentina beated USA.

In the first half Argentina dominated, with two goals (Peucelle e Stabile) versus one (Dorado). In the second half Uruguayan scored three times (Cea, Iriarte e Castro) and won the final becoming World Champions during their Century feast.

In order to understand the mood of the final of 30 July 1930 the referee, Jean Langenus from Belgium, accepted the role only in front of a very cospicuous life insurance and the ticket for the first ship at the end of the match. Moreover, the referee had to solve a bizarre dispute at the beginning of the match: both the team wanted to play with their ball. Jean Langenus solved it playing with the two different balls, one for each half. However the second half has been played with the Uruguayan ball, heavyer. That’s maybe why Uruguay scored 3 goals.

The 1930 World Cup has been characterized by amusing episodes. In the qualifying match between Argentina and France the referee gave the final whistle at the 84′ minute. After several protests, even by the people in the stadium, he let the match go over for 6 minutes. In Argentina – Mexico, the shoot point for the penalties was at 14 meters instead of 11: of the three penalties just one has been realized. The referees wore jacket and tie.

Finally, who scored the first goal of the World Cup History? The answer is: the french player Lucien Laurent, after 19 minutes of the first match France – Mexico.

Some pictures of the 1930 World Cup: