THE 1930 WORLD CUP
The 1930 World Cup took place in Uruguay 100 years after the country wrote in their 1st constitution and 2 years after the Uruguayan Olympic football team took Gold in the 1928 Olympics.
Many nations you would expect to see involved in the tournament actually offered to host but upon the tournament going to Uruguay they pulled out and would not send their teams. This included Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Hungary.
All matches were played within the capital Montevideo and across three different stadiums – Estadio Centenario, Estadio Gran Parque Central and Estadio Pocitos. All but Estadio Pocitos exist to this day in full use.
The 13 participants in the inaugural tournament were Argentina, Chile, France, Mexico, Yugoslavia, Brazil, Bolivia, Romania, Peru, USA, Paraguay, Belgium and of course the hosts Uruguay.
Romania, France, Belgium and Brazil all took passage on the ocean liner the SS Conte Verde. This luxury vessel also brought match officials, Jules Rimet (FIFA president) and the trophy ‘Victory’ which was later renamed the Jules Rimet Trophy in 1946 in dedication to the FIFA president.
The Yugoslavian team could not bring any Croatians due to their boycotting of the national team and lacking funding they decided to round up Serbian amateurs from two rival clubs in Belgrade, BSK and SK Jugoslavija (dissolved in 1945) along with 3 Serbians who played for French clubs.
Due to the delays in putting their squad together the Yugoslavian team were unable to book passage on the SS Conte Verde and had to instead make their way on a mail steamship named Florida which departed from Marseille.
Egypt should have joined in on this trip on the Florida but heavy delays in their commute caused by a storm had them miss out on the tournament altogether.
The USA and Mexico buddied up to set sail on the SS Munargo from New York. USA coach and ex-Celtic player Robert Millar said that the ship had no open-air deck to train on or bathroom facilities good enough for the teams.
Uruguay, USA, Argentina and Yugoslavia all topped their respective groups to progress.
The average age of the Yugoslavian squad was 21 years and 258 days, but still they fought through and progressed from their group.
The USA went out 6-1 to Argentina and Uruguay followed up this result the next day with their own 6-1 win over Yugoslavia.
3rd and 4th place was not decided until 1986 when FIFA ruled that the USA finished 3rd due to their better goal difference. This arbitration was used because the lack of a 3rd place play-off for the tournament meant both the USA and Yugoslavia were awarded bronze medals.
The final was set for another Clásico del Río de la Plata meeting. The rivalry between Argentina and Uruguay is long standing and this final was no different with both sides demanding the use of their own preferred make of football for each half.
Argentina put themselves ahead before half time with the score 2-1, but Uruguay showed their Olympic pedigree in the second half to win the final 4-2.
Uruguay were marked the 1st ever World Cup winners, made all the sweeter by winning as hosts in their own capital against bitter rivals.
