Second World Cup in history It was marked by the raid of the fascist regime in Italy. Its leader, Benito Mussolini, was responsible for tying everything up for FIFA to hand the organization over to the transalpine country, putting pressure on both Jules Rimet, president of the highest football body, and Sweden, the other country that applied to host the first game. World Cup in Europe.
Here’s how ‘Duce’ thought of the designation: an opportunity to introduce your regimen to the world. And the victory of Italy was indisputable. For this, in the conditions of the locals, he hosted some of the best football players of the moment. Thus, Argentine Luis Monti, Atilio Demaría, Enrique Guaita and Raimundo Orsi and Brazilian Anfilogio Guarisi were placed at the disposal of coach Vittorio Pozzo.
Uruguay’s absence played in Italy’s favor. The first champion team decided not to participate as it was not the first time the champion had defended their crown in response to the European teams boycotting the World Cup held four years ago. Argentina announces solidarity with neighboring country, but eventually sent an amateur team. Apart from Total, Argentina, the only non-European teams to participate in Mussolini’s World Cup were Brazil, the United States and Egypt, making them the first African team to qualify for the World Cup final stage.
Y There were also notable absences among EuropeansAs English teams – England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales – They did not participate because they were against FIFA.
Although Italy is the host, they also played in the previous draw. He made it against Greece, who stopped playing in the rematch after losing 4-0 on Italian soil. The format of the World Cup was direct elimination. And the draw was also in favor of Italy, which opened fire on the weak USA (7-1).
Florence’s war against Spain
When the tournament got serious, the arbitrations became scandalous in favor of Italy. Starting with the quarter-finals against Spain, This required a playoff game because at the time, the number of penalties for untying ties had not yet been decided.
The first match (1-1) was such a tough Italian that it went down in history as the ‘Battle of Florence’. Spain finished with seven injuries, including Ricardo Zamora, Ciriaco Errasti, Fede Saiz, Guillermo Gorostiza, José Iraragorri, Ramón de la Fuente and Isidro Lángara, as Belgian referee Louis Baert accepted the Italian equalizer while ignoring the previous foul. From Schiavo to Zamora and A goal against Lafuente was not allowed due to a non-existent offside.
Spain finishes tiebreak (1-0) with nine players Following Crisanto Bosch, Alejandro Torres ‘Chando’, Luis Regueiro and Jacinto Quincoces were injured during the incident. As if that wasn’t enough, the Spaniards saw one goal disallowed due to offside and the second turned into a positive preliminary foul. Swiss René Mercet’s performance was such that he was expelled from arbitration upon his return to his country.
’12. player’ was in the semi-finals against Austria (1-0), while Sweden’s Ivan Eklind avoided a foul against Austrian goalkeeper Guaita’s goal, previously committed by Giusseppe Meazza. Eklind was awarded Czechoslovakia (2-1) in the final and escaped a clear penalty against Antonin Puc, still 0-0.
Threat from Mussolini to Italian coach
Seeing that Italy could not agree with the Czechs, Mussolini went down to the Italian dressing room halfway through and threatened the coach. “Mr Pozzo, you are solely responsible for your success, but God help you if you fail”they were the words of the ‘Duce’ according to the chronicles of the time.
In the 70th minute, Puc put the Czechs ahead and saved his head – literally – with a goal from Pozzo Orsi. Mandatory extra time already in some overtime by Angelo SchiavoHe became the second top scorer of the tournament with four goals one less than Czech Oldrich Nejedly.