Agencies
Posted on: Wednesday, July 29, 2020 – 3:22 pm | Last update: Wednesday, July 29, 2020 – 3:22 PM
Player threatened by Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini, visit of singer Carlos Gradel and enmity with Argentina: Uruguay is celebrating Thursday the ninetieth anniversary of the final of the first version of the World Cup in football.
FIFA has relied on three good reasons to give Uruguay the honor to organize the first “World Cup” in history: the “Celcetti” team won the two golds of the Olympic Games in 1924 and 1928, 1930 saw the centenary of the country’s constitution, and “more importantly,” according to what “Uruguay has pledged to pay the travel expenses and expenses of all the arrivals,” sports journalist Alfredo Ichandi told AFP.
The small South American country built the El Centenario stadium in a record time of only six months.
The country was at the height of its renaissance, nicknamed “Switzerland of America”, with an ambition for a world title that culminated in its successful Olympic career and overall career, according to sociologist Leonardo Mendondo.
Thirteen teams traveled to Montevideo, all of whom were invited without qualifying, which has not been repeated since.
Between 13 and 30 July, France, Belgium, Romania and Yugoslavia moved from Europe to Uruguay on a ship across the Atlantic. As for the American countries, they are represented by Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay, Mexico, the United States and, of course, Uruguay.
Expected final –
Uruguay and Argentina effortlessly qualified for the final, in a retaliatory match after Uruguay won two years ago in the final of the Olympic Games in Amsterdam (2-1 in a rematch after a 1-1 tie).
“Two Germans have faced almost all competitions since 1900, whether at the club or national level,” Eichande added.
Many odds made the match unforgettable, including a visit by the two teams on the eve of the match by the famous Argentine Tango singer Carlos Gradel.
According to newspapers in that era, about 15,000 spectators came from Argentina to attend the match in a stadium with a capacity of 70,000, after they crossed the river “Rio de la Plata” in a steamboat.
“We did not do well with the Argentines. It was a tough match,” explains Eichandi. Even Argentine Luis Monti was threatened with death, “and he ended the match tense without playing well.”
According to some accounts, Monti was threatened by two people sent by the dictator Mussolini, who wanted to have Monti carry the shirt of Italy. After his naturalization in 1932, Monti won the World Cup in 1934 with the Italian national team.
A second novel talks about the absence of an official ball for the match, and each team ran a special ball.
Eichande states that the referee, Jean Langenos, was “a Belgian concerned about the situation. He requested a permit to leave as soon as possible.”
Langenos decided to go all the way with a ball: in the first the Argentine ball, who advanced 2-1 before the break, then the Uruguayan ball in the second, and they decided the match 4-2 and the world title to their advantage.
The World Cup is too far.
This historic final did not mark the beginning of the rivalry between the two countries separated by the Rio de la Plata River, which already lasted three decades, but it was an important step, according to Leonardo Mendondo.
“The (final) was part of everything that strengthened Uruguay’s identity around football,” explains the sociologist. Since that time, he disappeared in the shadow of the decisive match in the World Cup 1950, which was decided by the team “Celeste” 2-1 at the expense of host Brazil at the Maracana Stadium in Rio, with what is known as the “Maracanaso” site.
The journalist smiled, saying, “All 1930 players passed away, while the 1950 players continued to participate in the celebrations until recently.”
He continued, “People need feelings closer to their times,” saying that the 1930 World Cup “has now become part of history” and has become “very far away, people have not experienced it.”
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