Before there was a World Cup tournament the Olympics was the international standard of football excellence. Uruguay had won both the 1924 and 1928 Olympic football tournaments, and they still have four stars on their kit to recognise the two Olympic and two World Cup victories. This made them the best team in the World when the first World Cup tournament was created after a vote by FIFA and its president, Jules Rimet, in 1929. It also meant they were the logical choice to be the very first hosts. Uruguay was also celebrating its centenary in 1930, so it would be a giant party for the world in 1930.
The 100,000 capacity Estadio Centenario in Montevideo was to be capped at 80,000, and it was only fully ready for the action five days into the tournament. Uruguay would play all five of their matches at the stadium.
An awkward composition of teams, 13 in total, meant there was one group with four teams and three groups comprising of three teams. The tournament itself was dogged with challenges from day one. Many of the ‘big’ European countries refused to take part, including the Home Nations who were not a part of FIFA at this point in time. Those that did travel took the same ship from Italy (the Egyptian team literally missed the boat and therefore the competition). The trophy would be on board wth FIFA president Rimet.
As hosts, and double Olympic champions, Uruguay were favourites to win. They had a cohesive squad that knew each other, a coach (Alberto Suppici) that was more like a ’trainer’ that got the players into peak physical condition and the right mindset as a disciplinarian, as opposed to the ‘technical director’ that finalists Argentina had in place, and a great training camp and a long time to prepare for the challenges ahead. Former team captain Pedro Arispe, who had won the two Olympics tournaments, may have been the person focused on the tactical side of preparation and picking the starting XI.
Uruguay had a great team, but the stars were Lorenzo Fernandez and the right-half, Jose Andrade, the first black footballer to be known around the world, he had great close control and pace. He combined with the superstar inside-right, Hector Scarone, Pedro Cea who scored a hat-trick against Yugoslavia in the 6-1 semi-final win and captain Jose Nasazzi, the ‘Grand Marshal’ regarded as the best defender in the tournament. He was the prototype of the shithouse defenders we know and love to this day from Uruguay, winning at all costs.
Argentina had lost the Olympic final against Uruguay in Amsterdam just two years previous. The final had been drawn 1-1 before a 2-1 victory for Uruguay in a replay. They were neighbours, sporting rivals, where matches were aggressive. Some things never change. Argentina brought a lot of travelling fans as the border was so close, and this meant a tense atmosphere in Montevideo. The Argentine players were under police guard, travelling fans were checked for guns, and even the referee and his linesmen, Belgian John Langenus, insisted upon life insurance for his team before he would officiate the game.
There is also an apocryphal tale that there was a different ball used in each half, after Uruguay and Argentina had played with their own balls throughout the tournament. After disagreeing about which ball to use, they agreed to play a half each. Imagine what they would have thought about the Jabulani.
Uruguay took an early lead, before goals from Peucelle and the superstar of the first World Cup, Guillermo Stabile, gave Argentina a 2-1 lead at half time. After spending the tournament playing a short passing game with fantastic interplay between the attacking five, for the second half of the final, things changed, with long, diagonal balls being used against the Argentine defence. It worked. Cea equalised, Iriarte scored a thunderbastard to make it 3-2, before Castro headed home the fourth in a 4-2 victory for the hosts.
After the final whistle the players went on an impromptu lap of honour that may have started that tradition that all teams do after big victories (or any regular league match). There is no record of Nasazzi being presented with the World Cup trophy, but there was a picture of some other silver trophy on the pitch. The real trophy rarely seen in the four years that Uruguay kept the trophy as champions before the next World Cup in Italy. The celebrations in the Montevideo streets went on for days, and the Uruguayan embassy in Argentina was trashed.
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