© EuroFootball.com
"Tribune" series of articles about the championships that have taken place so far is continued with a text written by the website visitor Tom (Ronaldinho_10) about the 1934 World Cup in Italy. The World Cup is coming to Europe! This was decided at the FIFA congress in October 1932. After eight long conferences, Italy was chosen as the host of the second World Cup. At that time, Italy, as a country, was under the fascist oppression of Benito Mussolini. This dictator imagined the World Cup in Italy as a promotion of a nationalist state in the world and a demonstration of such a football spectacle that other countries would envy. So the strict Italian dictator looked very responsibly at this event. However, even for the host Italy, it was necessary to compete in the qualifying tournament for the championship. The organizing committee was much more relieved when the Italians defeated the Greek national team 4-0 in a very important match and qualified for the World Cup organized by themselves. Another scenario would have been if the hosts had not qualified for the championship organized by themselves. This championship had a lot of interesting events specific to this championship. For example, 16 national teams participated in this championship, with 12 of them being European teams. Only 4 teams represented other continents, namely the USA (from North America), Brazil, Argentina (from South America), and Egypt (from Africa). This championship was also the only one where the team that won the trophy in the previous championship, Uruguay's national team, did not participate. The Uruguayans, upset by the passivity of Europeans in the previous championship in Uruguay, when only 4 national teams represented Europe, decided not to participate in the championship in Italy. Another fact that sets this championship apart from the others is that there was no group stage, just direct elimination matches to the quarterfinals. It may seem strange to some, but at that time there were no penalty shootouts from 11 meters. After playing 90 minutes and the score being a tie, an additional 2 halves of 15 minutes were played, and if the result remained tied, extra matches were played. Another innovation compared to the championship in Uruguay was that the matches were played not in one, but in many cities in Italy, but the central city of the World Cup was still the capital - Rome. So that's enough of the unusual and interesting innovations related to the championship in Italy, and now let's get back to the course of the championship. So, looking at the refereeing of the championship, it was as biased as rarely seen - one Swedish referee, who whistled the semifinals and finals, admitted that he had met with the strict Italian dictator Benito Mussolini before the matches on multiple occasions and agreed that the referee would make decisions favorable to Italy and support the hosts. In addition, some referees sympathized so strongly with the Italians that they were removed from their positions upon returning home. So as you understand, this championship was not famous for memorable football beauty or special moments, but rather for scandalous political accents and one man's desire to be the highest. So, as I mentioned, there was no group stage, and after defeating their opponents in the quarterfinals, the teams that advanced to the semifinals were: Austria, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia. Quarterfinals demanded first replay matches. In the first match, the Italians played a draw against Spain with a score of 1-1, and in the replay matches, the hosts Italian team showed better performance and won 1-0. So Italy reached the semifinals, where they had to fight against a similarly strong Austrian team, but unfortunately, the Austrians did not stand against the hosts of the tournament and lost 1-0. In the other semifinal, the Czechoslovakian team defeated the Germans 3-1 and advanced to the final of the 1934 World Cup, where they had to face the Italian football team, the favorites of the competition. The final was very tense, with the teams being equal, but the Czechoslovaks played a much more attractive football, trying to attack more, to create more advantageous opportunities. All the efforts of the Czechoslovaks paid off in the 70th minute when they scored a goal, but the Italians did not give up and played their typical football, waiting for the opponents' mistakes, and they did - in the 82nd minute, the score was already 1-1. The main time of these matches ended like this, there was extra time, and as it turned out later, the Italians had accumulated much more strength and in the beginning of the first half of extra time managed to score a goal and maintain the lead - the final ended with a score of 2-1 in favor of Italy. So the Italians became the champions of the 1934 World Cup in Italy, just as impressive as the first one was the second, the 1934 World Cup in Italy. Championship statistics: 2 World Cup. Italy, May 27 - June 10, 1934. Winner - Italy Number of participants - 16 Matches played - 17 Goals scored - 70 (average of 4.12 goals per game) Number of spectators - 395,000 (average of 23,235 per game) Top scorers - O.Nejedly (Czech Republic), E.Conen (Germany), A.Schiavio (Italy) - each scored 4 goals. Participants: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Spain, Italy, USA, Netherlands, France, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary, Germany. The championship took place in these cities - Rome, Milan, Florence, Naples, Turin, Bologna, Trieste, Genoa. In these stadiums - Luigi Ferraris, Giovanni Berta, Littorio, Giorgio Ascarelli, Benito Mussolini, San Siro, Stadio Nazionale, Littorale. Quarterfinals Hungary 4 - 2 Egypt Spain 3 - 1 Brazil Sweden 3 - 2 Argentina Switzerland 3 - 2 Netherlands Czechoslovakia 2 - 1 Romania Germany 5 - 2 Belgium Austria 3 - 2 France Italy 7 - 1 USA Advanced to the quarterfinals - Hungary, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Austria, Italy. Quarterfinals Germany 2 - 1 Sweden Czechoslovakia 3 - 2 Switzerland Austria 2 - 1 Hungary Italy 1 - 1 Spain Italy 1 - 0 Spain Advanced to the semifinals - Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Italy. Semifinals Czechoslovakia 3 - 1 Germany Italy 1 - 0 Austria For 3rd place Germany 3 - 2 Austria Final Rome, "Stadio Nazionale," June 10. Referee: Ivan Eklind (Sweden) Italy 2 - 1 Czechoslovakia 76' [0 - 1] Puč 81' [1 - 1] Orsi 95' [2 - 1] Schiavio Italy - Combi, Monzeglio, Allemandi, Ferraris IV, Monti, Bertolini, Guaita, Meazza, Schiavio, Ferrari, Orsi. Czechoslovakia - Planicka, Ctyroky, Zenisek, Kastalek, Cambal, Krcil, Junek, Svoboda, Sobotka, Nejedly, Puč. Final standings (Team, Games, Wins, Draws, Losses, Goals for, Points) (At that time, 2 points were awarded for a win, and 1 point for a draw) 1. Italy 5 4 1 0 12-3 9 2. Czechoslovakia 4 3 0 1 9-6 6 3. Germany 4 3 0 1 11-8 6 4. Austria 4 2 0 2 7-7 4 5. Spain 3 1 1 1 4-3 3 6. Hungary 2 1 0 1 5-4 2 7. Switzerland 2 1 0 1 5-5 2 8. Sweden 2 1 0 1 4-4 2 9. Argentina 1 0 0 1 2-3 0 9. France 1 0 0 1 2-3 0 9. Netherlands 1 0 0 1 2-3 0 12. Romania 1 0 0 1 1-2 0 13. Egypt 1 0 0 1 2-4 0 14. Brazil 1 0 0 1 1-3 0 15. Belgium 1 0 0 1 2-5 0 16. USA 1 0 0 1 1-7 0 Top scorers: Oldrich Nejedly (Czech Republic), Angelo Schiavio (Italy), Edmund Conen (Germany) - each scored 4 goals. Raimundo Orsi (Italy), Leopold Kielholz (Switzerland) - each scored 3 goals. P.S. In most sources, it is claimed that the Czechoslovak Nejedly scored 5 goals in the championship, but FIFA still claims that Nejedly actually scored 4 goals in the championship, so he had to share the 3rd place in the list of top scorers. The first article in the series: Uruguay 1930."
