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"Tribune" series of articles about the championships that have taken place so far continues with the website visitor Tom's (Ronaldinho_10) article about the 1938 World Cup that took place in France. This World Cup in France was the last one before World War II. In the 1934 World Cup in Italy, dictator Mussolini used the World Cup to try to prove the superiority of fascist propaganda. Two years later, Adolf Hitler tried to do the same at the 1936 Olympic Games. So, with Europe on the brink of World War II, FIFA officials had to be diplomatic in selecting the hosts for the 1938 World Cup. Argentina was given priority considering that the location of the championships every 4 years had to alternate between South America and Europe. Argentina was almost guaranteed to host this championship, but FIFA was afraid of the same problems as in the Uruguayan championship, that is, problems due to the huge distances between South America and Europe. There were 57 countries - FIFA members, and most of them were from Europe, so it was possible to guess that the 3rd World Cup would take place in a European country, and that honor fell to France. And FIFA probably chose this country to thank Jules Rimet, the then FIFA president, a man who had done a lot for the world of football, enabling the first World Cup in Uruguay to take place. So the tournament system was the same as in the championship in Italy, with knockout matches. Argentina and Uruguay once again did not come from South America. Argentina's representatives were offended that they were not chosen as hosts of the championship, and the only team representing South America in this tournament was Brazil. 15 teams took part in this World Cup - Austria, which secured its place later, was forced to withdraw from the tournament before it started due to the annexation to Germany. This meant that one team automatically reached the quarterfinals, and the lucky team was Sweden. The first stage was very tense, with even five out of six matches requiring extra time or replay. One of those matches was Italy - Norway, and when the Norwegians scored a goal at the end of the match, the Italians almost dropped out of further championship battles, but fortunately for the Italians, the goal was disallowed. Brazil defeated Poland with a score of 6-5 - in that match, Brazilian Leonidas and Pole Ernest Wilimowski each scored 4 goals. In other matches, Cuba surprised everyone by beating Romania after a replay, and after a replay the Germans lost to the Swiss and did not even make it to the quarterfinals. The defending champions, Italy, defeated the hosts of the tournament, the French footballers, in the quarter-finals by a score of 3-1, the Swedes reached the semi-finals by trouncing the Cuban national team 8-0, Brazil defeated the previous championship finalist Czechoslovakia, and Hungary won 2-0 against the Swiss. Italy reached the final by defeating Brazil with a score of 2-1. The Brazilians unexpectedly did not let the most productive player of the championship, Leonidas, onto the field, as they wanted to save him for the final, to which unfortunately the Brazilians did not make it. This was one of the most controversial coach decisions in the history of championships. In the other semi-final, Sweden met Hungary. Sweden, which was very confident after its victories against Cuba with a score of 8-0, suffered a harsh defeat of 5-1 in this match, and the "hat-trick" in the match was performed by Gyula Zsengelleris of the Hungarian national team. In the match for 3rd place, where Brazil faced Sweden, Brazilian forward Leonidas returned to the Brazilian squad, and in this match the Brazilians defeated Sweden with a score of 4-2. Thus, the 3rd place in this championship was won by the Brazilian national team. The final took place at the "Colombes" stadium in Paris. The Italian national team, led by Vittorio Pozzo, quickly took the lead, but the Hungarians leveled the score within 2 minutes. The Italians again took the lead quite quickly, so the score after the first half was 3-1 in favor of the Italians. In the second half, the Hungarian national team failed to recover - although the Hungarians scored another goal, it was soon answered by the Italian star Silvio Piola, who scored for the fourth time - the match ended with a score of 4-2 in favor of the Italians. Thus, the Italian national team became the world football champion for the second time and also became the first team to defend the title won in the previous championship. This is what the 1938 World Football Championship in France was like - the last championship before World War II. Championship statistics 3rd World Cup. France, June 4-19, 1938. Winner - Italy (2 titles) Number of participants - 15 Matches played - 18 Goals scored - 84 (4.67 per match) Number of spectators - 483,000 (26,833 per match) Top scorer - Leonidas (Brazil) - 8 goals Participants: Italy, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Cuba, Brazil, Dutch Indonesia. The championship took place in these cities - Paris, Strasbourg, Reims, Le Havre, Marseille, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lille. At these stadiums - Parc des Princes, Stade Olympique de Colombes, Stade Chapou Velodrome, Stade de Fort Corru, Stade de la Meinau, Stade de la Cavue Verte, Stade Velodrome Municipal, Stade Victor Boucquey, Parc Lescure. Round of 16 Switzerland 1 - 1 Germany Italy 2 - 1 Norway Hungary 6 - 0 Dutch Indonesia Cuba 3 - 3 Romania France 3 - 1 Belgium Brazil 6 - 5 Poland Czechoslovakia 3 - 0 the Netherlands Cuba 2 - 1 Romania Switzerland 4 - 2 Germany Quarterfinals Italy 3 - 1 France Hungary 2 - 0 Switzerland Sweden 2 - 0 Cuba Brazil 1 - 1 Czechoslovakia Brazil 2 - 1 Czechoslovakia Semi-finals Hungary 5 - 1 Sweden Italy 2 - 1 Brazil For 3rd place Brazil 4 - 2 Sweden FINAL Paris, "Stade Olympique de Colombes," June 19th. Referee: George Capdeville (France) Italy 4 - 2 Hungary 6' [1 - 0] Colaussi 8' [1 - 1] Titkos 19' [2 - 1] Piola 35' [3 - 1] Colaussi 70' [3 - 2] Sarosi 82' [4 - 2] Piola Italy - Olivieri, Foni, Rava, Serantoni, Andreolo, Locatelli, Biavati, Meazza, Piola, Ferrari, Colaussi. Hungary - Szabo, Polgar, Biro, Szalay, Szucs, Lazar, Sas, Zsengeller, Sarosi, Vincze, Titkos. Top scorers: Leonidas da Silva (Brazil) 8 goals Gyula Zsengeller (Hungary) 7 goals Silvio Piola (Italy) 5 goals Previous articles from the World Cup history series First article in the series: Uruguay 1930 Second article in the series: Italy 1934
