The World Is A Ball: A World Cup Timeline
- Thread starter Mildtryth
- Start date
Chapter X
Chapter X - Passing the Torch
In the first quarterfinal match, Louisiana proved itself to be a harder adversary than Argentina expected, coming into half-time only losing by 1x0 and having had the opportunity to come out with an advantage, with Antoine Champagne missing two good chances over the first half. Then things began going wrong in all possible ways in the second half. First, their keeper, Édouard Esper, injured his shoulder. Then Champagne severely wrenched a knee. Then, after midfielder Ludovic Jean-Joseph caught a cut on his lower lip, coach Édouard Baker passed out after he inhaled chloroform from a bottle he had accidentally spilled on his way to treat Jean-Joseph. On such circumstances, it wasn't difficult for Argentina to roll right through the Louisianans and score five goals in the second half. Only when the match was one minute from the end, Patenaude managed to score the honor goal.
Uruguay x Burgundy proved to be every bit as it was expected to be, but Uruguay prevailed thanks to two early goals from Cea and Peregrino Anselmo and a blunder from Burgundian keeper Gejus van der Meulen, who let a long ball kicked by Victoriano Iriarte slip right through his hands. In the other hand, the Uruguayan defence remained strong, although Voorhoof ended Ballestrero's invincibility in the first half.
In the third match, Italy dominated the match against Germany, but the Germans managed to hold out in the first half, and the match's only goals would only come in the second half, courtesy of Baloncieri and Meazza.
In the last quarterfinals match, Brazil would face Austria. The pre-match saw a repeat of jersey-related confusion that had largely been avoided in 1926. Both Brazil and Austria had neglected taking reserve uniforms, and since both wore white, one of them would have to change. Austria lost the coin toss and had to borrow shirts from River Plate, the owner of the stadium of the match. Brazil didn't start off looking like they'd be a match for Austria. After a poor first half, they went off into half-time losing by 2x0 (goals from Schall and Sindelar). However, the Austrians slacked off in the second half. Brazil began growing in the match and managed to tie it, with goals from Preguinho and Filó, at the 80th minute. The match went into extra time, and Johann Horvath secured the Austrian qualification with a goal late in the first half of extra time.
The first semifinals match would be the Platine derby - Argentina x Uruguay, reprising the 1926 final. After 12 minutes, Pablo Dorado put the hosts into the lead, before Argentina winger Carlos Peucelle equalised 8 minutes later, beating goalkeeper Enrique Ballestrero with a powerful shot. In the 37th minute, Stábile gave Argentina a 2x1 lead going into the break. Monti broadened the Argentinian advantage with a goal at the 57th minute, but Iriarte put the Uruguayans back in the match with one of his trade mark long shots eleven minutes later. Uruguay kept on pressing on for the tie, and it was only on the last minute that Stábile finally cemented the Argentine advantage and put the hosts in the final.
In the other match, Italy opened the score against Austria early, with Meazza scoring at the 12th minute. Italy created a great deal of chances in the first half, but most of these stopped on Rudolf Hiden, who had taken over the goalkeeper position from Franzl on the second match and had stayed there. Austria improved in the second half, and Horvath tied the match at the 53th minute, but the score would stay that way until the end of the match. And Austria once again went into extra time. The match remained as tight as before and it increasingly began looking a like a extra match would be necessary, but Franz Weselik chased that spectre away by scoring with only five minutes to go and putting Austria in the final.
After that, Italy played the third-place playoff against Uruguay, in the same day as the final. The large amount of Italian immigrants in the area and the Uruguayan fans that had crossed the Plata ensured a healthy number of spectators, even though not much was a stake in that match. Once again, Uruguay started the first half in better form, but let the Italians react and tie the match in the second half, although the tie didn't last long, as Castro scored his second goal in the match and ensured Uruguay's presence in the podium once again. That match also served as a goodbye for the generation of players that had appeared in the 1922 Cup - The remaining veterans from that Cup, such as Baloncieri, Cea, Scarone, Petit, Zamora and Samitier, would not be present in 1934.
The final would pit Argentina against Austria once again, with them already having faced previously in that Cup and in the previous. The match started relatively balanced, as Austria managed to hold his own against the Argentinian attack, which had improved since the last match between them. In the 31st minute, after a spectacular run down the left wing, Mario Evaristo found Stábile unmarked in the area, and crossed the ball for him to score his tenth goal in the Cup. After the teams came back from half-time, Austria didn't take long to react, as Della Torre failed to head off a cross from Sindelar and Schall raced to shoot the ball into the goal, out of Bossio's reach. Argentina gained the advantage again less than 15 minutes later, with Peucelle converting a pass from Varallo. By the last third of the second half, Austria seemed to be unable to keep up the pace, after two hard matches with extra time that week, and at the 77th minute, Ferreira took up a pass from Evaristo and shot the ball at close range, beating Hiden, clinching the Cup for the hosts.
141 goals were scored in 32 matches, for a average of 4,40 goals a match, and the Cup's top scorer was Guillermo Stábile, with 10 goals, followed by Giuseppe Meazza, with 7 goals, and Bertrand Patenaude, with 6.
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Stay tuned for the next part, which will show the prelude to the 1934 FIFA World Cup!
Props to @NTF aka Seb for getting the most results and the champion right.
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Chapter XI
Chapter XI - Wine, Waffles and Windmills
Since the creation of the World Cup, the Olympic football tournament, still operating by its old rules, had been steadily suffering a loss of interest - the 1928 tournament, in Milan, had only seen eight teams and the hosts, whose football was already professionalized, had to cobble an amateur side together just to participate. And in 1932, the Olympics would be hosted by Montréal. the overall lack of footballing tradition in Canada and the continuing lack of interest for the Olympic football tournament led to the IOC dropping football from the program for 1932. That turned out to be a opportunity for Henri Delaunay, who had been proposing a pan-European football tournament in the mold of the World Cup since 1927. In the 1931 FIFA Congress, in Rome, the proposal and the hosts for the 1934 World Cup would be decided. The proposal for a European Nations' Cup was approved, although whether it would last was yet to be seen.[1] As for the World Cup, in a more competitive field than the last time, Burgundy won the rights to host the Cup, beating Hungary, Bohemia, Sweden and Italy's bids.
Much like France, most of the territory of today's Burgundy was part of Gaul, but the country's name refers to the Burgundians, a Germanic people who settled in today's Savoy and western Swabia during the collapse of the Roman Empire, and later expanded into the Dauphiné and the region that would take their name. The Burgundians would eventually be conquered by the Franks during Clovis' reign. Meanwhile, Belgium [2] was mostly settled by the Franks and Frisians, and indeed, the modern Belgic languages [3] are all derived from Old Frankish. After the death of Louis the Pious, much of the region became part of the Middle Frankish kingdom, ruled by Lothair, from whom the name of Lorraine is derived. The Middle Frankish kingdom soon began splintering after Lothair's death, and would quickly be divided up between West and East Francia once his line died out, and udring the 9th century, Burgundy was split between France and the independent Kingdom of Burgundy, with the portion roughly west of the Saône going to France. that part of Burgundy would eventually be given to a cadet line of the House of Capet, while the Kingdom of Burgundy would be incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire in the 11th century.
By the 13th century, the area was mainly divided into multiple independent counties and duchies, and the history of the Burgundian state was we know it begins in the 14th century, when Duke Philip I married Margaret, daughter of Louis II, Count of Flanders, Hainaut, Holland and heir to the County of Burgundy. Philip and his descendants carried out a ambitious matrimonial policy, and over time, Lorraine and Luxembourg would also be inherited by his descendants, creating a large semi-contiguous polity in the borders of France, and over the 15th century, the dukes began fighting the centralizing ambitions of the French monarchs, and began seeking alliances with the Emperors to do so. However, at this point, the "state" was just a collection of territories held by the Dukes of Burgundy, with no common legislation and under different jurisdictions. Philip the Good (Philip I's grandson) nurtured the ambition to elevate the Burgundian state to the status of a sovereign kingdom within the framework of the Holy Roman Empire, but such am ambition would only be realized by his son, Charles, who would be crowned King of Burgundy by the Emperor in 1473. However, France didn't give up its claim on Ducal Burgundy, Artois and Flanders, and Burgundy and France would fight over these regions for most of the late 15th and early 16th century. Although Burgundy would lose some border regions in this meantime, it managed to survive relatively intact, and by 1529, France had given up its claims on Ducal Burgundy and Flanders.
In the Burgundian Golden Age, spanning much of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Burgundian Empire grew to become one of the major seafaring and economic powers. Science, military and art (especially painting) were among the most acclaimed in the world. By 1650, the Burgundians owned 16,000 merchant ships. The Burgundian East India Company and the Burgundian West India Company established colonies and trading posts all over the world. The Burgundian settlement in North America began with the founding of New Amsterdam in 1614. Burgundian colonies in South America were established along the many rivers in the fertile Guyana plains, among them Colony of Surinam (now Suriname). In Africa, the Burgundians established a colony in the Gold Coast and in Asia, they established a presence in India, the East Indies and Formosa, and later on, in the late 18th century, the country was one of the pioneers of the Industrial revolution.
In 1934, the country counted roughly 16 million people, 600,000 of which lived in and around the capital, Brussels. The organizing commitee found itself tasked with the hard mission of making sure both the northern and southern regions were appreciated even though almost all suitable stadia were in the north. Aside of the region in general having less people (only one quarter of Burgundian population), football in the two Burgundies and Lorraine was still relatively incipient, and most stadia there were too small for the Cup. The result is that the stadia at Nancy and Montbéliard had to be expanded to a capacity of 20,000, and a new stadium was built from scratch at Dijon, only being completed the week before the Cup started. And these three southern stadia would receive only one group's matches, while the other three would be spread out in Belgian venues.
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[1] - Credit to @ArupinumMaivista for the concept - that won't be the focus of this TL and will appear mostly as background information, though.
[2] - ITTL name for the Lower Countries in general.
[3] - Dutch - ITTL, Flemish, Brabantian and Hollandic are all considered different languages belonging to the same family.
Stay tuned for the next part, with the qualifiers.
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Chapter XII
Chapter XII - Qualify to Satisfy
On the European tournament, much like in the first Cup, invitations were sent out to all of the European FIFA members, and eighteen teams accepted it. Thanks to the short notice that the tournament was organized on, the European Cup was atypically, organized in a full knockout format, and Germany, which was in a suitably central location and had enough stadia to spare, was chosen to host it. Austria won the tournament hands down, humiliating the Burgundians by 6x1 in the final, and went into the qualifiers as the clear favourite to win the mundial title in 1934. However, the great surprise of the tournament was Russia, participating on its first international competition since the 1912 Olympics, and who reached the semifinals right on their first try. Their success on that competition motivated the Russians to sign in for the World Cup qualifiers, and neighboring Ruthenia followed suit.
In Group 1, Ruthenia fell into the group of Wallachia, Swabia and Croatia and didn't start well. the Ruthenians lost all their three matches, and the Swabians qualified, beating both Ruthenia and Wallachia and tying against Croatia.
Group 2 was set to be a double-robin group, although events would prove this was hardly necessary - Bohemia won both of its first round matches against Pomerania and Norway, and both teams withdrew, qualifying Bohemia.
In Group 3, after a tight race, Navarra and Aragon finished tied in points, with Savoy coming in third and Sicily in last. Given the relatively small distances to Burgundy, the tie-breaking match was scheduled to be played at The Hague, only four days before the start of the final tournament. Navarra won by 2x0 and the Aragonese had to go home.
Meanwhile, Russia went into Group 4 with Poland and Sweden. to reduce distances, all teams would play their home matches in turn. Sweden and Russia did their homework, winning both of their home matches, so the berth on the Cup would be decided in the Polish matches. the Poles beat the Russians in the first match, but couldn't overcome the Swedes in the second, and Sweden went to the Cup for the second time in a row.
In Group 5, France qualified, beating Castille and Portugal at home and trying against Venice away to seal their qualification.
Group 6 would also be disputed in a double round-robin format. Surprisingly, Lithuania started well, beating Estonia away and clinching a tie with Hungary at home and finished the first round leading the group. That state of affairs wasn't going to last, though. Lithuania procceeded to only tie against Estonia at home, and the subsequen Hungarian win against Estonia meant that Lithuania would have to beat the Magyars at Budapest to qualify. instead, the Hungarians beat them by 7x0 and stamped their passports to Burgundy.
Much like expected, Austria qualified with ease, beating Bulgaria, Serbia and the Papal States in Group 7.
Group 8 was slated to feature Egypt, Syria, Bosnia and Turkey, but the latter two withdrew, leaving Syria and Egypt to play for the berth. While Egypt and Syria were ruled by the same monarch, the Syrians had their own championship and national team, but the Egyptians, being far more experienced, made short work of the Syrians and qualified for their third Cup.
Group 9 would also be played on the same format as groups 2 and 6. Italy qualified without much hassle over Provence and Morea.
Group 10 would also have two teams, and Germany beat Livonia in both matches to qualify again.
In South America, the continental championship already had grown large enough (nine teams this time) to require a preliminary stage. The final championship itself would be played in Peru. Argentina was walready qualified thanks to the 1930 title, and Brazil and Uruguay qualified with ease, but the last berth was only decided in the last round, with the hosts beating Chile by 5x3 to clinch the berth.
The North American qualification would take the form of a single round-robin tournament, and Louisiana qualified for their second consecutive World Cup.
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Group 1: Brazil, Burgundy
Group 2: Argentina, Sweden
Group 3: Austria, Uruguay
Group 4: France, Bohemia
Group 2: Argentina, Sweden
Group 3: Austria, Uruguay
Group 4: France, Bohemia
Chapter XIII
Chapter XIII - Stepping Into Tomorrow
Group 1
Group 1
Coming into Burgundy, the Brazilians seemed confident - the Rio de Janeiro schism had just been solved, and the team went into the Cup with something approaching maximum strength (although it had never played together before), although the group, featuring Italy and the hosts, was sure to be hard. And it soon would be seen how hard it was - from the outset, it was clear that Burgundy was a well-put together side, while Brazil was more of a collection of individual talents struggling to play collectively. In the first half-hour, while the Brazilians tried to get themselves together, the Burgundians scored three goals and went into half-time with an appreciable, though not exactly fair, advantage. In the second half, the Burgundians came back slower, somewhat disisnterested, and Brazil took advantage of the situation - Leônidas scored at 56 and four minutes later, Luizinho had a goal disallowed. The hosts kept backing down and at the 62th, Brazil had a penalty scored in their favor, but André Vandewyer saved Waldemar de Brito's kick. The missed penalty broke Brazil's momentum - they would not create any more clear goal opportunities until the end of the match.
The next day, in Brussels, Italy faced Louisiana. The Italians took a verifiable foreign legion to the Cup, with the team that started the match having one Brazilian (Filó, now known as Guarisi), two Argentinians (Orsi and Monti) and one Savoyard (Combi). any hopes that Louisiana might pull another upset vanished quickly. Their defence, still the same as the one that had played in 1930 and not getting any younger, proved no match for the Italians and lost by 7x1.
Four days later, Brazil went into the field against Italy, needing to win to retain its chances, but the script of the previous match seemed to repeat itself, with Italy gaining a early lead with a free kick from Bertolini (his only goal for the national team), and ten minutes later, Meazza broadened the Italian advantage. Brazil wasn't as dominant in the second half as in the previous one - Italy continued creating goal chances in the second half and the standouts of the Brazilian team in that half were defender Domingos da Guia and keeper Rei, who kept the Italians from getting a even larger score. Waldemar de Brito scored at the 73rd, and the tenuous chances of getting a tie became more concrete, but no other goals would be scored after that, and Brazil fell in the group stage again.
The next day, the Burgundians, went to Brussels to play against Louisiana and easily win by 4x1. The results effectively defined the qualified teams that day. In the next round, Brazil and Louisiana would play only to fulfill the table. Once again, Brazil started behind, taking a goal from Seguignol at the 4th minute, but, determined to come out with a win, Brazil quickly began dominating the match, and with great performances from Waldemar de Brito and Leônidas, won by 5x1.
The next day, Burgundy and Italy would play to define the first place, with Italy having the advantage of the tie. Bakhuys opened the score at only 4 minutes in, but Italy turned it around in the first half, with Meazza and Giovanni Ferrari scoring. so, Burgundy went into the half-time losing by 2x1. during it, the Burgundian coach, Hector Goetinck, tasked Félix Welkenhuysen with marking Meazza and toppig him from creating plays. it worked, and the Burgundians scored another two times and were in the advantage again. It wasn't until the 84th minute, when the Burgundians were getting tired, that Meazza scored again and clinched the first place in the group for Italy.
Group 2
Argentina went to defend its title with a team quite different from the winning one - Demaría, Monti and Stábile had all gone to Italy after the Cup, while Paternoster and Juan Evaristo had retired by then, but the team still had some remainders from the winning team, like Peucelle and Varallo, and good names coming up, like Miguel Ángel Lauri, José María Minella and Antonio Sastre, so a successful defence of the title was not out of consideration. and against Navarra, the team started well, with Sastre and Arturo Arrieta scoring in quick succession in the first half. However, Iraragorri discounted for the Basques late in the first half, and in the second half, Lángara tied the match, livening up the match, as the Navarrese began pushing forward to turn the match around. Fortunately for the Argentines, Peucelle scored the third at the 77th minute, but Navarra still came close to tying the match a couple of times.
Meanwhile, Sweden faced Germany at Antwerp. The match remained balanced and goalless in the first half, but twelve minutes into the second half, a clash of
heads forced the Swedish captain Nils Rosén and Ernst Andersson off the pitch. With a temporary two-man advantage, Germany scored twice in quick succession, two goals from Karl Hohmann, and Sweden couldn't react in time.
In the first match of the second round, Germany faced Argentina in what would prove to be a balanced match, with Lauri opening the score midway through the first half. Germany tied with Edmund Conen just before half-time, and the winning goal would only come at the 80th minute, with Varallo. The next day, Sweden faced Navarra, with both teams needing to win to keep their chances alive. Ealry in the first half, Lángara caught a injury and was out of action throughout the first half. with the lçoss of their main offensive reference, Navarra found themselves unable to react effectively, and by half-time, the Swedes already led by 3x1 and there was just enough time in the second half for Sweden to score the fourth.
However, Navarra still had some remote chances of qualifiying, but it'd need to be Germany and hope that Sweden lost against Argentina. In the first half, it seemed that Navarra might be doing their part, with them coming into half-time winning by 2x1, but they lost steam in the second half, and a hat-trick from Conen guaranteed the German ticket to the quarterfinals.
In the other match, Argentina only needed a tie to qualify, and through most of the match, Argentina seemed more than capable to do that - Peucelle opened the score at the 4th minute, but Sven Jonasson tied the match five minutes later. In the beginning of the second half, Sastre put the Argentinians in the front again. The Swedes kept their heads, and managed to score midway through the second half with Jonasson, then, with ten minutes to go, taking advantage of a mistake of the Argentinian defense, got their third goal with Knut Kroon. In the end, despite having won the first two matches, Argentina was eliminated on goal average.
Group 3
The first match of the group would pit Hungary against Egypt. Abdulrahman Fawzi put the Egyptians in the front only two minutes in, and no sooner than the Hungarians had turned the score around, he scored another two times to put Egypt in front again. Hungary seemed to be geating up to react again early in the second half, when Jenő Vincze tied the match, but Mokhtar El Tetsh scored again for the Egyptians, and although the Hungarians created other dangerous chances after that, the Egyptians held on and protagonized one of the greatest upsets of that Cup.
In the other match, Austria faced Uruguay. Although it was expected to be a difficult match for both, Austria had little trouble with a Uruguayan side by then missing most of the players from their winning generation and with replacements that didn't seem up to par, and won by 3x0. On the next round, Egypt would face Austria, and still in the mood to continue surprising, went into half-time winning by 2x0, and over the second half, proved to be a tough nut to crack, with Austria only tying the match at the 81st minute and going no further. The next day, in another disappointing performance, Uruguay lost to Hungary by 2x1 and was eliminated with one match to go.
So, in the last round, Hungary would play the Danubian derby against Austria, needing to win and hope for a Egyptian defeat to qualify. Almost from the starting whistle, both teams played hard, too hard, even, with the one expulsion in the Cup (Hungary's Imre Markos) taking place in that match, but at least other six players could count themselves lucky on not getting sent off, such as Josef Bican, who, at the 80th minute gave a criminal tackle on Toldi, who came off the field unconscious and couldn't return to the field in time. In any case, Austria won and the result also qualified Egypt, who then became the first African team to reach the quarterfinals, a feat that wouldn't be equaled for decades.
The next day it would be Egypt and Uruguay's turn. With their qualification already assured, Egypt sent multiple reserves into the field trying to rest its important players for the quarterfinals. Their reserve side proved to be no match for Uruguay, who managed to snatch their one victory in that Cup.
Group 4
In the one group with three host cities, Swabia and France started their matches close to home, with France having their first match at Nancy and Swabia playing at Montbéliard. France started their match well, with Fritz Keller scoring in the sixth minute, playing swiftly and creating some other dangerous chances in the first half. Early in the second half, France scored the second with Jean Nicolas, but after that, they began slowing down and giving chances for Bohemia to grow in the match. Oldřich Nejedlý pulled one back for Bohemia less than twenty minutes minutes later and Jiří Sobotka tied the match with only one minute left..
The other great upset of the Cup would be at Montbéliard - Swabia, who had reached the semifinals in the European Nations' Cup in 1932 and had had some other good results since then, were widely pointed as the favourites for that match, and fittingly, they started the match attacking heavily, but after scoring with André Abegglen at the 17th minute, they saw Peru react almost instantly, turning the match around in less than five minutes, with goals from José María Lavalle and Teodoro Fernández, and Fernández would still score the third before the break. The second half would be more balanced, and after Swabia scored the second with Willy von Känel, they came close to the tie a couple of times, but Alejandro Villanueva scored the fourth to give Peru its first World Cup win.
Three days later, France and Swabia went to Dijon to play in the second round match. After the offensive hadn't worked in the previous match, Swabia resorted to playing a more defensive game and bet on the counter-attacks. it worked, and a single goal from the bespectacled Leopold Kielholz was enough to keep Swabia in the dispute for the next round.
The next day, Peru visited Bohemia at Nancy, but were far less successful than in the first match. By then, the Bohemians had switched Silný by František Svoboda, who opened the score at only two minutes. Bohemia would go on to open a 3x0 advantage in half an hour, and although Fernández left his mark again shortly before the break, In the second half, Bohemia played better and dictated the tempo, scoring two more goals and finishing with a 5x1.
All of this made sure that all positions were up for grabs in the last round. The first match would pit Bohemia, which only needed a tie and Swabia, which needed a win to not to depend on the result of Peru x France. In steady rain, the Swabians put up a good fight, but Bohemia managed to prevail slightly. Kielholz had opened the scoring from a pass from Jaggi, who scored Swabia's second with a shot that skidded through the mud, but the Bohemians, with their monotone game of short passes, managed to find enough space within the Swabian defence to score three times and secure their qualification. On Swabia's side, the imprecision of Abegglen would be much lamented, with him missing a impressive chance of tying the match in the last minute.
That meant that in the last match, Peru and France would play for the second spot in the quarterfinals, with France needing a win and Peru only needing a tie. The script of the last match seemed to repeat itself, as France led by 3x0 in the first half-hour. However, Peru didn't give up, reduced the French advantage with Villanueva, but missed many dangerous chances over the second half. The second goal eventually came, with Fernández, but only in the last minute.
And so the matches of the quarterfinals were defined:
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Let me know your predictions and stay tuned for Part 14!
QUARTER-FINALS
Italy 2-1 Germany
Austria (a.e.t.) 3-2 France
Sweden 2-3 Burgundy
Bohemia 3-2 Egypt
SEMI-FINALS
Italy 3-2 Austria
Burgundy 4-2 Bohemia
THIRD PLACE
Austria 3-1 Bohemia
FINAL
Italy (a.e.t.) 4-3 Burgundy
Italy 2-1 Germany
Austria (a.e.t.) 3-2 France
Sweden 2-3 Burgundy
Bohemia 3-2 Egypt
SEMI-FINALS
Italy 3-2 Austria
Burgundy 4-2 Bohemia
THIRD PLACE
Austria 3-1 Bohemia
FINAL
Italy (a.e.t.) 4-3 Burgundy
Chapter XIV
Chapter XIV - Smoothing Out The Rough Spots
Germany was the most tactically advanced team in the Cup, the only one to adopt the WM system pioneered in England the previous decade. All other teams still used the "pyramid" formation, with two defenders, three midfielders and five forwards. However, the German tactical daring was hampered due to the loss of two important pieces. first, Hohmann, injured, and Rudi Gramlich, who had to come back to Germany because his employer called him back to work (German football was still amateur and would remain so for nearly thirty years afterwards). Germany still put up a hard fight, but unfortunately, their keeper, Willibald Kreß, blundered on two of the Italian goals, dropping easy balls onto the forwards.
In the second match, the Burgundians improved on their performance against Italy, and after a balanced first half, steamrolled the Swedes in the second half, and only the interventions of Swedish keeper Karl Halme kept the scoreline from getting larger. The one bad news for the hosts was that Bakhuys injured himself in the last minutes of the match and most likely wouldn't be available for the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Austria x France didn't disappoint those who expected an epic battle: Platzer already had to make an acrobatic save right in the first minute, but Nicolas' early head injury messed with their forward line. Coming back on after treatment, he showed his natural goalscoring ability by immediately taking advantage of Cisar's blunder from Keller's cross — but it was understandably his last contribution. Sindelar tied for Austria late in the first half, But even with one man less, France still held out well in the second half, and the match went into extra time. Only then, when the French were already getting tired, Austria managed to break the stalemate and went into the semifinals.
In the last quarterfinals match, Bohemia would face Egypt, that already had been a tough opponent for Austria and Hungary previously. The early goal from Sobotka didn't keep the Egyptians from trying for a tie through the first half, and by the 36th minute, they had it. Although he failed on Fawzi's goal, he had already saved a few Egyptian attempts to tie the match previously, and Bohemia would soon return to the lead, with an goal from Antonín Puč early in the second half. Over the second half, Bohemia was more dominant, although the third goal, from Nejedlý, only came with three minutes left.
In the first semifinals match, despite the hosts' early lead, with Braine, their forward line had lost much of their incisiveness, and Bakhuys' substitute, Jean Capelle, who ordinarily was a excellent centerforward for Standard, wasted many good chances. Slowly, Bohemia imposed its methodical style, and with two goals from Nejedlý in the second half, went into the final, despite not being considered a favourite before the tournament.
Italy x Austria had been quite hyped-up, but it turned out disspointing. Many expected that finally Austria was going to return to form, but the heavy pitch (it had rained heavily in the day and the eve of the match) hampered the passing of the Austrians. The only goal in the match came from Guarisi, who clashed with Platzer after a crossing from the left that caught the Austrian defence ill-positioned. The Austrians complained about a foul, to no avail. After that, the match broke down to long kicks from Italy and frustrated Austrian attempts to make the ball roll well in the sodden field. Well-marked by Monti, Sindelar had few chances to create and in the one time he wound up face-to-face with Combi, at the 78th minute, he kicked the ball wide.
The recent history of Burgundy x Austria matches hadn't been exactly encouraging for the Burgundians. Besides the 6x1 defeat in the final of the European Nations' Cup, they also had lost by 4x1 in 1933, but while Burgundy hadn't changed much, Austria was already past its peak, and without Schall and Sindelar, both injured, things looked better for Burgundy. Voorhoof's goal at the 2nd minute didn't help the Austrians' confidence, and so, the hosts went into the break leading by 3x1. In the second half, Austria improved and pulled one back with Sesta, but couldn't equalize. Burgundy ensured a respectable, although somewhat disappointing, third place, and for Austria, the days of the Wunderteam seemingly were over.
A legion of journalists (277 from 39 countries) showed up at the final. In a match that opposed the Bohemian passing game with the Italian speed, the best performances were from the keepers, especially Plánička, later voted the best of the Cup. Nejedlý hit a ball on the post, but tother than that, few chances were created in the first half. The same was happening until, at the 68th minute, Puč had to be carried off the field, in pain, giving the impression that he wouldn't return. But not only he did return, but three minutes later, receving a ball from Sobotka on the left side of the area, he shot the ball towards Combi's left post, who jumped with style, but was just a instant too late. The Italians lost their nerve and Bohemia seemed ready to take advantage. Two minutes later, Svoboda hit the post as well. Two minutes after that, Italy tied with Orsi, but the goal was disallowed because Ferrari (who had passed Orsi the ball) had apparently touched the ball with his arm. Then the pattern of the rest of the match reasserted itself and Bohemia celebrated its first title.
140 goals were scored in 32 matches, for a goal average of 4,37 goals a match. The cup's top goalscorer was Oldřich Nejedlý, with 6 goals, followed by Giuseppe Meazza, Bep Bakhuys, Edmund Conen and Bernard Voorhoof, all tied with 5 goals, and Teodoro Fernández and Abdulrahman Fawzi, both tied with four goals.
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Stay tuned for the next part, which will show the prelude to the 1938 FIFA World Cup!
Props to @NTF aka Seb for getting all the semifinalists right.
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Chapter XV
Chapter XV - País Tropical
By 1938, the turn for hosting had fallen into the New World again. A general lack of interest from other nations in the continent meant that Brazil won its bid to host the 1938 World Cup unopposed.
The land now called Brazil was claimed for Portugal on 22 April 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral. The Portuguese encountered indigenous peoples, divided into several ethnic societies, most of whom spoke languages of the Tupi–Guarani family and fought among themselves. Though the first settlement was founded in 1532, colonization effectively began in 1534, when King Afonso VII of Portugal divided the territory into the fifteen private and autonomous captaincies.
However, the decentralized and unorganized tendencies of the captaincies proved problematic, and in 1549 the Portuguese king João III restructured them into the Governorate General of Brazil in the city of Salvador, which became the capital of a single and centralized Portuguese colony in South America. By the mid-16th century, cane sugar had become Brazil's most important export, while slaves purchased from Ethiopia[1] in the slave markets of Western Africa (not only those from Portuguese allies of their colonies in Angola and Mozambique), had become its largest import, to cope with sugarcane plantations, due to increasing international demand for Brazilian sugar. Brazil received more than 2.8 million slaves from Africa between the years 1500 and 1800.
Portuguese expeditions known as bandeiras gradually expanded Portuguese America's original colonial frontiers in South America to the approximately current borders of Brazil and Grão-Pará. By the end of the 17th century, sugarcane exports began to decline and the discovery of gold by bandeirantes in the 1690s would become the new backbone of the colony's economy, fostering a gold rush which attracted thousands of new settlers to Brazil from Portugal and all Portuguese colonies around the world. This increased level of immigration in turn caused some conflicts between newcomers and old settlers.
However, the Platine Revolution (partially aided by Portugal) wound up having effects in Brazil, mainly of invigorating autonomist movements in the mold of the Argentine one. In 1807, the Portuguese king, José II, spurred on by the measures taken by the Spanish crown in their remaining colonies and rising tensions, elevated Brazil into a kingdom on a personal union with Portugal, although Grão-Pará remained as a colony, thanks to its greater commercial ties with the metropole. The king's brother, Dom Afonso, was appointed as viceroy.
However, that course of action had opposition within the court, and after José II's death in 1816, his successor, João V, attempted to reverse his father's policies. The threat of losing their limited control over local affairs ignited widespread opposition among Brazilians, and with support from the local elites, the viceroy was acclaimed Afonso I, first King of the Kingdom of Brazil. The declaration of independence was opposed throughout Brazil by armed military units loyal to Portugal. The ensuing war of independence was fought mostly in the northern part of the country, with battles in Bahia, Maranhão and Piauí. The last Portuguese soldiers to surrender did so in March 1818, and independence was recognized by Portugal in August 1819. By then, Maranhão and Piauí were incorporated to the new kingdom, although Grão-Pará proper remained under Portuguese control. Afonso I died in 1826 and was succeeded by his son, Pedro I, who only reigned for eight years before dying of tuberculosis.
Pedro I's successor was his eight-year-old son, Pedro II. As the latter was still a minor, a weak regency was created. The power vacuum resulting from the absence of a ruling monarch as the ultimate arbiter in political disputes led to regional civil wars between local factions. Having inherited an kingdom on the verge of disintegration, Pedro II, once he was legally declared of age, managed to bring peace and stability to the country, which eventually became an emerging international power. With prosperity and economic development came an influx of European immigration, mainly Germans and Italians. Slavery, which had initially been widespread, was restricted by successive legislation until its final abolition in 1888. Brazilian visual arts, literature and theater developed during this time. Although heavily influenced by different European styles, each concept was adapted to create a culture that was uniquely Brazilian.
In contrast to the other South American bids up to that point, Brazil decided to spread the host cities around its territory instead of concentrating the dispute in one city and its environs. That was only possible thanks to a relatively new technology - airplanes. The country already had a small number of airlines connecting the largest cities, and those would be instrumental in covering the large distances between some of the host cities in a short time.
Some venues were reformed and expanded in preparation for the tournament, such as the ones in Salvador and Belo Horizonte, but the centerpiece of the tournament was the new stadium built in Rio de Janeiro, built in the Maracanã neighbourhood, in a area that previously belonged to the local Jockey Club. The building began in 1948 and the stadium only was finished a few days before the start of the tournament, and by the time it was finished, it wasn't just the largest stadium in South America, but in the world, clocking at 155,000 seats, only slightly larger than the recordholder, Scotland's Hampden Park. In regards to football, Brazil at this point was only the third force in South American football, still behind Argentina and Uruguay. They had won only three South American Championships up to 1938, all at home, and now it seemed to be the time to take the next step forward.
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[1] - ITTL term for Subsaharan Africa
Stay tuned for the next part, with the qualifiers.
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Chapter XVI
Chapter XVI - Rock The Boat
Despite the relative disorganization of the first tournament, the European Nations' Cup had been a attendance success, and with more time to organize, another was set for 1936. With 28 teams signing up this time, the final tournament was whittled down to only eight teams and in a tradition that stands to this day, the hosts were only decided after all the teams were qualified. So, in a tournament held in Navarra, Italy beat the hosts in the final by 3x1.
Meanwhile, after the sabbatical of 1932, the Olympic football tournament returned for the 1936 Olympics at Barcelona, now accepting nations with professionalized football, as long as they had never been capped by the national team before. That tournament also finished with an Italian victory, beating Peru in the final by 2x1.
By the time the qualifiers rolled in, FIFA began taking greater control over the rules and procceedings, as far as the European groups were concerned. From that point on, the European groups would all be played in a double-robin format.
In Group 1, Swabia began its procceedings losing to the Papal States in Basel, but the Romans found themselves out of the running after losing both of its home matches to Croatia and Swabia. Croatia then lost to Swabia in Bern and tied against the Papal States in Zagreb, and came into the last match, in Zagreb, needing to beat Swabia to qualify. Swabia won by 3x1 and went into its second Cup.
In Group 2, Morea quickly proved to be little more than a sparring partner for the other three teams in the group, and equaled Livonia's record of largest defeat in a World Cup qualifier by losing to Hungary by 11x1. While Hungary lost to Castille at Madrid and tied against Sicily at Budapest, Castille failed to beat Sicily in its matches and couldn't take advantage of these losses, and in turn, Sicily managed to lose to Morea at Athens, and so, Hungary qualified again.
Group 3 would also be played with four teams, but Turkey withdrew before any matches started, leaving only Austria, Egypt and Venice in the dispute. Austria already had disappointed in the European Championship, by failing to even qualify to defend its title, but Egypt in turn, had lost to an amateur Austrian side in the Olympics. Egypt and Austria tied both of their direct confrontations, leaving the berth to be decided on the basis of their performance against Venice. Venice and Egypt won their home matches against each other, while Austria beat Venice in both matches, clinching its qualification.
Group 4 would have three teams, but Bulgaria withdrew, fearing it wouldn't have the financial condition to play if it qualified, leaving only Wallachia and Serbia. Serbia won both of its matches, but it didn't qualify automatically - the Bulgarian withdrawal meant that FIFA chose the winner of that group to play a intercontinental playoff against the winner of the Asian group.
Group 5 would have Navarra and Burgundy facing each other again, after falling in the same group in the European championship. Navarra had had the topscorer of that tournament on Isidro Lángara, who had scored six out of the eight Navarrese goals and planned to qualify to erase the bad impression left by their poor performance in 1934. Two losses to Burgundy in the direct confrontations put paid to that ambition, and even Burgundy's surprise loss to Provence at Marseille didn't keep the Burgundians from qualifying.
Group 6 would have Pomerania, Aragon and Germany - After a string of exceptional results in early 1937, Germany seemed to poise themselves as favourites not only for the qualification, but for the World Cup title, but Aragon proved itself to be a good match for them, breaking a ten-match German winning streak at Barcelona, but a tie against Pomerania at Königsberg buried their chances.
Group 7 seemed unpredictable at first - Sweden's 1935-36 cycle had been dreadful, with the team being eliminated by Norway in the European championship qualifiers and then falling to Japan in the Olympics, while Livonia had qualified to the 1936 European championship, only to lose all three matches. The group turned out to be just as balanced as it seemed - Sweden started well, winning both of its home matches, but a loss to Russia at Saint Petersburg complicated their situation and they only secured the qualification only in the final match, with a hard-won tie against Livonia at Riga.
Group 8 would have France, Poland and Denmark fighting for one berth. Poland was counted as a possible surprise, having reached the semifinals of the Olympic tournament, while Denmark's chances seemed low, after losing by 8x0 to Germany right before the start of the qualifiers. In the end, France qualified by a narrow margin.
In Group 9, Norway had little trouble to qualify against Estonia and Lithuania. The team won its first three matches with relative ease and gave itself the luxury of fielding a mostly reserve teams for the last match, against the already-eliminated Lithuania.
In Group 10, Italy seemed to be the new team to be beat, after the double in 1936, and although they had little trouble with Portugal, Savoy put up two hard matches against them, both of which Italy failed to win, but any Savoyard hopes of taking it to the playoff were dashed after a loss to Portugal at Lisboa, courtesy of a excellent performance from Fernando Peyroteo, who scored two out of the three Portuguese goals on his international debut.
In South America, the form of the qualifiers remained the same as before, and in a tournament played entirely at São Paulo, Brazil won its third South American title. Argentina qualified with ease, but the other two berths were hotly disputed. Uruguay, Peru, Chile and Paraguay all came to the last round with chances to qualify. Uruguay lost to Brazil and only secured its qualification thanks to Paraguay trying its match against Charcas, that had lost all its matches up to that point, and a tie in the Peru x Chile match. in the end, Peru qualified over Chile and Paraguay thanks to goal difference.
Meanwhile North America had begun doing the same thing, by using the football tournament of the North American Games as a qualifier. Those Games saw the debut of New Scotland and New Burgundy, both of which fell in the Group stage. Despite playing at home, Mexico failed to use the home advantage to its favour and lost to Louisiana in the semifinals, which in turn, lost to Cuba in the final, qualifying the Cubans for the first time.
In the Asian group, only Japan, Insulindia and the Alfonsines signed up to participate. Japan seemed to be the favourites, but inexplicably withdrew before playing one match. The Alfonsines then beat Insulindia in two matches to go to the playoffs, which would be played in Lisboa one month before the start of the Cup. Although all in all, the Serbs might have had the better team, the Asians opened a 3x0 advantage within only 15 minutes, to the shock of the spectators. Serbia recovered in the second half, but the Alfonsines held well and secured their qualification.
So, the groups were drawn:
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Let me know your predictions and stay tuned for Part 17!
Great stuff. Have you "invented" some entirely fictional players for this timeline?
Predictions:
Group 1 - Brazil and Sweden
Group 2 - France and Peru
Group 3 - Uruguay and Italy
Group 4 - Argentina and Austria
Predictions:
Group 1 - Brazil and Sweden
Group 2 - France and Peru
Group 3 - Uruguay and Italy
Group 4 - Argentina and Austria
Some, but most will be in places where colonization patterns are completely different.
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVII - Posting High
Group 1
Group 1
After a test match the previous week, the Maracanã stadium was inaugurated, with all the habitual ceremonies, such as a parade of the Marine band, speeches from authorities, flight of hundreds of doves, and even sky lanterns were launched from the center of the field. Although 81,650 people paid for tickets, it's estimated that the real attandance was closer to 100,000, with many tickets being given away for free and some people taking advantage of the somewhat unfinished state of the stadium to get in. Before the match, thanks to the overcrowding in the streets, the car carrying the referee and the linesmen got stuck on traffic and the trio only arrived at the stadium when King Pedro III was finishing his inaugural speech.
In the pitch, Brazil faced Germany, who were expected to be their toughest opponent in the group. In any case, the hosts started with a rush and had several chances to score within the first fifteen minutes. Then Germany settled down to better combined play and although both sides had some good chances of opening the score, but it was Brazil who did so, at the 34th minute, when Leônidas forced a corner and Perácio shot into the net from the resulting kick. Their lead wouldn't last long, as two minutes later, Wilhelm Simetsreiter was taken down in the area while attempting a counter-attack, and Ernst Lehner converted the penalty. Play in the second half was more even, but only four minutes in, Leônidas gave Brazil the lead again. In the 76th minute, Romeu Pellicciari scored the third after a pass from Lopes, but Germany continued trying to attack, scoring its second goal with Lehner again at 85.
The next match of the first round fell in a Sunday, and Sweden and the Alfonsines faced before a considerable crowd. the Asians came with the same tactics as in the playoffs against Serbia and opened the score with Heredia at the 8th minute, but any momentum gained by this was lost three minutes later, when Cirilo De Guzmán scored a own goal after a Swedish attack. Tore Keller would take the lead for the Swedes shortly after and by the 31st minutes, Sven Jonasson scored and the match went into half-time with a 3x1 for Sweden. the Alfonsines still had hopes of rallying, and early in the second half, Joaquín Ortigas scored the second and after that, the Alfonsines continued creating dangerous chances over the first third of the second half, even missing two penalties in their favor. However, midway through the second half, Jonasson scored two goals in quick succession and put paid to the Alfonsine reaction. Sweden dominated the match from that point on, and there was enough time for Ernst Grönlund to score the sixth.
Brazil would next face the Alfonsines. The first minutes proved harder than expected - with both teams having a roughly equal number of chances, but Brazil opened the score, at the 15th minute, when Hércules shot the ball from the entrance of the area on Bacsal's left corner. that didn't seem too dangerous, but midfielder Arsenio Lacson headed the ball right onto Leônidas' path. Brazil would soon score the second in another defensive blunder from the Alfonsines. that time, Bacsal lost hold of the ball after a shot from Romeu. Brazil would score again at the 30th minute, with Leônidas again, and the match would return to some balance on the last fifteen minutes before the break, but after half-time, Brazil went back to attacking the Alfonsines relentlessly, scoring in quick succession with Leônidas and Hércules, and finally, at the 6th minute, Lopes settled the score.
The next day, Sweden faced Germany at São Januário. the first half was relatively lackluster, and the goals only started coming in in the second half. Rudolf Gellesch opened the score at the 58th minute, after racing in for Lehner's pass and nearly knocking Abrahamsson over with a shot the Swedish keeper couldn't hold. ten minutes later, Grönlund tied the match for Sweden, but two minutes later, Simetsreiter waltzed through the Swedish defense and put Germany in he lead once again. Germany would cling to the lead for most of the rest of the second half, but with one minute left, Keller tied the match again.
All of that meant that Sweden could qualify with a tie in their match against Brazil, while Germany would have to hope that Sweden lost, and even then, there was goal average to take into account. That meant that Germany would have to beat the Alfonsines by the largest margin it could to have a hope of qualifying. However, Germany couldn't come close to the offensive performances of the Alfonsines' previous adversaries. In part, that mostly due to the Alfonsines opting for a more defensive strategy than in the previous matches. Germany won by 3x0, but thanks to the result of Brazil x Sweden, that was just enough to qualify.
In that other match, Sweden started on the right foot, opening a 2x0 difference within the first 40 minutes, and taking advantage of a uninspired Brazilian performance. just before half-time, Romeu pulled one back for the hosts. In the second half, Brazil was reinvigorated and pushed for the comeback. Leônidas scored twice and Perácio secured the victory in the 80th minute.
Group 2
Group 2 also turned out to be another deja vu group, with three out of its four teams having played in the same group in the previous Cup. The first reencounter whas betwen France and Peru. By half-time, Peru led by 1x0, goal from Jorge Alcalde, and had wasted a fair number of chances of having a larger lead. Early in the second half, Aston tied for the French. The Peruvians would then make some strong but fruitless efforts to regain the lead, and in the 72nd minute, Jean Nicolas put France in the lead. However, Peru managed to snatch a tie at the 86th minute, with Adolfo Magallanes.
Meanwhile, Swabia faced Cuba at Salvador. The Swabians started well, opening the core with Walaschek and dominating most of the first half - Cuba equalized shortly before the break with Héctor Socorro, but their keeper, Benito Carvajales, proved decisive to keep Swabia from opening a large advantage in the first half. In the second half, Cuba had improved their performance, although Swabia recaptured the lead again with a penaly kick from Abegglen. Cuba then tied with Mario Sosa, and Socrro put Cuba in the lead a few minutes later. However, that lead only lasted two minutes, as Abegglen tied the match for Swabia at the 85th minute.
Four days later, Cuba went to Recife to play against Peru. Once again, the performance of the Cuban defence was decisive, in a match where most chances were created by Peru. José Magriñá opened the score for Cuba at the tenth minute, Teodoro Fernández tied for Peru close to the end of the first half, and Cuba held on to the tie through most of the second half. Cuba then began creating some more dangerous chances as the Peruvians tired out. at the 83rd minute, Peruvian defender Arturo Fernández accidentally headed a ball shot by Socorro into his own net. Peru still tried to push forward to tie the match again, but Juan Tuñas scored the third for Cuba off a counter-attack at the 88th minute, settling the score.
Meanwhile, at Salvador, France faced Swabia. Georges Aeby opened the score for the Swabians, but that turned out to be his only contribution to the match, as he'd suffer a head injury a few minutes later and be effectively out of the rest of the match. With a numerical disadvantage, Swabia went into a more defensive style, and France naturally had some difficulties breaking through that - their first two goals came from stationary balls (a penalty by Nicolas and a free kick by Émile Veinante), and the third goal only came in the final minutes of the match. In the other hands, the French stopped the Swabian counter-attacks with ease, having a strong defence of their own, and the match finished with a 3x1 victory for France.
In the last round, Peru faced Swabia, with both teams needing to win and hope that either France or Cuba lost their match to qualify. Peru seemed set to repeat their feat of 1934 after opening a 2x0 difference within the first 25 minutes, but Swabia managed to tie the match before the break. In the second half, Swabia was more dominant, and Abegglen scored twice to give the victory to Swabia.
Meanwhile, France and Cuba played at Salvador. Cuba led off with a goal from Tuñas shortly before the half-hour mark, but Nicolas tied for France at the 38th minute. Over the second half, although the Cuban attack was entirely nulled, the French found themselves less fortunate at breaching the Cuban defense than they had been against Swabia, with the winning goal coming from Veinante, at the 63rd minute. In the end, that paid off, as Cuba, advanced thanks to a better goal average than Swabia.
Group 3
Norway and Italy had already faced in the group stage of the 1936 European championship, with Italy scoring early, Norway tying, and Italy only securing the victory in the last minutes. The rematch in the Cup proved to be as difficult for the Italians as before. Pietro Ferraris opened the score for Italy at only two minutes in, but Norway held the Italians in check through most of the match afterwards, and in the 83th minute, Arne Brustad equalized for Norway and had a second goal disallowed for offside. By then, it was too late for Italy to react, and the match finished with a surprising 1x1.
Meanwhile, at Porto Alegre, Uruguay faced Hungary. the proximity to the Uruguayan border meant that the Eucaliptos was packed, mostly with Uruguayan fans. Uruguay opened the score with Severino Varela and at time in the first half, gave the impression they'd be a formidable side, but found it hard to react when Hungary began striking back. Sárosi tied just before the break and Zsengéller gave the Hungarians the victory at the 74th minute.
Four days later, Hungary returned to the field and beat Norway by 4x0 at Porto Alegre, althpugh the match was harder than the scoreline suggests. Vilmos Kohut opened the score in the 13th minute, but Norway, much like in the previous match, were solid enough to keep the Magyars from scoring through the next hour and even created some dangerous chances, but at the 70th minute, the Norwegian keeper Johansen injured himself in a collision with Hungarian forward Sohn. With no substitutions allowed, Norway had to move outside right Odd Frantzen into the goal, and with one man less and a improvised keeper, Norway took three goals in the following 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, at Curitiba, Italy faced Uruguay. Once again, Italy opened the score early, with Giovanni Ferrari, but aside of that, Uruguay was better in the first half, and tied with Arturo Iturbide just before the break. In the second half, Italy came back better and took the lead with Ferrari at the 53th minute before doubling it with Gino Colaussi (naturalized Venetian) at the 74th minute. Uruguay pulled one back wih Varela three minutes later but couldn't do much more than that, and found themselves eliminated right then and there.
There was still one match left to go for them, against Norway, in which the Norwegians needed to win and hope for a heavy Italian loss in the other match to qualify. Johansen still wasn't in conditions to return, and while his reserve, Sverre Nordby, turned out to not to be really up to par, taking a easily defensible goal from Segundo Villadóniga midway through the first half, the attack was in top form, especially in the second half, and the match ended with the Norwegians winning by 4x2 and Uruguay pulling its worst World Cup performance up to that point.
But while the Norwegians did their part, Italy didn't - after tying the match only two minutes after taking the first goal, Hungary was quickly dominated by Italy, and the team never really gave the impression that they were up for anything better than a tie. At the 82th minute, Piola scored the fourth Italian goal, and from that point on, both teams basically waited for the match to end.
Group 4
In the first match, Argentine didn't take too long to open the score against Burgundy, with Bernabé Ferreyra scoring at the 10th minute. Argentina would create some more opportunities in the following minutes, but couldn't keep up the momentum, and Bertus de Harder tied the match at the 26th minute, and the match went tie to the break. In the second half, Argentina came back better, and scored two in quick succession close to the one-hour mark, with Antonio Sastre and Varallo. Varallo would hit the post close to the end of the match, but the best chance in these last minutes was from Burgundy, with Fernando Bello saving a dangerous header from Voorhoof.
Meanwhile, in Belo Horizonte, Austria would play against Bohemia. While both teams had needed to renew since the last Cup, Austria had had the most radical renovation, with only Sesta and Zischek remaining from the 1934 team. Bohemia also had its troubles, with Plánička having injured himself during training and not being expected to return to the team until the third match. Austria began with the right foot, controlling the match for most of the first half, although by the break, they only had scored one goal, with Leopold Neumer. Over the second half, Bohemia recovered, and Nejedlý tied the match at the 52nd minute. Austria tried to rally and take back the lead, but were hampered by poor conclusion inpart of their forwards. Once they began losing intensity, Bohemia went back into the attack and scored twice in quick succession, with Jan Říha and Josef Zeman.
Four days later, Bohemia visited Argentina at São Paulo, and taking advantage of the heavy field (consequence of the rain that had fallen the previous day), Bohemia began attacking, and Argentina did the same, displaying individualism to make up for the outdated tactics. Before Enrique García opened the score, Varallo had already hit the post, but at the 23rd minute, Bohemia had a penalty on their favor, after Alberti held Říha inside the area, and Zeman converted the penalty. Ferreyra put Argentina in the front again only two minutes later, and after Varallo scored the third goal fortly before the 40-minute mark, victory seemed assured, but as both teams returned from the break, Bohemia went all out, and counted with a legendary performance from Ernst Prandella, who scored three goals in only twelve minutes and put Bohemia in the lead. Ferreyra equaled the score again, but nine minutes later, Prandella went and scored his fourth goal in the match, becoming the first player to do so in a World Cup. Still, Argentina didn't give up - at the 81st minute, Varallo equalized for Argentina again and with only one minute to go, Ferreyra scored the winning goal. End result: 6x5, in a match that would soon enter the lists of greatest World Cup matches.
Meanwhile, Burgundy and Austria faced off at Belo Horizonte, with both teams needing to win to keep their chances. Much like in the previous match, Austria dominated th first half, although that time they were luckier on finishing, with the team leading by 2x0 in the break. After the start of the scond half, Burgundy improved and pulled one back with Braine, and only Platzer's intervention kept Burgundy from scoring any more than that. Burgundy was not entirely eliminated yet, but it'd need a combination of results to qualify - namely, beating Bohemia and hoping that Argentina beat Austria.
For the third match, Bohemia had good news on the return of Plánička, who turned out to be decisive in that match, saving two difficult shots from De Harder. In the other hand, their forward line seemed to be completely off their game that day, and the match ended with the first goalless draw in World Cup history. Meanwhile, at São Paulo, Argentina faced Austria. After a weak first half, with few chances from either side, Peucelle scored right after the break and Vicente de La Mata doubled the Argentinian lead, in a goal widely contested by the Austrians due to him being supposedly offside. Austria pulled one back with Hans Pesser, but it was too late.
And thus were defined the matches for the quarterfinals:
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Let me know your predictions and stay tuned for Part 18!
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QUARTER-FINALS
Brazil 4-1 Cuba
Italy 2-1 Bohemia
France 2-3 Germany
Argentina 3-2 Hungary
SEMI-FINALS
Brazil 3-2 Italy
Germany 1-2 Argentina
THIRD PLACE
Italy 2-1 Germany
FINAL
Brazil (a.e.t.) 3-2 Argentina
Brazil 4-1 Cuba
Italy 2-1 Bohemia
France 2-3 Germany
Argentina 3-2 Hungary
SEMI-FINALS
Brazil 3-2 Italy
Germany 1-2 Argentina
THIRD PLACE
Italy 2-1 Germany
FINAL
Brazil (a.e.t.) 3-2 Argentina
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XVIII - A Taça do Mundo É Nossa
The hope that Cuba might repeat the surprising performances it had put up against Swabia and Peru crumbled within the first ffiteen minutes, with Brazil opening a 2x0 lead just in that interval and wasting many chances of putting up a stronger lead. However, Cuba would still remain alive in that match, thanks to a dreadful performance from Brazilian keeper Batatais, who already didn't seem too safe from the group stage matches and let a easily defensible ball from Tuñas through. That reinvigorated the Cubans and Brazil lost momentum for a while. The third would come out at the 30th minute, with Romeu scoring his second goal and Brazil went into half-time leading by 3x1. Early in the second half, Perácio scored the fourth, but injured himself shortly after that. with a numerical advantage, Cuba went on the attack again, and Tomás Fernández scored the second on another error from Batatais. Brazil mostly held on to the 4x2 advantage for most of the match, but with six minutes to go, Leônidas scored the fifth and put paid to any chances of Cuba rallying to a tie.
The second match that day would pit Hungary against Argentina. With a better organized team, Hungary conceded the first goal at only 6 minutes, but managed to tie the match at the22nd minute. In the following 128 minutes (the remainder of the match plus two extra times), none of the two teams managed to score and a extra match had to be held two days later. For the replay, Argentina made five switches while Hungary repeated the team of the previous match. It seemed to be paying off for the Argentinans, as they went to the break leading by 1x0, but in the second half, Hungary got their act together, and with two goals from Sárosi, advanced into the semifinals.
The next day, at Porto Alegre, Italy went for a rematch of the 1934 final. That match didn't start too ausíciously for the Italians, with the Bohemians setting the pace of the match through most of the first half and opening the score with Nejedlý at the 33rd minute. In the second half, Italy came back faster, but the Bohemian defense remained effective and it wasn't until the 82nd minute that Italy finally tied, with Biavati, and the match went into extra time. Three minutes in, Olivieri saved a low kick from Senecký
, but the ball went off his hands and have the impression of having gone over the line before he could pull it back. fortunately for Italy, the referee didn't see anything and the match went on. Eventually, at the 111th minute, Colaussi scored the winning goal for Italy.
The recent history of Germany x France wasn't cause for much hope on the French side, with the Bleus having lost by 4x0 the year before, and the match didn't seem to start well, with Josef Gauchel opening the score just before the 30-minute mark, in a colossal blunder from French keeper Di Lorto: Surrounded by defenders on the left-hand corner of the penalty area, Gauchel looped a volley straight at Di Lorto, who hopped up for the easy catch then decided to push it away. Somehow he palmed it sideways, tried to follow it as it fell into the net and crashed into the goalpost. However, France tied with Aston just before the break and held on through the second half to take the match into extra time, but Rudolf Gellesch scored at the 108th minute and put Germany in the semifinals for the first time.
The first match of the semifinals would pit the hosts against Italy, in a match touted by some as a anticipated final. That would be the only match that Brazil would play in São Paulo during that Cup, and thanks to the high number of Italian immigrants in the city, support for either team was evenly matched. Brazil went in with the same team that had played against Cuba, but with two changes: Tim in the place of Perácio and Aymoré in the place of Batatais. Brazil started the first time well, and both defenses had solid performances, but Brazil went into the break with a lead, after Leônidas scored at the 30th minute. In the second half, Italy came back better, and in the first time that Piola outraced Domingos da Guia, he touched to Colaussi, who scored with a low and strong shot that Aymoré had no chances to defend. Brazil tried to go on the attack, but genrally, Italy played better in the second half, and Brazil only managed to score the winning goal in the 81st minute, with Romeu. So, with much difficulty, Brazil was in the final for the first time.
Meanwhile, at the Maracanã, Germany and Hungary defined the other finalist. Hungary opened the score with Toldi at the 10th minute. Germany began improving over the last minutes of the first half and Albin Kitzinger tied the match on a free kick in the 33rd minute. Germany almost took the lead close to the break, with Gellesch, but the tie persisted. In the second half, Hungary began advancing more, and in one of those plays, Sohn was taken down by Münzenberg in the area, and Zsengéller converted the penalty to put Hungary in the lead again. Hungary continued trying to push forward to double their lead and Germany began betting on the counter-attacks. In one of those, at 82 minutes, Szepan equalized for Germany again, but only three minutes later, the Hungarian attacks bore fruit: Zsengéller scored the third and Hungary went to the final.
To Italy, now only the third-place final was left, also to be played in São Paulo. Despite Germany being more motivated to get the podium, Italy had most of the crowd support, and opened a 2x0 lead within only 20 minutes, both from Piola. However, they began slowing down after the first half-hour and left enough space for Germany to tie the match overthe last 40 minutes, with Adolf Urban scoring both German goals. Only then Italy woke up again, and in the 78th minute, Pietro Ferraris scored the third and secured the third place for Italy.
The next day, the final took place at the Maracanã Stadium, with a paid attendance of 155,000 and an actual attendance of up to 180,000 by some estimates, including thousands who entered the stadium without paying - an all-time record attendance for a football match. The poor performance of the forward line against Italy led coach Ademar Pimenta to switch Hércules and Lopes by Roberto and Luisinho, while the Hungarian coaches Dietz and Schaffer had done three changes - Korányi for Polgar in the defense, Turay by Szucs in the midfield and Toldi by Vincze in the forward. Brazil tried to begin attacking, but at the 16th minute, in a fast counter-attack, Sárosi appeared by surprise in front of Aymoré, after a crossing from the right, and shot into his left corner. However, even after the goal, Hungary remained betting on the same defensive style. For the rest of the first half, it worked and Brazil went into the break losing by 1x0.
Once the second half began, things went on much like in the first, except that Brazil's offensive performance improved considerably. only three minutes in, Leônidas equalized for Brazil off a crossing by Roberto. Hungary continued holding up until the 65th minute, when Afonsinho put Brazil in the lead with a shot from outside the area. Only then Hungary tried to change its posture, pushing forward more often, to no avail. At the 77th minute, Roberto scored the third in a synchronized play, with the Brazilian forwards rolling the ball inside the Hungarian area without their defence intercepting it, and five minutes later, Tim received the ball in the area completely unmarked, without any Hungarians in that half of the penalty area, and scored the fourth. And thus, Brazil won its first World Cup title.
Once the final was finished, the Brazilian players were lined up in the center of the field to listen to the national anthem, and soon after, the King descended from the stands and handed the trophy to the team captain Martim, on a wooden platform. the legion of journalists around kept many photographers from taking pictures and one of them asked Martim to raise the trophy. he held it over his head with both hands, in a gesture that would become tradition for all World Cup champions afterwards.
146 goals were scored in 33 matches, to a average of 4,42 goals a match. The top goalscorer was Leônidas, with ten goals, followed by Romeu and György Sárosi, tied with 6, and Gino Colaussi, with 5.
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Stay tuned for the next part, which will show the prelude to the 1942 FIFA World Cup!
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Chapter XIX
Chapter XIX - I Verdi
For 1942, the hosting duties went to Europe again, and Italy won the hosting rights, beating Sweden and Swabia. Swabia would eventually be chosen to host the 1940 European championship the following year.
The Italian peninsula was historically the native place and destination of numerous ancient peoples. The Latin city of Rome in central Italy, founded as a Kingdom, became a Republic that conquered the Mediterranean world and ruled it for centuries as an Empire. With the spread of Christianity, Rome became the seat of the Catholic Church and of the Papacy.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Italy fell under the power of Odoacer's kingdom, and, later, was seized by the Ostrogoths, followed in the 6th century by a brief reconquest under Byzantine Emperor Justinian. The invasion of another Germanic tribe, the Lombards, late in the same century, reduced the Byzantine presence to the rump realm of the Exarchate of Ravenna and started the end of political unity of the peninsula. The peninsula was therefore divided as follows: northern Italy and Tuscany formed the Lombard kingdom, with its capital in Pavia, while in central-southern Italy the Lombards controlled the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento. The remaining part of the peninsula remained under the Byzantines and was divided between the exarchate of Italy, based in Ravenna, the Duchy of Rome, the Duchy of Naples, the Duchy of Calabria and Sicily, the latter directly dependent on the Emperor of Constantinople.
Lombard rule ended with the invasion of Charlemagne in 773, who established the Kingdom of Italy and the Papal States in large parts of the Northern and Central Italy. This set the precedent for the main political conflict in Italy over the following centuries, between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, culminating with conflict between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV and the latter's "Walk to Canossa" in 1077. In the 11th century, in the Northern and Central parts of the peninsula, began a political development unique to Italy, the transformation of medieval communes into powerful city-states, many of them, modelled on ancient Roman Republicanism. Cities such as Venice, Milan, Genoa, Florence, Siena, Pisa, Bologna among others, rose to great political power, becoming major financial and trading centers. These states paved the way for the Italian Renaissance.
One of these cities in particular, Milan, would embark on a expansion program under the House of Visconti during the 14th century. By 1405, when Gian Galeazzo Visconti died, Milan controlled most of Lombardy and Tuscany and was the hegemon of the northern part of the peninsula. Italy was also the birthplace and heart of the Renaissance during the 1400s and 1500s. The Italian Renaissance marked the transition from the medieval period to the modern age as Europe recovered, economically and culturally, from the crises of the Late Middle Ages and entered the Early Modern Period. Italian Renaissance exercised a dominant influence on subsequent European painting and sculpture for centuries afterwards, with artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, Giotto, Donatello, and Titian, and architects such as Filippo Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, Andrea Palladio, and Donato Bramante.
By 1500, most of the peninsula was divided between five large states: Milan, Venice, Savoy, Sicily and the Papal States, in a diplomatic configuration that has lasted until the present day. Some minor states in Lombardy and Tuscany survived butwith the formation of the Italian Confederation, led by Milan, in 1718, these minor states would be absorbed into the Milanese/Italian sphere. In the 19th century, although the initially country lagged behind in regards to industrialization, it'd advance rapidly on that front from the 1850s onward and by the 1940s, it was a leader in the automobile industry. In 1942, the country, with little over 126,000 square kilometers, counted over 15 million people, one million of those living in the capital, Milan.
In the football scene, Italy had established itself as one of the great powers of the continent, reaching the semifinals in four out of the five previous tournaments, although the title had been consistently eluding them. Their league was also one of the first to attract considerable numbers of foreign players, both from the neighboring nations and from nations farther afield. The organizing commitee opted for using the same format in regards to host cities as the 1926 World Cup, with each group in two cities. Originally, the companion host city to Milan would be Lugano, where the local team was building its own stadium, but the works on that stadium fell behind schedule, and once it became clear that it wasn't going to be completed in time for the Cup, Locarno took over the co-hosting for its group.
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Stay tuned for the next part, with the qualifiers.
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Chapter XX
Chapter XX - The Trophy Is Just A Detail
Shortly after the 1938 World Cup, the British nations reaffiliated themselves to FIFA. All of them entered the qualification for the 1940 European championship, and England, the only one out of the four to qualify for the final tounrament, won its first European title beating France in the final, cementing its credentials as a favourite to win the 1942 World Cup.
However, they'd still have to qualify first. The 1941-42 British Championship was used as a qualifier for the British nations. And the English began the procceedings losing to Wales. The English recovered by beating Ireland by 5x1 but still needed to beat Scotland, who had won both its matches, in the final match just to force a playoff. This they did manage, winning by 2x0 at London. Both teams traveled to Italy - the playoff match would be held in Milan, the week before the start of the tournament. England won by 3x1 and qualified to its first World Cup.
Thanks to qualification group draws being unseeded, Group 2 turned out to be one of the most accessible groups, with Savoy, Sicily, Bosnia and Morea. Quickly, the Italian teams left the others behind, tied in points until the last round. While Savoy beat Morea by 4x0 at Nice, Sicily lost to Bosnia by 4x3 in Sarejevo, and Savoy returned to the World Cup after 20 years.
In the other hand, Group 3 would have Austria and Germany fighting for one berth. The group also had Estonia and debutants White Ruthenia, but those quickyl fell out of the running. Estonia did manage to hold both Austria and Germany to ties at Tallinn, but couldn't do much more. In the end, the berth was decided on the direct matches between Austria and Germany, with Austria losing at Vienna and only tying at Düsseldorf, ending its four-Cup string of qualifications.
Group 4 would be equally competitive, with Bohemia, Sweden, Russia and Ruthenia. While Bohemia acquainted itself well against Sweden, not losing any of its matches against it, the Bohemians complicated themselves in the away matches against the other teams of the group, losing to Russia at Saint Petersburg and only tying at Kiev with Ruthenia, after having beat the same Ruthenians by 8x0 at Prague. in contrast, the Swedes won all other four matches aside of those against Bohemia and narrowly secured their qualification.
Group 5 in turn, was more similar to Group 2 in regards to the level of the teams in it, but was far more competitive, with all teams save for Denmark coming to the last round with chances to qualify and Pomerania leading the group. However, Denmark buried the Pomeranians' chances by beating them by 3x1 at Copenhagen, while Poland beat Livonia by 5x1 at Kraków, and thus, Poland stamped their passports to Italy.
Group 6 quickly configurated itself into a three-way struggle between Castille, Navarra and France, with Provence proving itself to be the spoiler of the group, with its home victories over Navarra and Castille keeping either of the two from qualifying directly. In the end, Navarra and France tied in points, and the berth was decided on a playoff at Turin, where France beat Navarra by 4x2 and qualified again.
In Group 7, Portugal took the group's lead quickly, winning its first three matches, buttwo consecutive away losses to Burgundy and Norway complicated their situation and left the definition of the last berth for the last round - Aragon and Portugal could guarantee their qualifications with a win, but Burgundy could still qualify, if they beat Norway at Oslo and Aragon and Portugal tied their match. Burgundy did their part, beating the Norwegians by 2x1, and now had to wait for the other match. In that one, Aragon opened the score in the first half, only for Portugal to tie soon after. The tie remained through most of the match, but at the 84th minute, Alberto Gomes scored the winning goal for the Portuguese.
In Group 8, Croatia, falling into a group with Venice, Turkey and Egypt, qualified with relative ease, only losing in its last match against the Turks.
In Group 9, Hungary started its campaign on the wrong foot, losing to Serbia at home and to Swabia away, but it won its remaining four matches, and with the other three teams tripping over each other, qualified directly.
As the only three-team group, Group 10 wouldn't give a direct qualification berth - the winner would have to to go a playoff against the winner of the Asian group, and Lithuania prevailed over Wallachia and Bulgaria.
In South America, much as expected, Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina secured their qualifications with ease, while Chile, the hosts of the tournament, only guarenteed its qualification in the last round, as Peru tied against Paraguay and the Chileans scored a 1x0 win against Argentina, a result that largely gave the South American title to Uruguay - its second consecutive title.
In North America, Louisiana hosted the North American Games that time, but with a weak generation, not even the home factor was enough. The tam struggled to qualify iun the group stage and was trounced by Cuba in the quarterfinals. Cuba would go on to beat Mexico in the final to qualify to the World Cup, while Louisiana would lose even the bronze medal match against Hispaniola.
In Asia, initially, India, China, the Alfonsines, Insulindia and Japan applied for the qualifiers, but all teams later withdrew, except for India, who went to the playoffs against Lithuania without entering the field. The two playoff matches were held in Constantinople, three weeks before the start of the tournament. India won the first match by 2x0 and held the Lithuanians to a 3x3 tie in the second match, thus clinching their qualification.
And thus, the groups were drawn:
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Let me know your predictions and stay tuned for Part 21!
Cool timeline - by the way, it should read I Verdi, rather than Gli Verdi, just a minor detail. 
So, Milan's late medieval conquering spree stuck, but the duchy was unable to expand further by force of arms, it seems. As for who will make it out of the groups, it'll be Italy and Hungary for 1, Brazil and Savoy for 2, Argentina and Sweden for 3, England and Uruguay for 4. England could win this easily but, this being England, they'll probably lose, sparking outrage at home. Italy might win, but Savoy could be a serious contender, too - if most players are real players, many IRL Grande Torino players would probably feature in the Savoyard squad, even if they probably play for separate teams in this timeline.
However, this version of Italy does extend into Piedmont, and that weird western appendage might actually include Turin, after all...
So, Milan's late medieval conquering spree stuck, but the duchy was unable to expand further by force of arms, it seems. As for who will make it out of the groups, it'll be Italy and Hungary for 1, Brazil and Savoy for 2, Argentina and Sweden for 3, England and Uruguay for 4. England could win this easily but, this being England, they'll probably lose, sparking outrage at home. Italy might win, but Savoy could be a serious contender, too - if most players are real players, many IRL Grande Torino players would probably feature in the Savoyard squad, even if they probably play for separate teams in this timeline.
However, this version of Italy does extend into Piedmont, and that weird western appendage might actually include Turin, after all...
Chapter XXI
Chapter XXI - The Best?
Group 1
Group 1
After leaving Constantinople, the Indian delegation sailed to Ravenna and from there made its way to Milan, playing friendlies with the local teams when it stopped along the way at Bologna and Piacenza. The purpose of said friendlies was to acclimate the players to 90-minute matches - the matches in the local league had two halves of 30 minutes rather than 45, and the performance of the team had dropped considerably in the last 30 minutes in the matches against Lithuania. However, they'd have to face the hosts right away. On the Italian side, Meazza was back for his fourth Cup. After an injury in 1939, he had basically disappeared from the call-up lists, but a return to form during the 1941-42 season had seen him back on the Italian side once more.
In any case, the Indians, once the match began, started off rushing forward trying to score, although the Italian defence stopped any of their chances from going in, and it wasn't until the 31st minute that Italy finally opened the score with their new revelation, Valentino Mazzola. Italy assumed a more offensive posture after that and scored the second with Piola nine minutes later. The Indians, by then resorting to more defensive play, held up through half of the second half, but Italy soon began widening their advantage once the Indians were exhausted. Piola scored another two times, and Meazza and Biavati completed the count - Italy 6x0.
The next day, Hungary and Chile faced at Locarno. The match started out intense, with both teams creating some dangerous chances, although Hungary had batter luck converting these chances, with Béla Sárosi (György's brother) and Zsengéller scoring for Hungary. However, the pace of the match slowed down by the end of the first half, and it would only become even slower in the second, especially after Matyás Tóth scored the third Hungarian goal.
Three days later, Hungary went down the Alps to face the hosts at Milan. Hungary started on the right foot, with a marvellous goal from Tóth giving them the lead, but it wasn't long until Italy began taking control of the match, and taking advantage of a excessively exposed defense, took the lead within 20 minutes, with Mazzola and Biavati. After the break, Hungary came back better and managed to balance the match out, but Piola scored the third in the 80th minute and gave the victory to Italy.
The next day, India went to face Chile, with both teams having to win to keep their chances alive. India remained playing in much the same fashion as with Italy, and opened the score only three minutes in, with Mahabir Prasad, but Chile was quick to answer, with two goals from Fernando Riera putting them in the lead, all before the 15-minute mark. The pace of that half started slowing down after that, but India remained slightly predominant, and tied the match with Anil Nandy shortly before the break. Chile improved in the second half and scored the third with Alfonso Domínguez, but India still continued occasionally creating some dangerous chances, and Chile only had some relief after the fourth goal, courtesy from Manuel Arancibia.
Three days later, Chile went to Milan to face the hosts. With their qualification practically guaranteed, the Italians came in with a mixed team, but even then, dominated the match, but had serious difficulties getting through the Chilean defense, most of all, the Chilean keeper, Sergio Livingstone, who pulled a number of saves through the match. still, Guillermo Casanova opened the score for Chile at the 58th minute, and the Chileans held on to the advantage until the 89th minute, when the naturalized Venetian Ezio Loik, who had entered the match in the place of Meazza, tied the match.
The next day, Hungary faced India, and the Indians put up a good defensive performance in the first twenty minutes, until their keeper, Kajal Dutt, injured himself in a collision with László Gyetvai and couldn't return to the pitch until after the break. The Indians had to improvise midfielder Alamgir Premlal in his place and took four goals before the first half was through. In the second half, Karuna Bhattacharya scored the honor goal for India and Mihály Kincses settled the score for Hungary.
Group 2
Once again, Portugal fell into Brazil's group, and the first match of the group would be between them. Since the 1938 title, the Brazilian team had changed radically, with only Domingos da Guia, Afonsinho and Tim left from the team that had played the 1938 final. The match begun rather balanced, with the first goal only coming up shortly before half-time, with Sylvio Pirillo. Servílio doubled the Brazilian lead at the 61st minute, but five minutes later, Osvaldo was sent off for a foul on Portuguese midfielder Adolfo Mourão, and Portugal grew on the match after obtaining the numerical advantage. Peyroteo scored two goals in quick succession to tie the match for Portugal, and Brazil began trying to bet on the counterattacks, a decision that paid off when, in one of these, three minutes before the end of the match, Pastesko put Brazil in the lead again.
The next day, Savoy faced Germany at Alessandria, and largely dominated the first half, scoring twice - with Guglielmo Gabetto and Felice Borel - before the twenty-five-minute mark. However, in the second half, Germany improved considerably, and Willi Arlt and Gauchel tied the match for the Germans. Three days later, Savoy went into its second match against Portugal. Portugal began on the offensive and was dominant in the first half, coming into the break leading by 2x0 - goals from Peyroteo and Alberto Gomes. However, Savoy came back better once the second half started, and tied the match within 14 minutes, with Numa Monnard and Gabetto, but couldn't hold on to the tie. João Cruz put Portugal in the lead again nine minuts later, putting in the rebound from Peyroteo's shot, and Peyroteo would score the fourth six minutes later. Savoy still tried to react and Gabetto had a goal disallowed for offside, but the 4x2 stood - Portugal's first World Cup victory.
The next day, Brazil and Germany played at Alessandria. Germany scored only six minutes in, with Conen scoring from outside the area, but after that, the first half had few chances for either side. Brazil improved slightly in the second half, and in the 57th minute, Brazil equalized, with Tim trapping a cross from Cláudio and pushing it past Jahn. Although Brazil created more chances in the second half, it would take another 24 minutes for the second to come up, as Karl Miller took Tim down inside the area, and Servílio converted the penalty.
By the last match, Savoy needed to beat Brazil and hope that Germany beat Portugal by a small enough difference. After fifteen unexciting minutes, Savoy began setting the pace of the match, and opened the score with Borel at the 18th minute, and kept the attacking momentum for a while, with Franco Ossola hitting the crossbar at one point, but Brazil recovered in the end of the first half and tied the match with Russo at the 40th minute. However, five minutes later, Roger Courtois put Savoy in the lead again, in the last play before half-time. The second half saw Savoy dominating slightly, but at the 64th minute, Zizinho equalized on a header from a corner kick. After that, the Savoyards began attacking even more, with Caju saving two dangerous shots from Borel and Gabetto hitting the post, and at the 87th minute, Borel put Savoy back in th lead, in a goal contested by the Brazilians due to a supposed offside.
These missed chances would cost Savoy dearly. Despite the win, Savoy was still eliminated, since no result in the Germany x Portugal match could eliminate both teams simultaneously. In that match, Germany built its result almost entirely in the first half, opening a 4x0 advantage before half-time. Although Germany slowed down considerably in the second half, Portugal only had enough strength to score the honor goal, when the match was close to the end.
Group 3
Croatia would make its World Cup debut against Argentina, and their start wasn't exactly auspicious. Argentina largely dominated the first half and opened the score with Herminio Masantonio shortly after the half-hour mark. Argentina would remain predominent during the second half as well, but no further goals would be scored by either side.
The next day, Poland faced Sweden at Modena. Although Sweden started as the better team, they couldn't translate that superiority into dangerous chances. If anything, Poland were far more dangerous when they got close, and opened a 2x0 advantage within only three minutes, goals from Pawel Cyganek and Friedrich Scherfke. Sweden tried to react late in the first half and managed to pull one back with Arne Nyberg, but still came into the break losing. Sweden began attacking more often in the second half, but the Poles withstood the pressure well, only conceding one goal in the second half, courtesy of Kurt Weckström, and holding on to the tie.
The Swedes came back to the field three days later, to play against Argentina. The match started with little emotion, but the first goal came on the first dangerous chance, with José Manuel Moreno converting a cross from Enrique García. Argentina would have other two good chances with Masantonio, both stopped by Bergqvist, during the first half. Sweden came back better on the second half, and both teams had some good chances in the last 45 minutes, but it was Argentina who scored the second, with Adolfo Pedernera scoring on a play much like the first goal.
The next day would pit Poland against Croatia. The Poles started out on the offensive, and scored the first after only three minutes, when Zvonko Monsider accidentally deflected Scherfke's shot into his own net, but Croatia began setting the pace after the first ten minutes, and tied the match with Zvonimir Cimermančić in the 34th minute. In the second half, Croatia would score its second goal with August Lešnik, but the Poles began growing in the match, especially in he last 20 minutes. The tie would come in the 72nd minute, with Leonard Piątek, and Gerard Wodarz scored the winning goal only two minutes from the end.
So, when Croatia visited Sweden at Bologna, the Swedes needed to win, preferentially by a good goal difference, plus hoping for a Polish defeat in their match (which happened in the same day), to qualify to the quarterfinals, and worried about their poor offensive performance in the previous match, changed their forward line, replacing Åke Andersson and Weckström by youngsters Gunnar Gren and Gunnar Nordhal. once the match began, that mission soon became much harder, as the Croats largely dominated the first half, and by the break, led by 2x0, goals from Mirko Kokotović and Lešnik. However, Sweden improved greatly in the second half, and once it got started, the Croatian defence was no match for them. After scoring four goals in less than 30 minutes, they still missed some good opportunities of widening their advantage even further, and the match ended in a 4x2.
Meanwhile, in the Polish match, after a slow start, the last twenty minutes of the first half would be quite busy, with both teams creating some good chances. Argentina was the first to score, on a penalty kick from Moreno, and doubled their lead with Masantonio four minutes later, but shortly before the break, Scherfke put an end to Gualco's unbeaten streak. The second half would go on on a similar fashion, but with a slight Polish preponderance and with both teams having far less luck in actually scoring. That result, then 2x1, did not necessarily qualify the Poles - it just forced a extra match against Sweden the next day, so in orfer to save themselves that hassle, Poland began intensifying their attacks in the last few minutes, but wound up exposing their defense too much, and in the 85th minute, Moreno scored the third Argentinian goal in a counter-attack and put Sweden in the quarterfinals.
Group 4
In the first match of the group , France faced Cuba once again, this time counting with a verifiable foreign legion in their squad, with six out of the eleven players that took to the field against Cuba being born outside of France, and the best player of the team, Larbi Ben Barek, was one of these, being born on Morocco. Despite having only being capped for the first time the previous year, he had already become the reference of the French forward line, and would start in style, scoring twice against the Cubans, with the other two French goals being scored by Desiré Koranyi and Oscar Heisserer (Hungarian and German, respectively). Tuñas scored two goals for Cuba, which had taken mostly the same squad that had reached the quarterfinals in 1938, with only a few minor alterations, and wasn't getting any younger.
England would debut against Uruguay at Livorno, and would put up a rather bureaucratic performance. with their style of short passes and precise crossings, the English scored one goal in each half, with Tommy Lawton and Jimmy Hagan, and hit the Uruguayan posts two times. However, the Uruguayans created a fair number of chances of their own. Schubert Gambetta equalized on a free kick early in the second half, when England led by 1x0, and when the match seemed won, Severino Varela tied for Uruguay again with only nine minutes to go, when Joe Bacuzzi lost the ball to him within the area.
Thre days later, Uruguay visited France at Florence, and started the first half in better form. Uruguay went into the break leading by 1x0, goal from Luis Ernesto Castro, but the advantage could have been larger, as Aníbal Ciocca missed a penalty before the goal and Castro hit the post some time after that. The result held through a good chunk of the second half, but midway through it, France began improving, and by the 79th minute, they had taken the lead, with goals from Ben Barek and Aston. However, two minutes later, Obdulio Varela equalized with a shot from outside the area.
The next day, the roughly 14,000 spectators who went to the Ardenza, witnessed what was quite possibly the greatest upset in World Cup history. England played in the same methodical and unhurried way they had played against Uruguay. Meanwhile, the Cubans, conscious of their inferiority, concentrated themselves in their defensive half and spent most of their time on the defensive, and in the only time they went close to the English area in the first half, they scored. In the 37th minute, Arias took a long shot from 25 yards out, but as the English keeper, George Marks, moved to his right to intercept, Luis Gironella dived headlong near the penalty spot, and grazed the ball enough to put it to the left of Marks, whose momentum prevented him from changing direction, and into the back of the net. All through the match, England attacked and created good chances, with 30 goal shots just in the first half, but through sheer bad luck and miraculous interventions from Carvajales, the Cubans held out until the end.
The win reinvigorated the Cuban chances while at the same time forcing England to beat France (in a reprise of the 1940 European championship final) to be able to qualify. So, England, now playing at Florence, switched half of their forward line, but France opened a 2x0 advantage within 8 minutes, with Koranyi and Ben Barek. England took control of the match soon after that, and tied the match just before the half-hour mark, with Wilf Mannion and Lawton, and France began relying on counter-attacks. Ben Barek scored his second on a penalty kick a few minutes before half-time. The second half continued much in the same way, and André Simonyi scored the fourth in the 56th minute. Lawton scored his second goal six minutes later, but while England advanced more often, but as nervousness set in, the forwards began missing some incredible chances, and things only got worse when Ben Barek scored his hat-trick at the 73th minute. after that, neither side would get any good chances, and England had to go home taking last place in its group.
Meanwhile, Uruguay played against Cuba at Livorno, with a victory qualifying either side and Uruguay having the advantage of the tie. Uruguay, who had a chance of qualifiying as the leader if England beat France, wasn't going to content itself with only a tie, and after dominating the first half, came into the break leading by 2x0, goals from Ciocca and Bibiano Zapirain. Cuba reacted briefly in the second half and pulled one back with Héctor Socorro, but couldn't do much more after that, and Uruguay settled the score at the 80th minute with Severino Varela.
And thus the quarterfinals matches were defined:
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Let me know your predictions and stay tuned for Part 22!
By the way, @Neoteros, it doesn't include Turin.