The 1906 Scotland World Cup of Football – Round of 16
And so, the day finally came. The 21st of May 1906, FIFA’s 2-year anniversary. All teams travelled to Scotland, and were put into a draw. The draw had some prerequisites for things that couldn’t happen: no Home Nation could be paired up initially, Austria v Hungary and Argentina v Uruguay could not occur in the Round of 16, and the host nation was to be drawn at the top of the bracket. These are the results of the draw:
All matches per round were to be played in the same day, in different locations across Scotland. Some of the pairings, like Hungary v Ireland, were predicted to end in a very obvious manner, and others, like England v Argentina, were a complete toss-up.
The first match played was Scotland v Uruguay, which started 1 hour before the rest. The Uruguayan selection, having travelled all the way from South America, was still exhausted from days of training aboard a ship in the sea, and one of the players, the goalkeeper, became seasick during the journey. Because there were no substitutions at the time, the team’s coach subbed in for the goalkeeper. This would end up being a disastrous decision, which costed Uruguay the game, as they were demolished 8 goals to 1; although the Uruguayan side had scored first in 6’, the Scottish counter-attacked with a quick flurry of 5 goals in between 10’ and 19’, with 2 more during the rest of the first half. In the second half, only one goal was scored, but, notably, it was by the goalkeeper: the Scottish side, already bored destroying Uruguay, decided to let the goalkeeper try for a goal during a penalty, which he scored.
The match between Switzerland and Bohemia, meanwhile, was not as exciting; both teams came very prepared, which made the first half a bit of a slog as no goals were scored and there was a constant back-and-forth. However, the Bohemians kicked into gear and scored 3 goals during the second half, dominating the Swiss side, as they could only get 1 goal in.
The match between Austria and France was another curbstomp, in favour of the Austrians. The French side was very underdeveloped, and had already been completely humiliated at home by the Swiss during the preparation matches. Austria, meanwhile, had kickstarted the Imperial Cup, had an established and reputable league, and had made excellent choices with their players, adopting many from the Küstenland side that caused a lot of buzz during the Imperial Cup. The Austrians scored 4 goals in the first half, and 4 in the second half, while the French could get none in. This was the goalkeeper’s last match ever, as he retired from footballing out of shame.
Sweden vs. the Netherlands was up next, and this one was very messy; neither side was particularly precise at hitting the goal, so it took a record amount of failed attempts during a FIFA match (29 failed shots from the Swedes, 23 from the Dutch, for a total of 52) to get only 2 goals during the game, which were both Swedish.
The Wales vs. Germany match was relatively standard for the most part; however, it caused the first ever World Cup controversy. Neither side had scored a goal by the final minute, so the referee simply let the game go on. No-one in the field was keeping track of the time besides the referee, as the stadium in East Kilbride was very underdeveloped and had no other method of tracking time. The match ended up lasting 125 minutes, with the Welsh scoring one goal at 121’ and taking the victory.
The England vs. Argentina match was highly anticipated, as both teams were considered to be in equal footing in terms of ability. However, this perception was crushed when the Argentines started with 2 goals from the outset in 4’ and 7’. The English struck back with a goal just before the end of the first half, and things looked to be amping up for a very competitive match. But, alas, the Argentines scored a further 4 goals, with the English once again getting another goal just before the clock stopped, absolutely ruining any prospects of exciting football.
The Belgium vs. Denmark game was described as particularly dull. Despite ending in a 3-3 draw, everything but the goals was not exciting, as it seemed the forwards on both teams were not keen to shoot at the goal too frequently; at the very least, Denmark had a 100% accuracy rate in their attempts at goals. Due to the draw, and there being no rules by FIFA in place to break ties at the time, the match was replayed the next day. This match was even more boring, as the players were exhausted from the game the previous day. In the end, Denmark managed to score a goal, and they advanced further into the tournament.
The final match was Hungary vs. Ireland. Due to Ireland being widely regarded as the worst team in FIFA, everyone expected this game to be a complete embarassment for them. And it was. Hungary, eternal rivals to Austria, broke the Austrian record of most goals scored during a World Cup match on the same day it was set. They scored a barrage of 14 goals, and the Irish team was completely hopeless; they didn’t manage to score a single goal, and the Hungarians wouldn’t even give them any mercy.
By the end of the 22nd of May, the results were the following:
