The 1914 Denmark World Cup of Football – Round of 16
And so, it was time for the World Cup once again. Crowds were not as large as they were in England, but they were still sizeable, with large proportions of non-Danish fans who had travelled to see their teams duke it out in the most prestigious footballing competition in the world. The draw’s prerequisite this time was that no neighbouring nations would be paired up, and, as always, that the hosts would get the top seed. These were the results of the draw:
This time, nearly every match looked like a toss-up. The qualifiers had done wonders at showing how teams could truly handle international competition and not just competition against their neighbours. The most hyped-up match was the Netherlands vs. Scotland, two great teams facing each other in the first round.
The opening match was Denmark vs. Andalusia. As always, the hosts made quick work of the opposing team, scoring 2 goals in the first half. The Andalusians put up a valiant effort, with one shot in particular hitting the upper left corner of the goalposts and bouncing along the line, but the ball never went through and was thrown away by the goalkeeper. Denmark scored another in the second half and buried Andalusia’s World Cup dreams.
Up next was Germany against New South Wales. This was a heated match, and the Germans’ first experience against the Australians, which played a much more different and tactical game compared to them. The Germans had used an incredibly strange 8-2 formation with no midfielders; the reason for this is unknown to this day, but it worked in deflecting many shots from the New South Welshmen. However, they let 2 of them pass, and could only retaliate with one goal in the second half, sepulting their chances of going forward, and a victory for NSW.
Newcomers Cantabria would face Switzerland next. The Swiss were hungry for a World Cup victory, having been knocked out in the first round twice in a row. They gave the Cantabrians a hard time, scoring 3 goals in the first half leaving them hopeless. However, the Cantabria side suddenly had a burst of energy and scored 2 goals in 10 minutes, but the Swiss instantly fell into a defensive position and would not let any shots even be on target. Next thing they knew, it was the end of the match, and the Swiss had finally gotten their first World Cup triumph.
Argentina was to face Catalonia in the next match. The Catalans were confident in their ability to succeed, as they had gone up against Hungary and Sweden previously and won out over both in their group, but they were given a wake-up call when the Argentines began decimating them with 3 goals in the first half. They were utterly hopeless and watched as 2 more goals went right past them and they could barely get the ball in their possession at midfield. The referee blew his whistle, and Argentina once again found itself in the quarter-finals.
Favourites the United States squared up against Bohemia. Bohemia as a team at this point was considered “decent”: good enough to qualify for the World Cup, but not good enough to get any meaningful results. And they showed it on the pitch that day; the United States wrecked them 4 goals to 1, with Bohemia’s only goal coming from a penalty. The lack of crowd support did not help, as many Americans had come to watch the World Cup while relatively few Bohemians did.
And then came the most exciting match of the first round: the Netherlands against previous World Champions Scotland. Scotland’s winning squad in 1906 had mostly retired at this point, so the Scottish did not have the same confidence nor the same violent playstyle that subdued teams in the past. However, they were still a formidable force, and, with England still suspended, became the representatives for the United Kingdom on the world stage. The Netherlands would not go down so easily, though. The two teams kicked the ball back-and-forth with horrendous misses on both sides, and the match had to go into overtime as the scoreline was 0-0 by the 90th minute. After 36 gruelling minutes, the exhausted Dutch side relented and let a goal go past, allowing Scotland to advance to the next round.
São Paulo had to face newcomers Bengal. It was clear that Bengal had never gone up against a real World Cup team before, and it showed. São Paulo knocked them into submission with 2 goals, but the Bengalese took their time to learn the Paulista playstyle and adapt, equalizing them before the end of the first half. On the second half, the Paulistas went into overdrive, with fouls left and right and a goalkeeper that deflected 3 penalties against the Bengalese. São Paulo managed to score 2 more goals and secured their place in the quarter-finals.
The final match of the round of 16 was Canada, THE favourites to win, versus Hungary. Unexpectedly, the Hungarians switched up their usual attacking formation for a far more defensive one, which sent the Canadians for a spin and hampered their ability to score goals. Hungary’s defensive strategy ended up being their detriment, as all of the few attacks they sent out were quashed before they could even reach the goal. Eventually, a Canadian player weaved his way around the Hungarian defence and managed to score a goal in the 87th minute, ending the match 1-0 and ending Hungary’s run.
May 21st had ended, and the bracket now looked like this:
