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Fifteen nations contested the 1938 World Cup, a
reduction partly caused by the changing shape of
the world map. For Nazi Germany had marched into
Vienna in March 1938, extinguishing Austria, a state
that had been in a state of turmoil since the ending
of the Hapsburg dominion. The Austrian team of the
1930s had been one of the strongest in Europe, thus
the Anschluss transformed the footballing prospects
of Germany. This annexation had largely become possible
because of a change in Italian allegiances; Italy
had invaded Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia), a move
condemned by Great Britain, which had responded
through the League of Nations by imposing sanctions,
although, crucially, not on Italian oil imports.
Mussolini retaliated by reversing the long-standing
Italian policy of friendship with Great Britain
the leading naval power in the Mediterranean. Italy’s
support of Franco in the Spanish Civil War, tantamount
almost to a full scale invasion, further underlined
his commitment to Rome-Berlin Axis. The Spanish
Civil War precluded the dispatching of a team to
compete in the World Cup. In 1934 the Spanish team
would probably have knocked out Italy had not the
special advantages of home and referee not helped
Italy. Hitler already has his greedy eyes on Czechoslovakia,
yet the Munich Conference was still some months
away.
Uruguay was still smarting from the European virtual
no-show in 1930, when the Cup had been held in Montevideo
Uruguay’s capital, thus for the second time the
1930 Champions declined to appear. The Argentine
felt that the World Cup should alternate between
Europe and Latin America, thus their refusal to
partake could hardly have come as a surprise to
the organisers; nonetheless, there was considerable
disquiet in Argentina, with rioting breaking out
in Buenos Aires. Only Cuba and Brazil showed up
as Western hemisphere representatives, the latter
being much fancied.
There was to be no team from Egypt this time, thus
the whole of Africa was completely unrepresented.
From East Asia came a team from the Dutch East
Indies (modern Indonesia); in some ways surprising
as the industrial system introduced in the seventeenth
century was based on the institution of slavery,
which was not abolished until the middle of the
nineteenth century, with the native populations
still possessing very much second class status for
decades afterwards.
None of the British Home nations participated,
despite the offer of a place. The Soviet Union was
now a member of the League of Nations system, nonetheless,
mutual suspicion ensured there would be no entry
from the geographically largest country on earth.
Thus for the third time in a row, the World Cup
was neither representative of the world of football,
nor of the world in general.
The fifteen contestants were: France (hosts), Italy,
Germany, Sweden, Norway, Brazil, Cuba, Switzerland,
Poland, Dutch East Indies, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia,
the Netherlands and Belgium. There were twelve teams
from Europe, two from the Americas and one from
Asia.
The knockout system, first tried in 1934, was adhered
to. Sweden was given a bye in the first round, the
bye ensuring that subsequent rounds would be contested
by teams whose number would be a power of two.
The first round witnessed only one completely lopsided
result, the 6-0 demolition of the Dutch East Indies
by a powerful Hungarian side (Hungary was to continue
producing outstanding teams through to the 1960s).
The Dutch themselves scarcely doing much better
than their colony, losing 3-0 to the still formidable
Czechoslovaks, who had reached the final of the
previous World Cup. There was justice of sorts when
the unfancied Swiss knocked out Germany after a
replay. Yet the match which was to hold the eye
was the epic clash between debutantes Poland and
the gifted Brazilians. At half time the score was
a predictable 3-1 to Brazil, with Leonidas the Brazilian
“Black Diamond” with a Greek name having scored
a hat-trick. Somehow Poland managed to come back,
Ernst Willimowski scoring a hat-trick himself. At
4-4 the match went into extra time. Brazil had been
the first team to arrive in France, their players
displaying dazzling skills with the ball, would
they really be going home after only one game? Extra
time saw the score change to 5-5, finally Romeo
managed to score for Brazil without response. The
spectators definitely got their money’s worth. Italy
rode her luck when a Norwegian goal was disallowed
in a tightly contested match; a sign of the times
was the fascist salute given by the Italians at
the beginning of the match, which provoked widespread
booing.
In the second round Cuba were decisively eliminated
by Sweden, the eight-nil score line not being at
all flattering to the Scandinavians. The Swiss,
who had eliminated the more powerful German team,
were unable to replicate this feat, going down by
a respectable two-nil to Hungary. For the first
time in World Cup history the host nation was defeated,
France losing fairly comfortably 1 - 3 to pre-tournament
favourites Italy. Brazil forfeited a lot of goodwill
when her players turned what was potentially one
of the finest matches into a kicking contest, Zeze
of Brazil very early on kicking Nejedly, one of
the World’s finest strikers at that time; the kicking
continued throughout the entire match. The end result
was that two Czechs ended up with broken limbs and
other players were injured. Incredibly, only three
players, two of them Brazilian, had been sent off
by the match’s end. This particular match ended
up as a draw; however, the consequence was that
the replay was a forgone conclusion as Czechoslovakia
were missing the World class players Nejedly and
Planicka. In all there were fifteen changes for
the replay.
For the semi-final against Italy Brazil inexplicably
left out Leonidas, their one truly top drawer striker.
As night followed day it was inevitable that Leonidas’s
replacement Peracio would miss the only two genuine
chances that fell to him. Italy were more ruthless,
scoring twice; Brazil’s consolation goal coming
with just three minutes left on the clock.
Sweden had had a kind draw, given a bye in the
first round, their second round opponents Cuba scarcely
presented more of a problem. However, their luck
had finally run out; it’s true that Sweden scored
first, after only 35 seconds, yet the mismatch in
playing skill vis-a-vis the Hungarians could not
be hidden. The eventual 5-1 score line accurately
reflecting the difference in playing strengths between
the two sides.
The 1938 World Cup final was between a Mediterranean
country and a Central European one, a contest between
a physically robust side and a skilful one. The
bullying tactics of the Italians set the tone from
the outset; Colaussi the Italian winger swept in
after only five minutes to put his team one up.
Hungary managed to retaliate almost straight away
as an unmarked Titkos charged in to equalise. Yet
this merely made the Italians tighten their grip,
Piola scoring just over a third of the way into
the first half, to be followed by Colaussi again
with little more than ten minutes to half time.
The game was over as a contest, the Italians presenting
a most formidable defensive unit, a reputation that
has been maintained ever since. It’s true that fortune
gifted the Hungarians a second goal after a defensive
mix-up; yet this simply provoked the Italians into
scoring the best goal of the match, Piola and Biavati
combining some delicious one-twos including a back-heel,
which Piola thumped home. The Hungarians had less
than ten minutes to make good the two goal deficit,
it proved impossible.