Football: History of FIFA World Cup – FIFA World Cup 1934
The FIFA World Cup was known as World’s Cup back in 1934 and was hosted in Italy from 27th of May to 10th of June. Italy was chosen to be the host of the World’s Cup by FIFA at a congress held in Stockholm in late October, 1932. The 1934 World’s Cup was the first World Cup ever in which the teams had to qualify. 32 of the Nations were supposed to enter the competition and after the qualifications, 16 of the teams were selected to participate for the finals. Hosts, Italy were crowned as Champions of the World. Approximately twenty-seven thousand people from out of the country watched the host nation wear the crown.
The round of sixteen began with Italy and United states going head to head to play the first match of the tournament. Italy, being the very impressive side, defeated the Americans with a 6 goal margin, with the end result being 7 goals to 1. With an impressive win over the Americans, the host nation qualified for the round of eight.
In other pre quarter finals, Spain defeated the South American side, Brazil 3-1 to qualify for the next round and meet Italy. Austria met France, who they defeated 3-2 and qualified for the next round. In another match, Hungary met Egypt and won 4-2 to meet Austria in the next round. Czechoslovakia defeated Romania 2-1 and Netherlands were beaten by the Swiss and both the teams went on to meet each other in the next round.
The last two pre-quarter final matches were between Germany and Belgium; and Sweden and Argentina. Germany qualified by defeating Belgium 5-2 while the Swedish side defeated the South American side, Argentina, 3-2 to meet the Germans in the next round.
During the quarter finals, Italy met Spain in a very “action packed” match. Spain, back then, looked to be a very tough side as they drew the first match with the host nation. Since it was a draw, and there was no such thing known as the “penalties”, they were supposed to play a match again. That match was filled with excitement too but the host nation qualified for the next round by winning by 1 goal.
The next match was between Austria and Hungary in which Austria defeated Hungary 2-1 and qualified for the semi finals in which they had to face the Italians. On the other hand Czechoslovakia faced the Swiss side and defeated them, 3-2. While the Germans defeated the Swedish side 2-1 and qualified for the semi finals.
In the semi-finals, Italy was to go head to head with Austria while Czechoslovakia had to face the very impressive European side, Germany. In an action packed encounter, the Italians defeated the Austrians by leading them with only a single goal. They became famous for their strong “wall of defence” after this particular match as they did not let the Austrians take many tries on their goal. On the other hand, the Germans were defeated by the Czechs and by a good 2 goal margin with the final score line, 3-1.
Then on 10th of June, the host nation, Italy, considered to be the “host favourites” for this World Cup, went on to face the Czechs. The match was very exciting as the Italians were becoming famous for their defence and the Czechs scored a goal on them to make it 1 a piece. Later, towards the end of the match, the Italians scored the second and won the World’s Cup 2-1. The Germans went on to face Austria and actually defeated them 3-2, to take the third place in the World Cup.
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