With the 19th FIFA World Cup Soccer tournament about to kick off, the air is thick with excitement in anticipation of what this year’s tournament from South Africa has in store for sports fans worldwide.
Head butts or no head butts, fans are ready for whatever the tournament has to dish out.
So to prepare us for another World Cup, I compiled some historical facts and footnotes, dating back to 1930, when the tournament was first played from Uruguay. If Groucho Marx had been invited to the first World Cup, I’m sure his response would have been: ``You go Uruguay, and I’ll go my way.’’
World Cup Soccer Historical Notes.
• Jules Rimet, president of the French Football Federation from 1919 to 1946 and of FIFA from 1921 to 1954 came up with the idea of creating a World Cup Tournament beginning in 1930. The World Cup Trophy was named in his honor.
• The U.S made its tournament debut on July 13, 1930, against Belgium in front of 10,000 spectators at Parque Central Stadium. Bart McGee scored two goals for the Americans with another goal added by Bert Patenaude. The U.S. beat Paraguay, 3-0, four days later with a crowd of just 800 at Parque Central Stadium. In that match, Patenaude became the first player to record a hat trick in World Cup history
• Mexico’s Manual Rosas converted the first penalty kick in a 1930 match against Argentina
• In 1934, Benito Mussolini gave the Italian team a pep talk in their hotel room the night before their match with the U.S. Italy beat the Americans, 7-1.
• At Ascarelli Stadium in Naples in 1934, Egypt became the first African country to play in a World Cup match.
• Uruguay declines to participate in the 1934 World Cup tournament in Italy in response to Italy snubbing them four years earlier.
• The presence of Germany and Italy at the 1938 World Cup tournament sparked a wave of anti-fascist demonstrations in France.
• Despite being a 1000-1 long shot, Tunisia’s 3-1 win over Mexico at the New Rosario Stadium in Rosario, Tunisia, marked the first time an African nation won a World Cup game.
• Due to World War II, the World Soccer Tournaments were cancelled in 1942 and 1946
• Despite Hungary entering the 1954 World Cup hyped as the best team in the world, having been named Olympic champions in 1952 and holding a 31 match unbeaten record, West Germany stuns the ``Magical Mayars’’ during the World Cup Finals in Switzerland.
Down two goals, Germany roared back to stun Hungary 3-2, in the Finals in what became known as the ``Miracle of Berne’’ In which historians equate Germany’s win with being accepted by the world again. Soon after W. Germany’s stunner, Germany regained its economic footing, paving the way for the ``Economic Miracle.’’
• The 1958 World Cup in Sweden would be the first tournament played in front of a world-wide television audience.
• During the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, a 17-year-old phenom, Edison Arantes, better known as Pele, makes his soccer debut, helping propel Brazil to a 5-2 win over host Sweden with two goals in the Finals to make the South American country the first to capture a World Cup on a different continent. Among the spectators were King Gustav Adolf of Sweden and other members of the Royal Family. Pele scored a total of six goals throughout the tournament.
• In 1962, Brazil retains the Jules Rimet Cup with a 3-1 win over Czechoslovakia in Santiago, Chile in front of a crowd of 55,000
• In 1966, England wins its first World Cup ; and as an added bonus, it takes place on British soil in a thrilling 4-2 overtime Finals match over West Germany in front of 100,000 at Wembley Stadium in London. But the real hero of the 1966 tournament might have been Pickles, the dog who found the stolen Jules Rimet Cup under the hedge of a suburban garden in south-east London.
• The 1970 World Cup in Mexico was the first tournament to be broadcast in color as Brazil won its third World Cup in a convincing 4-1 Finals match over Italy at Aztec Stadium in Mexico City. Pele, the star of the game, becomes the only player to win three World Cup tournaments.
• In addition to West Germany defeating the Netherlands for the World Cup, the 1974 World Cup was also remembered, shamefully, for the first doping scandal, when Haiti's Ernst Jean-Joseph tested positive for an illegal substance after its game with Italy.
• Zaire became the first black African nation to qualify to the FIFA World Cup in 1974
• In 1974, Chile's Carlos Caszely became the first player in World Cup history to be red-carded in a game against West Germany.
• In 1978, Argentina‘s World Cup championship, their first, makes it the fifth time a host country claimed a World Cup.
• Dutch forward Rob Rensenbrink scored the 1,000th goal in World Cup history, converting a penalty shot in the Netherlands's 3-2 loss to Scotland.
• During the 1982 World Cup, Norman Whiteside of Northern Ireland became the youngest player (17 years, 42 days) to appear in a World Cup Tournament.
• Hungary's 10-1 pounding of El Salvador in the opening round of the 1982 World Cup tournament was the largest margin of victory in tournament history.
• During the1990 World Cup, West Germany's Bodo Illgner became the first goalkeeper to record a shutout in a World Cup Final.
• In 1990, Mexico was banned from World Cup play for illegal use of over-aged players in a FIFA youth tournament
• The United States-Switzerland curtain-raiser n the opening round of the 1994 World Cup at the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit was the first World Cup match to be played indoors, thanks to natural grass being shipped from California and installed over the existing artificial turf.
• Cameroon's Roger Milla , age 42, became the oldest player to score and play in a World Cup game after scoring against Russia in the opening round of the 1994 World Cup.
• Brazil’s record fourth World Cup in 1994 over Italy at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif with an estimated two billion television viewers tuned in, was the first time a Finals match had been decided by a penalty shoot-out
• During the 1998 World Cup Finals in France, 32 teams were represented for the first time.
• In 2002, Japan and South Korea host to the World Cup to become the first Asian nations to host the tournament in its 72-year history.
• The fastest goal in World Cup history came in 2002, when Hakan Sukur punched in a goal for Turkey against South Korea after just 11 seconds of play.
• Brazil holds the record of most consecutive wins in the World Cup at 11, extending from 2002 through 2006.
-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
Source: FIFA World Cup Association; The New York Times’ Historical Archives; ``A History of the World Cup: 1930-2006’’ By Clemente Angelo Lisi.
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Web sites to keep in mind:
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
The New York Times World Cup Coverage
CBS Sports 2010 World Cup coverage, including live updates from two-time NBA MVP, Steve Nash
The U.S. beat Paraguay, 3-0, four days later with a crowd of just 800 at Parque Central Stadium. In that match, Patenaude became the first player to record a hat trick in World Cup history
Posted by: online news US | 08/01/2010 at 03:45 PM