This is the sixth post
in a weekly series highlighting Italy’s four World Cup wins from qualifications
to the finals. Read
the fifth post here.
Despite growing tensions throughout the world, France was
hosting a successful World Cup. Well, not so successful for their National
team, who had just been knocked out by defending champions Italy. But with four
teams remaining, the tournament proved a positive distraction in the face of
political turmoil.
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| The guys pose with Mussolini in 1938 |
The Semifinals
On June 16th, in Marseille, Italy would meet Brazil for the
first of what has become many storied World Cup meetings since. The referee was
Hans Wuthrich of Switzerland, and people expected to see a face-off of the
tournament’s top two scorers: Italy’s Piola and Brazil’s Leônidas. However in a
very controversial decision, Brazil coach Ademar Pimenta left Leônidas on the
bench, opting to save him for the final. Talk about overconfidence.
So the Brazilian answer for Piola was to double-team him.
What they didn’t count on was that Piola was not the only scorer on the squad.
In the 55th minute, Colaussi scored. Five minutes later, Piola went down in the
box and a penalty was awarded to Italy. This led to one of the most humorous
moments in World Cup history - as Giuseppe Meazza stepped up to take the
penalty, his shorts, which were ripped, fell down. Not to be hampered by such a
wardrobe malfunction, he held his shorts up as he stepped up and took the
penalty. 2-0 Italy. Who’s laughing now?
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| Brazil (minus Leonides) vs. Italy |
Brazil continued to fight hard, defending ferociously, yet
trying to create attacking options. In the 87th minute, Romeo took a scoring
opportunity and converted it for a goal for Brazil. But it was too little, too
late. Italy would head to their second straight World Cup Finals, winning by a
score of 2-1 and leaving Leônidas permanently resting for a final that never came for him. This win
also solidified Vittorio Pozzo as a master at being able to adapt his lineups
for each situation, as well as a team who were both flexible and very
compatible, too.
The other semifinal saw Hungary, eager to prove themselves
on their King Gustav V’s 80th birthday, take on Sweden in Paris. Sweden, having
destroyed Cuba in the previous round, got a taste of their own medicine.
Despite Arne Nyberg scoring a goal in 35 seconds, the second fastest World Cup
goal ever scored, Hungary came back to grab five goals of their own, sending
Sweden to the consolation match to the tune of 5-1. Ouch.
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| The Final: Italy-Hungary Lineups |
The Final
Before we get to the final, the third place match was played
the same day, June 19th, in Bordeaux. Brazil played Sweden, and this time
Leônidas was allowed off the bench. His two goals assured him the Golden Boot
award for the tournament, and Brazil scored a total of four to Sweden’s two to
take third place before the long boat ride home.
The Final was also played on June 19th, but in Paris, and
was played before a crowd of 55,000. The crowd was not a sellout crowd, since
many of the French had lost interest in the tournament after their team was
knocked out. The Italian team had spent the previous few days in seclusion in
St. Germain and came to the pitch rested, united, and confident.
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| Piola in the Final |
Despite the strong Hungarian team, Italy proved poised and
stronger, and in the sixth minute, a goal by Colaussi put them ahead 1-0.
Hungary quickly equalized, though, when Titkos scored in the eighth minute. A
beautiful four player pass sequence by Italy led to a 16th minute goal by
Piola, and a 35th minute goal by Colaussi put the reigning champions up 3-1 at
the half.
Pozzo fortified the defense for the second half, hoping to
sit on this lead. But in the 70th minute, Sarosi scored for Hungary. So Piola,
not content to take any chances, took a twelve yard powerful shot that proved
unstoppable for the Hungarian keeper, and in the 82nd minute, Italy went up
4-2. The reigning champions would defend their title!
With some countries already at war and unable to
participate, it is sad to think that a mere 14 months later, Hitler’s Germany
would move into Poland to officially start World War II. This meant that the
1942 and 1946 World Cups would not be held due to the conflicts, making the
next World Cup to be held 1950.
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| The trophy worth protecting |
Would Italy have won three or more in a row? We will never
know. Pozzo’s squad was so impressive and so was he. He remains the only coach
to have won back-to-back Olympic and World Cup winners medals. And despite
being robbed of the chance to defend their title with anyone from this team,
Italy’s reign expanded from the first four years after 1934 to 12 more years
from the 1938 World Cup until 1950. So they have the distinction of being World
Champions for 16 years, even if it was uncontested during those 12 years
between World Cups.
One last note of interest, Dr. Ottarino Barassi was the
Italian Vice President of FIFA at the time, and during the war and Italy’s
occupation, he hid the World Cup trophy in a shoebox under his bed to keep it
safe. One of the world’s most prized possessions protected in the most humble
of circumstances, protected at a time when fear and self-preservation often
outweighed rational thought, and with good reason. But being World Champions
was something worth risking everything for.
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| Pozzo and his team celebrate their second consecutive World Cup win |
Campioni
del Mondo!
This is part six of a 12 week series I originally wrote for the now
defunct Italy World Cup Blog five years ago. The series will now appear here
weekly as a tribute to the Azzurri teams of the past.
Quattro Stelle: 1938 - The Finals
Reviewed by Elaine
on
12:00 AM
Rating:
Reviewed by Elaine
on
12:00 AM
Rating:
