1930 FIFA World Cup final

The 1930 FIFA World Cup final was the final match of the 1930 World Cup, the inaugural edition of FIFA's competition for national football teams. The match was played at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 30 July 1930, and was contested by Uruguay and Argentina. The tournament comprised hosts Uruguay and 12 other teams that were invited by FIFA to compete. The 13 teams competed in a group stage, from which 4 teams qualified for the knockout stage. En route to the final, Uruguay finished first in Group 3, with two wins, after which they defeated Yugoslavia in the semi-final. Argentina finished first in Group 1 with three wins, before defeating the United States in the semi-final. The final took place in front of 93,000 supporters with the stadium gates opening at eight in the morning six hours before kick-off, and at noon the ground was full,^{[full citation needed]} and was refereed by John Langenus from Belgium.

Eventual champions Uruguay before the match

Event

1930 FIFA World Cup

Date

30 July 1930

Venue

Estadio Centenario, Montevideo

Referee

John Langenus (Belgium)

Attendance

68,346

1934 →

Before the match, a disagreement overshadowed the build-up to the match as which team would provide the match ball. FIFA intervened with a compromise, that Argentina would provide the ball for the first half, and Uruguay for the second. Uruguay opened the scoring in the 12th minute with Pablo Dorado opening the scoring. Carlos Peucelle equalised in the 20th minute, beating goalkeeper Enrique Ballestrero with a powerful shot. The tournament top scorer Guillermo Stábile gave Argentina a 2–1 lead going into the break. In the 57th minute, Uruguay leveled the score via a goal from Pedro Cea. Two more goals in the 68th and the 89th minute from Santos Iriarte and Héctor Castro put Uruguay up 4–2, sealing victory in the inaugural World Cup.

Uruguay manager Alberto Suppici was 31 at the time, and still holds the record for being youngest coach of a FIFA World Cup winning team. Jules Rimet, president of FIFA, presented Uruguay with the World Cup Trophy, later to be named after him. The following day was declared a national holiday in Uruguay. In Buenos Aires, a mob threw stones at the Uruguayan consulate.^{[full citation needed]}

The last living player from the final was Argentine striker Francisco Varallo, who died on 30 August 2010 aged 100. The last living Uruguayan from the final was Ernesto Mascheroni, who died on 3 July 1984 aged 76.

Background

Heading into the 1930 World Cup, Uruguay was experiencing their golden generation at the time. At continental level, Uruguay had won half of the South America Championship (forerunner to the Copa America) with the national team also winning the gold medal at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris and the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. For Argentina, they won the last two South American Championships in 1927 and 1929 and had also finished with a silver medal at the 1928 Olympics.

Before the World Cup final, the two teams had played in one hundred and ten matches. This included eleven matches at the continental level and two matches at the 1928 Olympics final in which Uruguay won 2–1 in a replay. The last match before the World Cup between the two teams was at the 1930 Copa Newton which was only held two months prior on the 25 May in Buenos Aires which saw the match end in a 1–1 draw between the two teams but as Uruguay was the visting country, they won the trophy.

Route to the final

Uruguay

Uruguay was drawn in Group 3 with Peru and Romania. The opening match was against Peru at the Estadio Centenario was delayed by five days with the game being proceeded by a ceremony before the match. The first half saw the hosts intimidated by the 90,000 crowd as they would scrape for a one-nil victory with Héctor Castro scoring in the 65th minute to give Uruguay the win. At the end of the match, the Uruguayan press wanted a more demanding a more comprehensively attack in the next game against Romania.

Uruguay

Round

Argentina

Opponent

Result

First round

Opponent

Result

Peru

1–0

Match 1

France

1–0

Romania

4–0

Match 2

Mexico

6–3

Match 3

Chile

3–1

Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Uruguay	2	2	0	5	0	+5	4
Romania	2	1	1	3	5	−2	2
Peru	2	0	2	1	4	−3	0

Final standing

Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Argentina	3	3	0	10	4	+6	6
Chile	3	2	1	5	3	+2	4
France	3	1	2	4	3	+1	2
Mexico	3	0	3	4	13	−9	0

Opponent

Result

Knockout stage

Opponent

Result

Yugoslavia

6–1

Semi-finals

United States

6–1

Match

Summary

After 12 minutes, Pablo Dorado put the hosts into the lead, before Argentina winger Carlos Peucelle equalised 8 minutes later, beating goalkeeper Enrique Ballestrero with a powerful shot. In the 37th minute, tournament top scorer Guillermo Stábile gave Argentina a 2–1 lead going into the break. Uruguay leveled the score 12 minutes into the second half via a goal from Pedro Cea, and took the lead back for good with a Santos Iriarte goal in the 68th minute. With a minute remaining, Héctor Castro put Uruguay up 4–2, sealing victory in the inaugural World Cup.

Details

30 July 1930

12:45 UYT (UTC-03:30)

Uruguay	4–2	Argentina
Dorado 12' Cea 57' Iriarte 68' Castro 89'	Report	Peucelle 20' Stábile 37'

Estadio Centenario, Montevideo

Attendance: 68,346

Referee: John Langenus (Belgium)

Uruguay

Argentina


GK	Enrique Ballestrero
RB	José Nasazzi (c)
LB	Ernesto Mascheroni
RH	José Andrade
CH	Lorenzo Fernández
LH	Álvaro Gestido
OR	Pablo Dorado
IR	Héctor Scarone
CF	Héctor Castro
IL	Pedro Cea
OL	Santos Iriarte
Manager:
Alberto Suppici


GK	Juan Botasso
RB	José Della Torre
LB	Fernando Paternoster
RH	Juan Evaristo
CH	Luis Monti
LH	Arico Suárez
OR	Carlos Peucelle
IR	Francisco Varallo
CF	Guillermo Stábile
IL	Manuel Ferreira (c)
OL	Mario Evaristo
Managers:
Francisco Olazar Juan José Tramutola

Assistant referees:
Ulises Saucedo (Bolivia)
Henri Christophe (Belgium)

Match rules

90 minutes
30 minutes of extra time if necessary
Replay if scores still level
No substitutions permitted

Background

Route to the final

Uruguay

Match

Summary

Details

See also