JAKARTA - On July 13, 1930 for the first time the World Cup was held. In Uruguay, 13 countries participated in the match. The only countries that could participate at that time were those who accepted the invitation. No qualification has been carried out as of now.
The World Cup is held every four years. It was designed to allow enough time for the qualifying and preliminary matches between the national teams. Four years is also sufficient time for the host country to prepare the tournament logistics and accommodate the influx of millions of fans.
Citing Football History, the inaugural World Cup had 18 matches. A total of 70 goals were scored, including the first hat-trick in World Cup history by Guillermo Stábile.
This match may leave modern football fans confused: four teams arrive together on the same ship and an unfinished stadium. But the match ended in an outpouring of joy.
All Uruguayans were on holiday after their country became the first world champion after beating Argentina with a score of 4-2. The organizer of the World Cup, FIFA has claimed the organizing rights in the 1904 meeting.
But the claim only gained support in 1920. The 1924 Olympic football tournament in Paris proved immensely popular, with more than 40,000 spectators watching Uruguay beat Switzerland in the final.
But at that time England, which had a professional league, refused to participate in the Olympic football tournament. The reason was the dispute over the amateur status of the player.
Economic problems and almost canceled
World Cup match arena for the first time, Estadio Centenario, Uruguay (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
When the World Cup is about to be held, Europe is experiencing massive economic problems. Travel costs are holding back some teams and many European players are reluctant to leave the country for long trips.
At that time football was not a profession to earn a living. Therefore, many of them are afraid of losing their jobs if they have to travel long distances.
In addition, the World Cup requires that the participating teams must have played professionally. Denmark and Germany ultimately refused to participate.
Reasons for England who feel prestige also refrain from participating in the first World Cup. No European country is willing to travel to Uruguay.
The first World Cup is in danger. In the end, three European countries sent football teams to Uruguay. Unfortunately, none of them belong to the highest ranking.
Many of Europe's best teams are absent, such as Austria, England, Hungary, Italy and Spain. The European teams that ended up traveling across the Atlantic would be helped economically by Uruguay which was then a large economy.
At that time the Brazilian national team had not participated in the World Cup due to internal disputes. Finally, Brazil was only represented by players from Carioca.
But currently Brazil is the most successful national team in World Cup history. Brazil have won five titles and are the only team to regularly participate in every game.
Apart from not being the best, European football teams suffer from long journeys. For ten days on the ship, they were unable to train.
This is also the reason for the implementation of the group phase. The way it was designed to give pleasure to guests who came all the way to play at least two games.
Besides Uruguay and Argentina, the competition looks hot between France and the United States. Both teams are known as competitive teams in the inaugural World Cup.
In the first half, Lucien Laurent, the French player scored the first goal of the World Cup. In the second half, France lost to Argentina 1-0 amid a refereeing controversy that ended the game six minutes early.
Once the problem was discovered, the referee had to bring the Argentine player back onto the pitch for last-minute play. After beating Belgium, the United States (US) beat Paraguay and put them in the semifinals against Argentina.
Unfortunately, they lost 6-1. Being in the semifinals of the 1930 World Cup is the best achievement of the US football team to date.
Even though the inaugural World Cup doesn't look like much fun, that doesn't mean people hate it. The World Cup is now one of the most watched sporting competitions in the world.
The 2018 World Cup final between France and Croatia July 15 attracted a global audience of 1.12 billion. The 2022 World Cup will be held in Qatar.
The heated relations between Uruguay and ArgentinaHosts, Uruguay have won the 1924 Paris Olympics and 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. But on the other hand their toughest rival, Argentina won the South American Championship in 1929.
Relations between the two countries were negatively affected for some time after the World Cup final. The old rivalry between Uruguay and Argentina was seen with the majority of the audience booing the Argentine match.
In the first match against France, Argentina was even forced to leave the field, where the President of Uruguay had to mediate the situation.
But in the last game in the group between Argentina and Chile, things really got out of hand. Most of the players of both teams got into a big fight.
The fight was triggered by an incident between two players. After the break, the match resumed and Argentina won the match and finally managed to enter the final round.
Ahead of the final, players from the Argentine team felt threatened by Uruguay fans. Even one of the Argentine players received death threats.
Argentine fans also reported being harassed during the final match. As an act of revenge, the Uruguayan Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina was damaged by residents. Relations between the two countries also deteriorated.
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