Italy 1934: The triumph of the hosts in honor of Mussolini

Actor Johnny Weissmiller he let out the first Tarzan cry, the first industrially produced deodorant appeared on the market, the second revolutionary march began in Chinese villages under Mao's leadership, and while Hitler proclaimed himself the leader of the Third Reich in Germany, Mussolini inaugurated the second World Cup in Italy.

The World Cup took place in the sign of the coming fascism. On the posters for the World Cup, there was a gorostas with one foot on the ball and an outstretched hand to the sky in a fascist salute. Mussolini attended all the games, his forehead raised towards the stand which was packed with black shirts. All 11 players from the Italian national team dedicated their victories to Duce with fascist salutes. In the end, it ended the way it had to end - with the victory of the host Italy.

The 1934 World Cup is considered one of the most unsuccessful in history. The Brazilians and Argentines retaliated against European countries for boycotting the World Cup in Uruguay, so they sent B teams to Italy. The Uruguayans were even more radical, so they didn't even travel to Italy - the World Cup was thus played without the world champion.

32 national teams applied to participate in the World Cup in Italy, so before the finals, qualifiers had to be played in which even the host country, Italy, participated.

The Italians, however, did not come to the throne easily. Never in the history of the World Cup has there been such a grueling match as the one between Italy and Spain - the match lasted as long as 210 minutes and ended the next day, when several players had already fallen due to injuries or exhaustion. Italy won, finishing the match without four of their first-team players, while the legendary goalkeeper was among the seven injured Spaniards. Samora, who could no longer hypnotize his opponents.

In the semi-finals, the Italians eliminated Austria, its "Wunderteam", as it was called in Vienna, which was one of the main favorites of the World Cup.

In the final, played at the National Fascist Party Stadium, Italy faced Czechoslovakia and won 2-1 after extra time. The goals, interestingly, were scored by the Argentines, Gardens i Skied, who he assisted Guaita, another Argentine. All three left Buenos Aires on the eve of the World Cup and sailed to Naples by ocean liner.

32 national teams applied to participate in the World Cup in Italy, so before the finals they had to play qualifiers in which even Italy participated.

The national team of Yugoslavia did not pass the qualifications - it finished in last place in the group with three teams, behind Switzerland and Romania.

It was played according to the classic Cup system, so 16 national teams immediately entered the round of 12 and continued to play for relegation. Europe contributed XNUMX participants, America three, while Egypt was the lone representative from the rest of the world.

Behind Italy and Czechoslovakia came Germany and Austria, winning third and fourth place. The best scorer of the World Cup was Nejedli from Czechoslovakia with five goals, while the German Koheni and the Italian Skiavio scored four each.