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

The actor Johnny Weissmiller uttered the first Tarzan cry, the first industrially produced deodorant appeared on the market, the second revolutionary march under Mao's leadership began in Chinese villages, and while Hitler proclaimed himself the leader of the Third Reich in Germany, Mussolini inaugurated the Second World War in Italy football championship.

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.

The Italians, however, did not come to the throne easily. In the history of the world championships, a match as exhausting as the one between Italy and Spain has never been played - the fight lasted as long as 210 minutes and ended the next day, when several players had already dropped out due to injuries or exhaustion. Italy won, which ended the match without four players from the starting line-up, while among the seven injured Spaniards was the legendary goalkeeper Samora, who could no longer hypnotize the 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 stadium of the National Fascist Party, Italy met Czechoslovakia and won 2:1 after extra time. Argentinians, Orti and Skijavio, who were assisted by Guaita, another Argentine, scored the goals, mesmerizingly. All three left Buenos Aires on the eve of the World Cup and sailed to Naples on transoceanic ships.

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.