JULY 13th AN IMPORTANT DATE FOR SOME!

On July 13th 1930, the first World Cup matches were played, with France opening up the tournament, playing Mexico (winning 4-1) at a humble stadium, Pocitos in Montevideo (below), used by the Club Penarol. 1,000 watched the game.

This competition was the dream of Henri Delaunay (secretary of the French FA, who gave up refereeing after swallowing his whistle and being hit in the face by the ball, breaking two teeth) and Jules Rimet (another member of the French FA), both of whom were on the FIFA committee.

The competition was alive at last and France appropriately kicked it off. July 13th of course is the eve of Bastille Day. What could go wrong? Only two founder members of FIFA competed in the tournament, France and Belgium. 13 countries took part: Group 1: Argentina, France, Chile, Mexico. Group 2: Yugoslavia, Brazil, Belgium. Group 3: Romania, Peru, Uruguay. Group 4:USA, Belgium, Paraguay.
Jules Rimet.

Alex Thepot, the goalkeeper, was kicked in the mouth and had to leave the field. Inside left (actually in those days a Number 10) Lucien Laurent of France scored the first ever World Cup goal after 19 minutes.
French captain on the day, Alex Villaplane, was to meet an unpleasant death in 1944 when he was executed by firing squad for collaborating with the Germans (in the war).

Isn't it usual for the host country to kick off the tournament? Well this is Uruguay and the stadium in Montevideo, The Estadio Centenario, built to celebrate 100 years of independence from Brazil, was not ready. So they had the honour, especially since there was no precedent.

Mexicans Manuel and Felipe Rosas were the first brothers to play in the World Cup.

The England FA felt this kind of tournament was not part of their history, so never travelled. In those days it might have been a sensible and practical decision, however, the "founders" of this growing World wide sporting competition should have been there, surely?

The USA beat Belgium 3-0 at the same time. the games kicked off at the same time. In the USA side were six players from Scotland (mainly), some of whom had seen better days. The French were quick to nickname them the "Shot-putters"but they surprised their critics with a comfortable win against a moderate Belgian team. They then beat Paraguay 3-0 and lost to Argentina 6-1 in the semi-finals which 80,000 watched at the Centenary Stadium.

Pedro Ces of Uruguay was the first player to score a goal in both the Olympic tournament and the World Cup, having scored in Paris in 1924. 

The group winners went straight to semi-finals and Argentina beat the USA 6-1, Uruguay beat Yugoslavia 6-1. In the final. Uruguay held the trophy aloft on July 30th, at the Centenary Stadium, having beaten neighbours Argentina 4-2.(half time score 1-2!) 93,000 saw this.