Chapter XXXIII
Chapter XXXIII - It's Raining Goals
Group 1
Group 1
Given the profusion of stadia within Mexico City in use, the scheduling was built in such a way that no more than two matches were played in any given day on the capital, and the tradition of the opening match being the debut of the host was reinstated, so Russia and Mexico would open the tournament, with the match also serving as the official inauguration of the Azteca stadium. Impelled by the nearly 70,000-strong crowd, Mexico went on the offensive for almost the entire match, but the star of the match was the Russian keeper, Lev Yashin, who had only entered the team because the starting keeper, Leonid Ivanov, had injured himself during training. On one of his best World Cup performances, Yashin held the Mexicans in check all through the first half and most of the second, and only conceded one goal - a indefensible shot from José Luis Lamadrid early in the second half. In contrast, the Russian attack proved itself too slow and could do little on its own part. But despite all the wasted chances, Mexico had finally won a World Cup match after 32 years.
The next day, France and England played at Toluca. That Cup was the first one in which players would have fixed jersey numbers, with the criteria for numbering to be defined by the individual delegations. Whereas Mexico, Russia and England had organized theirs basing themselves on the presumed starting team, France decided theirs by sorting numbers by position, with the keepers getting the first three numbers and the forwards receiving the final ones. In any case, England was the better team on the first half, opening the score with Tommy Taylor with a penalty kick at 37 minutes, while Nat Lofthouse had wasted a great opportunity after dribbling Ruminski beforehand. France came back with a stronger attacking disposition after the break, but saw Léon Glovacki waste multiple chances, while Ben Barek, by now nearly 37 years old and not even in the usual starting team, did very little of note. and soon England began asserting itself - at 75 minutes, Finney scored from close range after a short pass left him unmarked, then after that hit an overhead kick which Ruminski tipped over the bar. France would have a further loss for the next match after defender Jonquet broke his nose six minutes from the end.
Three days later, France faced Russia, with both teams having mad a fair number of changes, with Jacques Grimonpon coming in the injured Jonquet's place, plus Glovacki and Ben Barek giving way to Roger Piantoni and Raymond Kopa, while Russia changed their entire forward line. That seemed to improve both teams' offensive performance, but France was slightly better in the first half, and besides Kopa's goal, imperiled Yashin's goal in other occasions. However, shortly before the break, Anatoli Ilyin equalized for Russia. The Russians took the momentum into the second half and took the lead within one minute, with Nikita Simonyan, but France got itself together soon enough and equalized with Jean Vincent at 63 minutes. France dominated the match in the final minutes, but the most dangerous chance in the last minutes was from Sergey Salnikov, whose shot was tackled by Roger Marche on the line.
In the next day, England faced Mexico. the hosts managed a very early goal, with Tomás Balcázar scoring after a scramble in the penalty area, but were overwhelmed soon enough. Broadis squeezed in the equaliser before colliding with the onrushing Mota, then Lofthouse jerked himself at a cross from Taylor and headed in. In the second half Broadis hit Matthews’ deflected cross so hard it bent the keeper’s wrist on the way in. And Mota had to make some really brilliant saves. But England still hadn’t solved their old problem at center-half, where Owen was now limping. Balcázar ran past him to pull a goal back, then three minutes later, Merrick failed to hold a shot by Naranjo, and Mexico held on to the tie until the end.
Three days later, England faced Russia at Puebla, needing at least a tie to qualify, while Russia needed to win by at least two goals' difference. Winterbottom, unable to count with Matthews, who had injured his toe in the previous match, Owen, and Lofthouse, who had come down with a throat infection, made a series of changes that could have cost him dearly - first, he moved Billy Wright into the center-half, moved Finney to the right wing and bet on Wolverhampton's left wingers, Mullen and Wilshaw. It worked. In a match played at a 31-degree[1] heat, England scored one goal in each half, with Mullen and Wilshaw, and practically guaranted its qualification in first place.
The next day, Mexico played against France, with the latter now needing to win by two goals' difference to advance. So, unsurprisingly, they went on the offensive. 19 minuts in, Jean Vincent ran in from the left before virtually toe-poking the ball across Carbajal, then, shortly after the break, Dereuddre’s cross-shot from the right was turned in by Cárdenas at the near post. After that, Mexico woke up and went on the attack themselves. Lamadrid ran through to push the ball past Ruminski as he came out, and five minutes from the end, Balcázar equalized with a low shot from near the edge of the area. France still continued trying to attack and came close to the third three minutes later, when Vincent got loose in the Mexican area, with only Narciso López in front of him. He shot and López threw himself to the ground to stop the ball, the ball hitting his ribs then appearing to touch his arms as it settled under his body. The French tried to claim a penalty, but to no avail. Mexico was on the quarterfinals.
Group 2
The first match of the group was more of a sparring match for Hungary than any serious matchup. nobody expected Curaçao to be any trouble, but having only one week to adapt to the Mexico City altitude when every other team had been there for two or three weeks, they proved themselves so poorly conditioned they could barely do any fouls to stop the Magyar attack - only five were recorded the entire match (one of them was converted into a goal by Lantos). In the other hand, Hungary didn't commit any fouls during the 90 minutes - a record that hasn't been equaled since - and Kocsis scored his first three goals on that tournament, while Hungary equaled Argentina's record win from 1946.
The next day, Brazil faced Germany at Parque Necaxa, in which turned out to be a high-level match, with Germany's style of short passes and collective play being a fair match for Brazil's more individual and improvisionalist style. Early in the match, Rodrigues injured himself and left Brazil in a numerical disavantadge. As such , with one man down, the 0x0 at the break seemed to be a good result for Brazil. Early in the second half, Hans Schäfer moved into the center of the attack, received the ball from Fritz Walter and scored with a low cross-shot from outside the penalty area. To the Brazilians' relief, Didi equalized at the 69th minute with one of his venomous long shots, and soon after, Klodt would also injure himself and leave both teams equal in numbers. In the last minute, the Brazilians would complain of a decision by referee Faultless, who supposedly had marked a clear penalty as a foul.
After the disastrous first match, Curaçao seemingly had improved slightly, but the difference was academical, since it still lost. this time by only 5x0. Baltazar scored the first after trading passes with Pinga, Didi curled one of his speciality free kicks just inside the foot of a post, Pinga scored with a header and drove in a rebound later on. All of that in the first half. The second half would be slower, but early on, Ergilio Hato, the star of the Curaçao team, made a marvellous save from Julinho, who later beat two men (one with a drag-back) before scoring with a low cross-shot that went in off a post.
The next day, Hungary faced Germany. both teams had made some changes, with Hungary making three changes (Szojka for Zakariás, Kubala for Budai, and Palotás for Hidegkuti), while Germany made two (Mai for Mebus and Klodt for Rahn), Germany hoped they could snatch a tie and come with an greater advantage for the match against Curaçao, but were already 3x0 down (two from Kocsis and one from Puskás) within the first 21 minutes. In one of their innovations, before the start of the match, the Hungarians exercised on the sides of the pitch. With this warming-up, they went in as if they had been playing for several minutes, caught the opponents still cold and usually scored once or twice within the first minutes. Fritz Walter pulled one back for Germany at the 25th minute, and Germany improved in the final minutes of the first half, but the 3x1 remained at the break. But soon after the return, Mebus caught a injury and left Germany with one man down and a even more difficult situation. Hungary quickly took advantage of that to score another three times within 20 minutes, twice with Hidegkuti and another third from Kocsis and killed any German hopes for a tie. Soon after that, Puskás fell the wrong way after a tackle from Laband, and had come off the pitch with a sprained ankle. With the two teams level and the match already won, Hungary slowed down considerably and gave Germany enough space for them to score twice with Rahn in the final minutes, but the result still was disastrous for Germany's goal average.
Three days later, Brazil would face Hungary. Two days before the match, Zezé Moreira started experimenting on the attack, testing alternatives for the normal attack. Nobody expected Baltazar (who had scored six times in the last six matches) to go out of the team, but that's exactly what happened. Pinga was also sacked, apparently for being too slight to face the Hungarian defense. Índio and Humberto Tozzi came in their places, while Maurinho (who had entered in Rodrigues' place in the previous match) remained improvised in the left wing. Meanwhile, Hungary also had its own problems, since Puskás was injured, so Scharenpeck put Czibor on the centerforward, and Mihály Tóth in the left wing. Meanwhile, after some rain in the morning, the ground had gotten slippery, which hampered both the Brazilian dribbling and the Hungarian passing. In any case, Hungary started on their usual rhythm, opening a 2x0 advantage in only seven minutes, but Brazil soon began balancing the actions, and eleven minutes later, Djalma Santos pulled one back on a penalty kick, and in the second half, Julinho equalized with a fine goal, stepping inside a defender and slicing a drive across Grosics into the far side of the net. Brazil kept holding on until the 88th minute, when Kocsis scored the winning goal for Hungary, in a goal much contested by a supposed offside in part of Kubala, who had gone out of the field for a water break, returned without authorization from the referee and had immediately after, given the cross that had resulted on Kocsis' goal. Still, for Brazil, the result wasn't that bad - thanks to goal average, they just had to hope Germany didn't beat Curaçao by 11 goals or more.
The next day, the relative lack of interest on the match combined with the concurrent Mexico match meant the lowest attendance in the Cup. Meanwhile, the Curaçaoan manager, Antoine Maduro, changed almost the entire team but the performances only got worse, not helped by the fact that Germany, knowing exactly what result they needed, set out to beat Hungary's record, but Hato was still on the goal, and he kept Curaçao from a even larger defeat. In the end, the 7x0 wasn't enough for Germany, who went out in the group stage for the third consecutive time, while Curaçao came out of the Cup without even scoring one goal.
Group 3
The group opened with the reigning champions, Sweden, playing against Burgundy. Despite having lost the entire winning team except for the keeper, Sweden started out on the right foot, with Sylve Bengtsson opening the score at only 23 minutes. Henri Coppens equalized for Burgundy soon after, but within eight minutes, Sweden had a two-goal lead, thanks to Aulis Rytkönen, who scored both goals. However, Burgundy returned better from the break - Pieter van den Bosch pulled one back for Burgundy five minutes after the return, and during most of the second half, Sweden mostly restricted itself to withstanding the Burgundan pressure. Then, at 83 minutes, Léopold Anoul equalized for Burgundy again.
The next day, Croatia faced Paraguay at the Nacional stadium. Coratia largely dominated the first half, but wasted many opportunities due to nervousness. Finally, 41 minutes in, Antonio Cabrera took Zlatko Papec down inside the area, and Branko Zebec converted the penalty. That goal was enough to have the Croatianc coming back lighter for the second half, and within 15 minutes, they were already up by 3x0, with Melanio Olmedo scoring a own goal and Bernard Vukas scoring with a superb diving header. Papec wuld score his own towards the end, heading in a cross from Zebec, and at the 81th minute, Paraguay finally managed their honor goal, as Juan Ángel Romero got in a low cross-shot before the tackle came in.
Three days later, it was Burgundy's time to visit the Nacional to play against Paraguay. The first half was relatively uneventful, but largely dominated by Burgundy, who came into half-time leading by 1x0 (goal from Anoul) and had a number of other wasted chances, with Coppens requring a save from Adolfo Riquelme, and Michels sending the ball wide. Paraguay came back better from the break, and took the lead within five minutes, with Jara and Rubén Fernández. Anoul equalized for Burgundy in the front again two minutes later, but Paraguay largely dominated the actions after that. Romero put Paraguay in the lead again with a penalty kick, and at 77 minutes, Jara scored the fourth Paraguayan goal.
Meanwhile, at Puebla, Sweden and Croatia faced, in another busy match. With full control of the match during the second half, Sweden came into half-time leading by 4x1, with every forward except Thillberg scoring. In the second, Sweden relaxed visibly, and Croatia began growing in the match, and while Zlatko Čajkovski's goal fed Croatian hopes of a reaction, Kurt Hamrin's second 15 minutes later put paid to these hopes. However, soon after, a thigh injury took Bengtsson out of the match and briefly left Sweden one man down. Croatia still managed to score the third with Stjepan Bobek, but it was too late.
Three days later, Croatia and Burgundy returned to the Nacional, with Burgundy still having some hopes of qualifying, and needing to beat Croatia for that. the match started busy enough in the first half, with Coppens and Bobek scoring within the first 15 minutes, but the rest of the first half didn't have the same intensity, although Burgundy had the best chances. In the second, the match remained balanced - at 60 minutes, Josip Šikić deflected a cross from Hippolyte van den Bosch into his own net, but Croatia reacted only five minutes later, with Papec, and the winning goal for Croatia only came at the 78th minute, with Vukas.
Two days later, Paraguay faced Sweden, also needing a win to qualify, but once again suffered with a poor first half, plus a good performance from Nils-Åke Sandell (Bengtsson's substitute), and went into half-time losing by 3x0. As expected, Paraguay improved in the second half, but was hampered by some poor accuracy in part of the forwards and some good saves in part of Svensson, and as a result, by the time Fernández scored the honor goal, only ten minutes were left.
Group 4
The first match of the group would be at León, pitting Swabia against Bohemia. It didn't take long for Bohemia to score, as Tadeáš Kraus beat two men, let the ball run on too far inside the Swabian penalty area, then got in his shot before the tackle, the ball going in under Parlier as he dived too late. Swabia soon began betting on the counter-attacks, and twelve minutes later, Hügi ran onto a through-pass and shot across Houška, who came off his line too late and didn’t dive. The 1x1 would remain into half-time, but after that, the Swabian offensive performance began improving. Hügi’s strong shot went in low at the near post, then Ballaman headed the third into an open net after a cross went over Houška, then helped set up Antenen.
The next day, Austria and Uruguay played at the recently-inaugurated Jalisco stadium. Austria started the match on a more offensive posture, but found it hard to get the ball onto the attack, and their only dangerous chance in the first half resulted in a penalty kick converted by Dienst. On the rest of the match, Uruguay was the better team, and within 40 minutes, had taken the lead with Míguez and Javier Ambrois, but found it hard to get past the Austrian defense. Then, with one minute to go, Alfred Körner managed to equalize after trading passes with Probst.
Three days later, Swabia visited Uruguay at Guadalajara, and retained the same defensive consistency of the previous match, but even then, Uruguay had a excellent first half and went into half-time leading by 2x0. First, Abbadie beat Bocquet and rolled the ball across the face of the goal for Borges to hold off a man and beat another before shooting high and fiercely past Parlier, and three minutes later, beat Kerner before shooting from close range on the left, and outside of these, the team created many other chances in that half. However, much like in the previous match, Swabia grew in the second half, and had a fair number of good chances - Rodríguez Andrade had to clear off the line from Ballaman (the ball seemed to cross the line), Hagen had a goal disallowed, and Vonlanthen might have had a penalty. Only four minutes from the end Swabia finally scored theirs, when Hügi scored with a low cross-shot from close range,
Meanwhile, Austria played against Bohemia at León. Within four minutes, Austria had practically decided the match. Despite not scoring, Theodor Wagner (who had gone in in Schleger's place) brought to the Austrian attack the creativity that had been lacking in the previous match. His precise passes allowed Probst to receive the balls that weren't coming in the previous match and scored three times just in the first half, while Stojaspal scored the other two. It wasn't until the 55th minute that Schmied finally had to make a meaningful save, from Hlaváček.
Three days later, Swabia visited Austria at León, needing to win to qualify without worrying about the result of the Uruguayan match, and what followed was a frantic match, under a 36-degree heat. Much as expected, Swabia went all out on the attack, and opened a 3x0 advantage, with two goals from Hügi and one from Ballaman, in only seven minutes. However, the Austrian reaction would be instant and just as devastating, as Theodor Wagner pulled one back for Austria only two minutes after the third Swabian goal and then the Austrians would score another four goals in the next nine minutes. As the first half drew to a close, Ballaman scored the fourth Swabian goal while Alfred Körner missed a penalty and wasted his chance at a hat-trick. By half-time, the heat had Schmied and Bocquet receiving medical attention for sunstroke, and once the teams returned, the match slowed down considerably. Wagner and Hügi completed their hat-tricks, while with 14 minutes to go, Probst scored the seventh Austrian goal. Once again, Swabia was eliminated on the group stage once more, but that match went down in history as the highest-scoring World Cup match.
The next day, Uruguay faced Bohemia. Despite only having built the scoreline in the final 20 minutes, Uruguay was in control all through the match, although hampered by a heavy pitch and a Czech defence in which Hledík and the Hungarian-born keeper Reimann (who had entered in Houška's place) had excellent games. Eventually Míguez scored from Varela’s pass and Schiaffino curled in a free kick. Santamaría had to make a saving tackle on a shot from Hlaváček near the end, but the 2x0 was enough to qualify.
And thus, the matches of the quarterfinal were defined:
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[1] - All temperature measurements I do are in Celsius.
Let me know your predictions and stay tuned for Part 34!
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