World Cup time travel – June 19.6.1938, 2: Italy’s XNUMXnd prank

This time the focus is on the final of the 3rd World Cup. Defending champions Italy and Hungary faced each other in Paris. Wikipedia reports about it as follows:

Only 2 world champions from 1934 in the 1938 eleven The conditions before the final game were different. The burden of favorites rested on the shoulders of the Italian defending champions. Coach Vittorio Pozzo had formed an almost completely new eleven compared to the 1934 World Cup (there were two players from the 1934 World Cup final, Meazza and Ferrari), but with the performances shown in the successes against hosts France and in the semi-final against the convincing Brazil, the “Squadra Azzurra” became the number 1 title contender.

The Hungarians, on the other hand, relied on their technically brilliant offensive game and on the fact that the French had not forgotten that Italy had knocked their team out of the tournament in the quarter-finals. Coach Alfred Schaffer had to struggle with personnel concerns until shortly before kick-off. Some actors had been struggling for a long time. For example, he had to replace the half-left Toldi with the debutant Polgar and finally the regular center runner Turai was replaced with Szücs. Silvio Piola, best player of the World Cup Basically, Pozzo used the “WM system” in attack and three “backs” in defense. The game was aimed at Silvio Piola, who was voted player of the tournament by journalists before the final.

The Pozzo team started the game stormily and put Schaffer's protégés under pressure. Piola introduced left winger Colaussi in the 6th minute and he had no trouble overcoming Szabo from around eight meters despite the tight angle for a 1-0 lead. But the men from Budapest hit back, Sarosi did the preparatory work and left winger Titkos immediately equalized to make it 1-1. At halftime it was already 3-1 for “Squadra Azzurra” Despite the equalizer, Italy remained on the offensive. The striker Piola, who was in great form, took the lead in the 16th minute. Hungary responded with increased attack efforts and Italy counterattacked. Ten minutes before the half-time whistle, Colaussi used a pass from Meazza to give the team a 3-1 half-time lead.

After the restart, Hungary launched a continuous offensive. It took until the 70th minute before Sarosi was able to convert a header from half-right Vincze to make it 2-3. Despite further attacking efforts, the equalizer was not achieved; on the contrary, in the 82nd minute Piola decided the final with his second goal to make it 4-2. Vittorio Pozzo, the great triumphant Italy successfully defended its title. In contrast to the controversial (home) victory in 1934, the 1938 triumph did not have a stale aftertaste; the title defense was successful after an excellent tournament performance. The triumphant was Vittorio Pozzo, who had reached the zenith of his career with the final in Paris.

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World Cup time travel – June 19.6.1938, 2: Italy’s XNUMXnd prank

During the World Cup, SportNews looks back every day at highlights that happened on the same day at one of the past World Cups. This time we look back no less than 80 years, to June 19, 1938.

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