SENTINELCELTS

As we arrive at the World Cup 2022 break, ( some might say broken…) thought it might be an idea to look back to where it all began.

Don’t be surprised to find a few Celtic connections…if you can expand on these, please do fire in folks…

The 1930 FIFA World Cup Final was contested between Uruguay and Argentina in what was a “rematch” of the gold medal match of the 1928 Olympics, which Uruguay won after a replay.

The final was played at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 30 July, a Wednesday. It was one of only two World Cup Finals to be played on a day other than Sunday, the other being the 1966 Final at Wembley, which was played on a Saturday. A disagreement overshadowed the build-up to the match as which team would provide the match ball. FIFA intervened with a compromise, that Argentina would provide the ball for the first half, and Uruguay for the second

The stadium gates were opened at eight in the morning, six hours before kick-off, and at noon the ground was full, officially holding 93,000 people. Uruguay successfully “defended” its Olympic gold medal achievement 4–2, coming back from a 2–1 deficit at half-time.

Uruguay manager Alberto Suppici was 31 at the time, and still holds the record for being youngest coach of a FIFA World Cup champion team, Jules Rimet, president of FIFA, presented Uruguay with the trophy, later to be named after him.

The following day was declared a national holiday in Uruguay. In Buenos Aires, a mob threw stones at the Uruguayan consulate.

The last surviving player from that final was Argentina striker Francisco Varallo, who died on 30 August 2010 at the age of 100. The last Uruguay survivor was Ernesto Mascheroni, who died on 3 July 1984 at the age of 76.

Courtesy: Wikipedia

The first World Cup was the only one without qualification. Every country affiliated with FIFA was invited to compete and given a deadline of 28 February 1930 to accept. The number of 16 teams was not reached so there were no qualifications. Plenty of interest was shown by nations in the Americas; Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and the United States all entered. A total of seven South American teams participated, more than in any subsequent World Cup Finals. However, because of the long, costly trip by ship across the Atlantic Ocean and the length of absence required for players, very few European teams were inclined to take part. Some refused to countenance travel to South America in any circumstances,and no European entries were received before the February deadline. In an attempt to gain some European participation, the Uruguayan Football Association sent a letter of invitation to The English F.A., even though the Home Nations (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) had resigned from FIFA at the time. This was rejected by the FA Committee on 18 November 1929.

Two months before the start of the tournament, no team from Europe had officially entered. FIFA president Jules Rimet intervened and four European teams eventually made the trip by sea: Belgium, France, Romania and Yugoslavia.

Only one European nation, Yugoslavia, made a significant impact, with Final placings:

Uruguay
Argentina
United States
Yugoslavia

USA achieved their best ever finish at a World Cup and there were 5 Scots and one English player in their squad. They were coached by Irishman Jack Coll who moved to the US in 1922. However, most of these players were very young when they arrived and only English born Moorhouse had played a senior match (Burnley? Help ) before arriving in USA.

In all three games, the USA featured the same lineup: Goalkeeper Jimmy Douglas (NY Nationals), right back Alexander Wood (Detroit Holley Carburetor), left back Bart McGhee* (NY Nationals), center back Raphael Tracey (St. Louis Ben Millers), left halfback Andy Auld (Providence Gold Bugs), inside left and captain Tom Florie (New Bedford Whalers), center forward Bert Patenaude (Fall River Marksmen), inside right Billy Gonsalves (Fall River Marksmen), and outside right James Brown (NY Giants). All but Moorhouse and Tracey hailed from the American Soccer League.

In the opener against Belgium on July 13, the Americans cruised to a 3-0 win before 18,000 fans at Parque Central Stadium in Montevideo. Goals from McGhee, Florie and Patenaude sunk Belgium. Born in Scotland, Bart McGhee moved to Philadelphia at age 13 to live with his father Jimmy McGhee**a former Scottish forward who had played with Hibernian and Celtic and managed Hearts. Patenaude scored the game’s final goal. He would go on to score a hat trick — the first in World Cup history — in the following game four days later against Paraguay in what resulted in another 3-0 victory.

*Bart McGhee born 1899 Edinburgh died 1970 Philadelphia USA He scored the second ever World Cup goal (USA v Belgium 1930 )

**James ‘Jimmy’ McGhee b. 1862 Lugar, Ayrshire died Philadelphia USA 1941

Father of Bart McGhee.

Played for Hibs v Cowlairs in the very first match at original Celtic Park in 1888. Won the Scottish Cup with Hibs in 1887 and joined Celtic in 1890 played 10 games but never won any honours, then moved to play for Abercorn in Paisley around 1892. He went on to manage Hearts before moving to USA.

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Strong and robust on the ball but with an excellent touch James McGhee was seen as bringing valuable experience to the Celts and he was regarded as someone the younger members of the club could learn from. The great Sandy McMahon said of him that “Next to Peter Dowds, Jimmy McGhee was the best all-round player I have ever seen“. Dan Doyle (who was also his lodger) described him as “the best right-half I ever saw“. High praise from two of Celtic’s all-time greats.”

You can read more here: on the excellent Celticwiki:

In other news…

On 4th November, 1967 our own Celtic Heroes played in the above Centenario stadium, Montevideo. The 3rd, and deciding, match of the Intercontinental Cup. As everyone knows, Racing Club of Argentina won this game 1-0 after a sequence of outrageous events that shamed football.

We will cover this in more detail on another blog. Meantime, You can read about all the 3 games here:

https://en.m.wikipedial.org/wiki/1967_Intercontinental_Cup

Guest article by SeS

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