Thursday, 26 July 2018
Soccer at the Olympics Part 5 1928 Amsterdam Holland
Soccer at the Olympics Part 5 1928 Amsterdam Holland
The triumph of Uruguay in the 1924 Olympics had shown that Football supremacy was no longer the sole property of Europe. The New World could now compete with the old and Uruguay were its strongest ambassadors.
These 1928 series at Amsterdam would take place at a time when the Game was now worthy of a bigger venue and there was chatter to that end.
This was also due to the fact that the sport itself was becoming more professional (in some countries) and the Olympics and its amateur status were at odds.
As a result, it was unclear whether Football would be part of the games, about a year before these Amsterdam Olympics.
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Photo From: IFFHS-Olympic Football Tournaments (1908-1936)
| (1928 Olympics poster) |
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Photo From: Calcio 2000, Issue 33, August 2000
| (1928 Olympics Opening ceremonies) |
The IOC were opposed to any professionals taking part. FIFA and the IOC had to negotiate and reached an agreement over compensation for lost earnings in June 1927 to allow Football in the Olympics.
The various Nations would have to ensure that the players would not receive any reimbursement of expenses, or compensation for loss of income.
The payments were to be made to the employer of the player.
The British Home Nations once again left FIFA in protest concerning this issue. Nations such as Sweden and Norway also did not participate over this compromise.
Austria and Czechoslovakia also declined to participate. They now had Professional Leagues of their own and did not want to present their Amateurs to play against Professionals.
Some Nations declined to participate due to financial reasons.
By deadline day of April 15, 1928, Eighteen Nations entered the fray. These included Germany, back for the first time since 1912 and isolation from World War I.
The 1924 Champions Uruguay entered with just as strong as a team as before.
They had as many as eight of their 1924 side. These included Captain Jos� Nasazzi, along with Andr�s Mazali, Jos� Leandro Andrade, Santos Urdinar�n, H�ctor Scarone, Pedro Petrone, Pedro Cea and Pedro Arispe.
Jos� Leandro Andrade, the toast of the 1924 series, almost did not participate unless he was compensated Financially. Eventually, he agreed to participate and rejoined the squad on route to Amsterdam.
Their rivals across the �Rio de La Plata� were just as strong and presented a formidable opposition with the likes of Luisito Monti, Manuel Ferreira and Domingo Tarasconi among others.
The Argentina squad boarded the English Ship �Alcantara� many months before the games on March 1928.
So strong were these two rivals that �El Grafico� Magazine had predicted (correctly) the Final to be between these two Nations.
Argentina would first be stationed at Duin near Amsterdam. It was said they had to relocate to Haarlem as the players were taking shots at the swans at Duin.
Other Teams from the Americas included Chile, as well as USA and Mexico from North America.
The Mexicans� journey nearly took a month. First they traveled with train to USA to New York. Once there, they boarded a ship to Amsterdam. It was forbidden to train on the ship as a result the players were under-trained and out of shape upon arrival to Amsterdam, which reflected in their performance.
Egypt were Africa�s sole representative, along with Turkey (Asia).
Naturally most of the participants were from Europe.
The Dutch hosts had high expectations after some fine performances in the last Olympics and general progress of the game in the Nation.
They were to be captained by veteran Harry Denis (whose choice as skipper would be questioned, more on that later�.).
Their Belgian neighbors had benefited as hosts to win the 1920 series, but were not seen as such a threat this time around.
Spain presented itself with a somewhat weaker squad as Professionals such as its Legendary goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora did not participate. The team was essentially a Basque selection with many Real Sociedad players.
Italy were seen as Europe�s strongest participant. They included the defensive fulcrum of Umberto Caligaris and Virginio Rosetta.
Not to mention, Adolfo Baloncieri and Virgilio Levratto, two of Italy�s greatest players of that Generation.
They also included players who would go on to bigger and better things in the years to come such as goalkeeper Giampiero Combi and Angelo Schiavio, while midfielder Fulvio Bernardini would go on to become one of the Greatest Managers in Italian History.
Italy had to do without Leopoldo Conti (due to Professional status), as well as the Argentinean-born Julio Libonatti.
Libonatti was clearly in Italy for Professional reasons and also did not want to be pre-occupied in case Italy met Argentina at the Games.
Andrea Viviano, who was part of the Olympics squad, was injured in a match (which essentially ended his career).
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Photo From: IFFHS-Olympic Football Tournaments (1908-1936)
| (Aerial view of Amsterdam�s Olympisch Stadion) |
France, Luxembourg, Portugal and Yugoslavia rounded out the European participants.
By May 17, 1928, the Teams were required to submit their full squad list.
Bulgaria withdrew shortly after an earthquake had ravaged the Nation. Greece and Estonia would follow suit.
The Matches were originally set to take place at the end of June 1928, but some of the participants lobbied for an earlier date. As a result the competition would be pushed back a month and would actually commence before the actual Olympics.
It has also been implied that this was also to "distinguish" this sport from all the others.
Prince Hendrik of Holland made the draws just two days before the tournament.
Unluckily for his Nation, the hosts, he picked Uruguay as their opponents.
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Photo From: IFFHS-Olympic Football Tournaments (1908-1936)
| (A typical Olympic pass for the players) |
The Olympics kicked off on May 27th at Amsterdam�s Olympisch Stadion in a Preliminary Round Match between Portugal and Chile.
Portugal struggled in the first half and fell behind twice. However, Portugal got back in the game and just before halftime had leveled the score (2-2).
Portugal would score twice more early in the second half to advance to the next round and left Chile to dispute the Consolation Tournament (open to the teams eliminated before the quarterfinals).
Portugal�s two-goal scoring hero Pepe would sadly pass away just a few years later (October 24th, 1931) due to food poisoning.
It has been reported that Hugo Meisl, Austrian Manager of the �Wunderteam� was so amazed by the Portuguese performance that he invited them to play exhibition matches in Austria.
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Photo From: Los Sports, Issue 278, July 6, 1928
| (May 27, 1928, Olympics, Portugal 4-Chile 2) |
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Photo From: Los Sports, Issue 281, July 27, 1928
| (Chile squad, May 27, 1928, Olympics, Portugal 4-Chile 2) |
On the same day, the First Round kicked off as well. Belgium faced Luxembourg and appeared to be cruising for an easy win after taking a (3-0) lead, however, Luxembourg fought back and tied the score (3-3) just before halftime. Belgium would score twice more in the second half for a (5-3) win.
For Belgium, the starting goalkeeper Jean De Bie did not start this match. His young daughter had fallen off a balcony and seriously injured while waving goodbye to him, so he had delayed joining the squad. Jean Caudron started in his place. This match was also the International debut of Belgium�s Louis Versyp who scored on his debut.
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Photo From: IFFHS-Olympic Football Tournaments (1908-1936)
| (Team captains, May 27, 1928, Olympics, Belgium 5-Luxembourg 3) |
On the following day, May 28th, Germany faced the 1924 Olympics finalists Switzerland. The two sides had met just a month before on April 15th, 1928 at Bern with the Germans winning (3-2).
It was reported that up to 10,000 German fans had traveled to see their team.
It would be a comfortable win (4-0) for the Germans. Richard Hofmann would lead the way with a hat trick.
The Austrian Sports Journalist Willy Meisl (brother of Hugo) wrote, �Germanys soccer players have scored a tremendous success. Our brave national team did not go down with the needlessly inflated responsibility of the nation, it played the game as a game, and that freedom, combined with the truly ardent Karmen, the team spirit, and the steel-strong will to win of each one of our elves created a tireless achievement made it possible to beat Switzerland 4-0.�
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Photo From: Los Sports, Issue 280, July 20, 1928
| (May 28, 1928, Olympics, Germany 4-Switzerland 0) |
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Photo From: Chronik des deutschen fussballs, 2005
| (Germany squad and Match action, May 28, 1928, Olympics, Germany 4-Switzerland 0) |
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Photo From: LEquipe de Suisse, Authors Guy Balibouse, Roger Felix, Pierre Tripod, 1993
| (May 28, 1928, Olympics, Germany 4-Switzerland 0) |
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Photo From: IFFHS, Schweiz,Suisse, Svizzera (1905-1940)
| (Switzerland squad, May 28, 1928, Olympics, Germany 4-Switzerland 0) |
On the same day, Egypt faced Turkey and easily defeated them (7-1) to advance to the Quarterfinals.
On the following day (May 29th), France and Italy faced off in the Olympisch Stadion.
On the following day (May 29th), France and Italy faced off in the Olympisch Stadion.
There was apprehension from the French quarters for this match as the Italians had been difficult foes in the preceding years.
Italian defender Umberto Caligaris had even said, �losing in itself is not bad but against France, it would be a national catastrophe�.
For France (lodged at Amsterdam�s �Hotel Amstel�), their Captain Paul Nicolas had been the last to join the squad (arriving at 8 PM the day before the match).
It was said he had an influential and privileged position within the squad and it was at his behest that Marcel Domergue was in defense.
France had included the 34 year-old Juste Brouzes (first capped back in 1914).
Brouzes would score twice to give France an early two-goal lead in les than 20 minutes.
For the first goal, he volleyed a cross from Langiller and minutes later picked up a rebound from Pavillard�s shot that had been parried by De Pr�.
However, Italy pulled one goal back immediately through Gino Rossetti.
Levratto would tie the score in the 39th minute. In the following minute (40thminute), the Belgian Referee Henri Christophe blew the halftime whistle.
His assistants notified him of his error and the teams had to be called back to resume the remaining minutes of the first half.
Italy would score in the 43rd minute through Banchero (a goal that appeared offside). It was his first cap and goal.
In the 60th minute, Italy scored their fourth goal through Baloncieri. Just a minute later, France pulled one more goal back through Robert Dauphin (from a pass by Pavillard).
France could not get back into the game and were eliminated. Paul Nicolas� injury did not help. He played on despite being injured.
The French Press felt the incident prior to halftime changed the course of the match. As they believed France were the better team up to that point but lost the momentum following the error by Henri Christophe.
For the Italians, Giovanni De Pr� had looked hesitant in goal and his poor performance would cost his place at the expense of Giampiero Comb
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