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Revision as of 04:20, 28 June 2002 by 212.137.57.25 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Football World Cup 1950:
The onset of World War II meant that the Football World Cup experienced a break since 1938, it also meant that most of Europe lay in ruins after the ravaging effects of War. As a result the honour of hosting the World Cup fell to Brazil, who happened to be the only country that applied.
This was the first year that the World Cup itself would be reffered to as the Jules Rimet Cup (subsequently changed to the Jules Rimet trophy) in order to mark the 25th anniversary of his Presidency of F.I.F.A.
The group stages of this years tournament took a a strange form, with some groups containing four teams, some containing three teams, and others just two teams. This was due to the fact that some nations qualified for the tournament and then withdraw. For example India withdraw after qualification due to the fact that F.I.F.A would not allow them to play barefoot, while Scotland refused to play unless they were British Champions at the time, but they were runners up to England in the competition.
It was the first time that the British teams had entered the World Cup, and after Great Britain had beaten the rest of Europe 6-1 in an exhibition match, a lot was expected of them.
It was not to be however as England went crashing out in a shock defeat by U.S.A. 1-0 and a 1-0 defeat by Spain who topped the group and went through to the ‘Final Pool’.
The Final Pool took the form of a final group stage, involving all teams who won their group stage. The overall winner of the World Cup in this year would be the team that managed to finish on top of this final pool group.
The teams that topped their group, and so continued onto the Final Pool were:
Brazil Spain Sweden Uruguay
While the rest were knocked out:
Yugoslavia Switzerland Mexico England Chile U.S.A. Italy Paraguay Bolivia
In this Final Pool Brazil outscored everyone with a 7-0 thrashing of Sweden and 6-1 routing of Spain.
It is the only Football World Cup that never had a Final. There was however a decisive match, Brazil were sitting on top of the Final Pool and had one game left to play – Uruguay who lay just behind in second and only a point behind.
On July 16th in the Estadio Maracana, the host nation had only to draw against Uruguay and the Jules Rimet trophy would be theirs, and after such crushing victories over Spain and Sweden it looked certain they would take the title. Especially as the home nation went ahead in the second minute of the second half, thanks to a goal from Fraica. Uruguay equalised and then with just over 11 minutes left to play, went ahead 2-1 and Uruguay were crowned World Cup Winners for a second time.