1930 FIFA World Cup

The first group was the only one to contain four teams: Argentina, Chile, France and Mexico. Two days after France's victory over Mexico, they faced group favourites Argentina. Injuries hindered France; goalkeeper Alex Thépot had to leave the field after 20 minutes and Laurent, after a fierce tackle by Luis Monti, spent most of the match limping. However, they held out for most of the match, only succumbing to an 81st-minute goal scored from a Monti free kick.[26] The game featured an officiating controversy when referee Almeida Rêgo erroneously blew the final whistle six minutes early, with Frenchman Marcel Langiller clear on goal; play resumed only after protests from the French players.[27] Although France had played twice in 48 hours, Chile had yet to play their first match. They faced Mexico the following day, gaining a comfortable 3–0 win.[28]

France's final match, against Chile, featured the first penalty kick of the World Cup. The first goalkeeper to save a penalty was Alex Thépot of France on 19 July 1930, saving from Chile's Carlos Vidal in the 30th minute of the match.[29] In Argentina's second match, against Mexico, three penalty kicks were awarded. During the same match on 19 July 1930 Mexico's Oscar Bonfiglio Martínez saved another penalty at the 23rd minute of the match against Argentina's Fernando Paternoster.[29] Guillermo Stábile scored a hat-trick in his international debut[30] as Argentina won 6–3, despite the absence of their captain Manuel Ferreira, who had returned to Buenos Aires to take a law exam.[31] Qualification was decided by the group's final match, contested by Argentina and Chile, who had beaten France and Mexico, respectively. The game was marred by a brawl sparked by a foul on Arturo Torres by Monti.[27] Argentina won 3–1 against their neighbours and advanced to the semi-finals.

The second group contained Brazil, Bolivia and Yugoslavia. Brazil, the group seeds, were expected to progress, but in the group's opening match, unexpectedly lost 2–1 to Yugoslavia.[32] Going into the tournament Bolivia had never previously won an international match. For their opener they paid tribute to the hosts by wearing shirts each emblazoned with a single letter, spelling "Viva Uruguay" as the team lined up.[33] Both of Bolivia's matches followed a similar pattern, a promising start gradually transforming into heavy defeat. Against Yugoslavia, they held out for an hour before conceding, but were four goals down by the final whistle.[28] Misfortune played its part; several Bolivian goals were disallowed.[33] Against Brazil, when both teams had only pride to play for, the score was 1–0 to Brazil at half-time. Brazil added three more in the second half, two of them scored by the multi-sportsman Preguinho.[34] Yugoslavia qualified for the semi-finals.

Hosts Uruguay were in a group with Peru and Romania. The opening match in this group saw the first player expulsion in the competition, when Plácido Galindo of Peru was dismissed against Romania. The Romanians made their man advantage pay; their 3–1 win included two late goals. This match had the smallest crowd of any in World Cup history. The official attendance was 2,459, but the actual figure is generally accepted to be around 300.[35]

Because of construction delays at Estadio Centenario, Uruguay's first match was not played until five days into the tournament. The first to be held at the Centenario, it was preceded by a ceremony in honour of the Uruguayan centenary celebrations. The Uruguayan team spent the four weeks preceding the match in a training camp, at which strict discipline was exercised. Goalkeeper Andrés Mazali was dropped from the squad for breaking a curfew to visit his wife.[36] One hundred years to the day of the creation of Uruguay's first constitution, the hosts won a tight match against Peru 1–0.[37] The result was viewed as a poor performance by the Uruguayan press, but lauded in Peru.[37] The performance of the Peruvian goalkeeper Párdon drew particular praise from neutral observers.[38]Uruguay subsequently defeated Romania with ease, scoring four first half goals to win 4–0.

The fourth group contained Belgium, Paraguay and the United States. The American team, which contained a significant number of new caps, were reputedly nicknamed "the shot-putters" by an unnamed source in the French contingent.[17] They beat their first opponents, Belgium, 3–0. The ease of the victory was unexpected; Uruguayan newspaper Imparcial wrote that "the large score of the American victory has really surprised the experts".[39] Belgian reports bemoaned the state of the pitch and refereeing decisions, claiming that the second goal was offside.[39] The group's second match, played in windy conditions,[40] witnessed the first tournament hat-trick, scored by Bert Patenaude of the United States against Paraguay. Until 10 November 2006, the first hat-trick that FIFA acknowledged had been scored by Guillermo Stábile of Argentina, two days after Patenaude; however, in 2006 FIFA announced that Patenaude's claim to being the first hat-trick scorer was valid, as a goal previously assigned to teammate Tom Florie was reattributed to Patenaude.[41][42] With the United States having secured qualification, the final match in the group was a dead rubber. Paraguay beat Belgium by a 1–0 margin.[28]

The four group winners, Argentina, Yugoslavia, Uruguay and the United States, moved to the semi-finals. The two semi-final matches saw identical scores. The first semi-final was played between the United States and Argentina on a rain-drenched pitch. The United States team, which featured six British-born players, lost midfielder Raphael Tracy after 10 minutes to a broken leg as the match became violent.[43] A Monti goal halfway through the first half gave Argentina a 1–0 half-time lead. In the second half, the strength of the United States team was overwhelmed by the pace of the Argentinian attacks, the match finishing 6–1 to Argentina.[44]

In the second semi-final there were shades of the 1924 Summer Olympics match between Yugoslavia and Uruguay. Here, though, Yugoslavia took a surprise lead through Vujadinović. Uruguay then took a 2–1 lead. Then shortly before half-time Yugoslavia had a goal disallowed by a controversial offside decision.[32] The hosts scored three more in the second half to win 6–1, Pedro Cea completing a hat-trick.[44]

The now-traditional third place play-off was not established until 1934, so the format of the 1930 World Cup is unique in not distinguishing between the third and fourth placed teams. Occasional sources, notably a FIFA Bulletin from 1984, incorrectly imply that a third-place match occurred and was won 3–1 by Yugoslavia.[45] Accounts differ as to whether a third-place match was originally scheduled. According to a 2009 book by Hyder Jawad, Yugoslavia refused to play a third-place match because they were upset with the refereeing in their semi-final against Uruguay.[1]

At the end of the championship, the captains of the United States team (Tom Florie)[46] and Yugoslavia (Milutin Ivković)[47] both received bronze medals. Yet a FIFA technical committee report on the 1986 World Cup included full retrospective rankings of all teams at all previous World Cup finals; this report ranked the United States third and Yugoslavia fourth, due to a better goal difference on otherwise identical records,[2] a practice since continued by FIFA.[3] In 2010, the son of Kosta Hadži, the chief of Yugoslav delegation at the 1930 World Cup and the vice-president of the Football Association of Yugoslavia at the time, claimed that Yugoslavia, as a team, has been awarded one bronze medal, which has been kept by Hadži himself and his family for the following 80 years. According to this source, Yugoslavia was placed third because of the semi-finals loss to the eventual champions, Uruguay.[48][49] The official recording however shows the United States team claiming third place.[3]

Because of a dispute, a different ball was used in each half, one chosen by each team. Argentina's ball (top) was used for the first half and Uruguay's ball (bottom) was used for the second half.

The resounding wins for Uruguay and Argentina in the semi-finals meant the final was a repeat of the matchup in the 1928 Olympic final, which Uruguay had won 2–1 after a replay.

The final was played at the Estadio Centenario on 30 July. Feelings ran high around the La Plata Basin as the Argentine supporters crossed the river with the war cry Victoria o muerte ("victory or death"), dispelling any uncertainty as to whether the tournament had captured the imagination of the public. The ten boats earmarked to carry Argentine fans from Buenos Aires to Montevideo proved inadequate,[32] and any number of assorted craft attempted the crossing. An estimated 10–15,000 Argentinians made the trip, but the port at Montevideo was so overwhelmed that many did not even make landfall before kick-off, let alone reach the stadium.[50] At the stadium, supporters were searched for weapons.[51] The gates were opened at eight o'clock, six hours before kick-off, and by noon the ground was full,[32] the official attendance 93,000.[52] A disagreement overshadowed the build-up to the match as the teams failed to agree on who should provide the match ball, forcing FIFA to intervene and decree that the Argentine team would provide the ball for the first half and the Uruguayans would provide their own for the second.[17] Uruguay made one change from their semi-final line-up. Castro replaced Anselmo, who missed out due to illness.[44] Monti played for Argentina despite receiving death threats on the eve of the match. The referee was Belgian John Langenus, who only agreed to officiate a few hours before the game, having sought assurances for his safety.[53] One of his requests was for a boat to be ready at the harbour within one hour of the final whistle, in case he needed to make a quick escape.[54]

The hosts scored the opening goal through Pablo Dorado, a low shot from a position on the right.[55] Argentina, displaying superior passing ability, responded strongly. Within eight minutes they were back on level terms; Carlos Peucelle received a Ferreira through-ball, beat his marker and equalised.[55] Shortly before half-time leading tournament goalscorer Guillermo Stábile gave Argentina a 2–1 lead. Uruguay captain Nasazzi protested, maintaining that Stábile was offside, but to no avail.[53] In the second half Uruguay gradually became ascendant. Shortly after Stábile missed a chance to make the score 3–1, Uruguay attacked in numbers and Pedro Cea scored an equaliser.[55] Ten minutes later, a goal by Santos Iriarte gave Uruguay the lead, and just before full-time Castro made it 4–2 to seal the win.[53] Langenus ended the match a minute later and Uruguay added the title World Cup winners to their mantle of Olympic champions. Jules Rimet presented the World Cup Trophy, which was later named for him, to the head of the Uruguayan Football Association, Raúl Jude.[56] The following day was declared a national holiday in Uruguay;[52] in the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires, a mob threw stones at the Uruguayan consulate.[57] Francisco Varallo (who played as a forward for Argentina) was the last player of the final to die, on 30 August 2010.[58]

France, Yugoslavia and the United States all played friendlies in South America following the competition. Brazil played France on 1 August, Yugoslavia on 10 August and the United States on 17 August,[59] while Argentina hosted Yugoslavia on 3 August.[60]

Uruguay's aggregate goal difference of +12 over four games, at an average of +3 per match, remains the highest average goal difference per match of any World Cup champion and the second-highest of any World Cup finals participant, after Hungary in 1954.