FIFA World Cup History

Italy 1934 FIFA World Cup

Year:1934

Participants: 16

Countries: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States

Championship: Italy 2, Czechoslovakia 1

Top goal scorer: Oldrich Nejedly, Czechoslovakia, Angelo Schiavio, Italy and Edmund Conen, Germany (4)

Two Years before Adolph Hitler had his Olympic glory in Berlin, Benito Mussolini had the world stage to tout his Fascist propaganda.

And just like the first World Cup, the home team won. Following Uruguay's lead four years before, Italy was victorious in '34, much to the delight of Mussolini.

With Uruguay a no-show -- the only champion that didn't attempt to defend its crown -- this World Cup mostly was a European affair. The United States, Egypt, Brazil and Argentina were the only party crashers.

The Americans didn't last long, though. Italy, with four Argentine stars, whipped the Americans 7-1 in the first round. It was to be the Italians' only easy game.

The day after struggling to a 1-1 tie with Spain, the Italians beat the Spaniards in the replay, 1-0, on Giuseppe Meazza's goal. In the semifinals, Italy avenged a 4-2 loss to Austria four months earlier; the Italians won 1-0 on Enrique Guaita's goal in the a rain storm in Milan.

In the final against Czechoslovakia, both teams went scoreless for the first 70 minutes. Antonin Puc gave the Czechs a 1-0 lead with a tough-angle goal on a rebound of his own corner kick. Italy tied it with 10 minutes left on Raimundo Orsi's running right-footer.

Five minutes into the first extra period, Angelo Schiavio -- who scored three goals in the first-round win over the U.S. -- drove a shot just under the crossbar to give the Italians the victory.