Stories from Romanian Sports – Montevideo, 1930

The first edition of the World Football Cup was held 90 years ago in Montevideo.

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Florin Orban, 15.05.2020, 13:45

Taking
part in the World Cup were 13 national teams, including Romania.

The Conte Verde
ocean liner, carrying the Romanian delegation on board, reached Uruguay on July
2, 1930. The team was put up in a villa provided by the Romanian community in
Montevideo, which didn’t have any heating. At the time, winter was in full
swing in South America. The delegation then moved to Artigas Hotel. On July 5,
the draw put Romania in a group with Peru and the host country, Uruguay, a
two-time Olympic champion, in 1924 and 1928. The task at hand looked very
difficult.

The match
against Peru was played on July 14. Adalbert Desu scored the first goal for
Romania early into the game. On minute 11 Romania lost Adalbert Steiner, after
a rough tackle by Luis de Souza, which sent our player straight to the
hospital. Towards the middle of the first half, Romania lost another player,
Constantin Stanciu, who sustained a knee injury after an illegal tackle by
Alberto de Negri. After half-time, having an extra man on the pitch, Peru
evened the odds. On minute 60, Stanciu returned to the pitch, obviously limping
and struggling to play. A quarter an hour before full time, Stefan Barbu’s
cross found Stanciu unmanned, who scored a historic goal. On minute 85, Nicolae
Covaci settled the final score, 3-1 for Romania.

In the next
match, Uruguay defeated Peru 1-nil, which meant Romania was top of the group
tables for a few days. In the group final Uruguay defeated Romania 4-nil. At
the middle of the first half, within a very short period of time, the host team
scored three goals, after a rapid succession of passes. The famous Romanian
striker Rudi Wetzer would write in his diary: It’s how football works. You
learn more in 6 minutes on the pitch than in 6 years in the classroom. Ever
since football was invented, this game has been played in sweaty, not starched
shirts. The citation was included in the book The Final is Played Today,
published in 1966 by Ioan Chirila.

That year
Uruguay went on to win the World Cup, after defeating Argentina 4-2 in the
final.