In 1928, Uruguay won the gold medal in summer Olympic football by defeating Argentina 2–1 on a penalty kick. On 30 July 1930, the two sides once again took the field but this time it was in Montevideo as they participated in the World Cup final for the first time.
How did they get there?
Uruguay defeated three of their opponents 11–1 to reach the final. This included a 6–1 victory over Yugoslavia with a hat trick from Pedro C and two more goals from Peregrino Anselmo.
Argentina won four games before the final. The team had a 16–5 aggregate for the game, including a 6–1 victory over the United States to secure a place in the final. Guillermo Stabil took a hat-trick in the 6-3 match against Mexico.
Gameplay
An interesting aspect of the game was that each side provided its ball at different points in the game. Both sides disagreed on who should bring the ball, thus prompting FIFA to determine whether Argentina should provide the ball for the first half while Uruguay should do so for the second half.
The two balls were wound differently because there was no specific set of rules for how the ball should be formed.
Argentina started the match with a lead in the first half. Pablo Dorado first scored for Uruguay at 12′, but Carlos Pucel drew the game at 20. Guillermo Stable then gave White and Sky Blue a 37′ goal to go ahead 2-1. It was his eighth goal of the World Cup; he led all the players who scored goals.
As the second half began, Uruguay felt a bit more in control, thanks to how the side was using the ball it had provided earlier. Pedro C tied the game at 57′ to get the home crowd of over 68,000 people back on their feet. It was his fifth goal in the tournament.
Santos Iriarte then passed Argentine goalkeeper Juan Bottasso at 68′ to give Uruguay the lead. Hector Castro, an attacker who lost part of his right hand in a childhood accident, scored the final goal at the 89-minute mark to give Uruguay a 4-2 lead and a World Cup title.
Overall, Uruguay had a +12 goal difference in four matches. This +3 average is the highest difference per game average in World Cup history.
After the match
The people of Uruguay were proud of the team’s achievement of winning the World Cup for the first time. The day after the victory was officially declared a national holiday in the country.
Meanwhile, the Argentines weren’t thrilled to lose. People formed a crowd and pelted stones at the building of the Uruguayan consulate within the country.
All players who participated in the game have since left. Francisco Varallo, a forward for Argentina, was the last surviving player to compete in the game. He died in 2010 at the age of 100.
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