History of Qualification- 1934

Belize still appear to be the first team heading out of this world cup. In six days time the Asian section kicks off, but for now it is time for some more world cup qualifying history!

And this time we have some actual qualifiers! The first world cup was such a success that all the big boys wanted a go this time, like fascist Italy, fascist Spain and the Germans, playing proudly under the swastika. And even the Italians were made to qualify, for their own world cup. The home nations were still above such rubbish, and Uruguay were stropping about people not turning up to their tournament, so didn't even try to defend their crown.

Group 1 pitted Sweden against Estonia and Lithuania. Sweden beat both these sides, so they didn't bother playing each other, as they were already out. Seems like bad etiquette to me.

Group 2 was Spain v Portugal, home and away. Not really a group that, is it? In any case, Spain won 9-0 at home and 2-1 away to comfortably qualify. At least the Portugese were good enough to play the reverse fixture after the thumping, as we'll see a lot of teams didn't bother.

Group 3 was Italy v Greece. Italy won 4-0 at home and Greece, a bit like a petulant FIFA player on a computer game, refused to play their scheduled home match, and Italy qulaified for their own world cup, which is probably a good thing.

Group 4 had Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria. Two went through from this one, and Hungary beat Bulgaria twice, Austria beat them one. Bulgaria then just gave up, so Hungary and Austria qualfied.

Group 5 was Czechoslavakia v Poland. Poland showed an astonishing willingness to give up after quitting when they lost 2-1 at home in the first fixture, and refused to play the return. Come on lads, 2-1 to turn over is hardly Mount fucking Everest, is it?

Group 6 contained Switzerland, Romania and Yugoslavia. Shockingly, they actually played all their matches! Two were to qualify. First Yugoslavia drew with Switzerland. The real drama came in the next match at the Wankdorf Stadium (I had to mention the stadium name there. It is probably my favourite in the world). Switzerland hosted a 2-2 draw with Romania, but those cheeky Romanians had tried to sneak on an ineligable player, so FIFA gave the Swiss a 2-0 win. Romania thus had to beat the Yugoslavs in the last match to qualify, and they did! 2-1, so they qualified with the Swiss.

Group 7 contained Netherlands, Belgium and the first British Isles entrant, the Irish Free State. And they were so close to qualifying- after a 4-4 draw with Belgium, they lose 5-2 to the Netherlands. Belgium then only lost 4-2 to the Dutch, so sneaked through to the cup with them on goal average (the stupid complicated system they used until they realised goal difference was much simpler and better).

Group 8 was two to qualify from France, ze Germans, and Luxembourg. Quite convenient for the first two, who beat the minnows 9-1 (Germany) and 6-1 (France) to both qualify. Again, the needless last match wasn't played, and both had secured a very easy qualification.

It was even easier for the South Americans, in Groups 9 and 10. The Brazilians had Peru and Argentina had Chile, but both of the later sides pulled out.

In Group 11, the North Americans made it a bit more complicated. Round one had Cuba playing Haiti three times in a week, all away from home. They won all three. Which meant the next month, for Round two, they had to play Mexico three times away over two weeks. There were all sorts of revolutions going on in Cuba at the time, so the players probably enjoyed these holidays. This time, however, they lost all three, which meant Mexico got to play the USA in the final. USA didn't apply to compete in time. Rather than not let them play, which would seem fair, FIFA instead scheduled a game in Rome three days before the world cup started- it had to be there, because the boat trip was 15 days. The Yanks won 4-2 and qualified, and the Mexicans got to enjoy a month long round trip because of the late American application, which i'm sure they were delighted about.

Group 12 was supposed to have three teams, but Turkey quit, meaning it was just a home and away between Egypt and a Palestine side that apparantly was just Jewish and British footbalers. In two nice and politically charged matches, Egypt comfortably came through to qualify.

And that was that, the first world cup qualfiers were over, and the teams were ready for the straight knock out tournament in Italy. All the non-Europeans went out in Round one, so only got to play one match. Possibly not worth the two weeks there and back across the Atlantic, espeically for the Americans, who lost 7-1 to hosts Italy. Egypt lost 4-2 to Hungary, and I hope they enjoyed it because they didn't get another go at a world cup until 1990. Mussolini got his trophy, so everyone saw how great fascism was.

The world cup qualifiers have come a long way. Instead of a home and away between Egypt and a mix of Jews and British ex-Pats, Asian qualifying for 2014 will consist of many games, and it starts in five days time. There are 42 teams involved, and sixteen of them will be squaring up. Afghanistan, Pakistan and Vietnam will be some of those involved. Can't wait!