The Egyptian team arrived in Tel Aviv on April 5, the fifth day of Passover. After the first leg, there was no doubt it would be Egypt. After retiring, he coached the team he’d played for and afterward served as head of the Egyptian Olympic Committee. The organizers and hosts were for the most part the PFA or the Maccabi and Hapoel sports federations. The leading local papers barely covered the first game, in Cairo. The 1934 World Cup was the inaugural that the teams had to qualify to take part. The eight seeded teams – Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary – were kept apart in the first round. A slightly less emphatic win, 4-1, saw Egypt qualify with an aggregate result of 11-2. "When the World Cup rolled into fascist Italy in 1934", "When worlds collide: Soccer vs. politics", "FIFA World Cup 1934 Italy. The team, coached by Scotsman James McRea, a former Manchester United player, had no trouble qualifying for Italy four years later. "Mansour was a good goalkeeper and had many impressive games for the club," he says. Egypt's Mokhtar, right, trying to score against goalkeeper Zeev (Willy) Berger and defender Pinhas Fiedler of the Palestine team, at the pre-Cup 1934 game in Tel Aviv. Egypt's coach at the World Cup was Scotsman James McRea. For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 1934 FIFA World Cup squads. Egypt National Team » Squad World Cup 1934 Italy. The Egyptian army team played a series of closely scheduled games, in Tel Aviv and Rehovot, in June of that year, after being preceded by a delegation of Egyptian boxers; in August-September the Al Ahly club (reinforced by players from other Egyptian teams) arrived at the invitation of the Beitar Tel Aviv club to play in games in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa. Collin Martin, Landon Donovan and San Diego Loyal take a stand after anti-gay slur. The government is made up of the military, who hold several key posts, members of armed groups, technocrats and known names from the M5 movement. Matches, matches and more matches: Soccer's road map to 2022 World Cup won't be easy, Solskjaer should answer for Man United woes, Juve-Napoli farce, Liverpool loss could be bad omen. But the Italian referee Rinaldo Barlassina ruled it offside.”? "Our teacher called me to play in goal and I believe I did well, as he made me the school goalkeeper.". [14], Despite their role as hosts, Italy were still required to qualify, the first and only time the host nation needed to do so. But even before the star of the Liverpool forward (as he is now) blazed across the local sky, the greatest Egyptian soccer player of all time was widely considered to be Mahmoud Mokhtar, known as “El-Tetsh.” Born in Cairo in 1905, Mokhtar spent his entire career playing for the city’s great Al Ahly club and for the Egyptian national team. Man United, Man City, Bayern and Liverpool all look vulnerable. Mansour did not manage to see the World Cup come to Africa in 2010, or Ghana advance to the last eight. In any event, that left just Egypt and Palestine, who would now play two games to decide which of them would take part in the World Cup tournament – based on the total number of goals they racked up. He is convinced that it is only a matter of time before an African world champion emerges. After 1934, it took 56 years for Egypt to make a return to the World Cup. Now 89, he resides in the plush neighbourhood of Nasr City in Cairo. Features All four non-European teams who made the journey to Italy were eliminated after one match. Between 1937-39, Mansour played for the The number of supporters travelling from other countries was higher than at any previous football tournament, including 7,000 from the Netherlands and 10,000 each from Austria and Switzerland.[19]. Mustafa Kamel Mansour is the oldest surviving African to have played at the World Cup finals. country's oldest football club, Queen's Park. Throughout the years, several sources have reported that the tournament was marred by bribery and corruption, and could have been influenced by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who used the tournament as a propaganda tool for fascism. [18] This included 9 of the 12 European teams (Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Austria, and Switzerland) as well as Egypt. In the 1934 World Cup, Egypt was ousted in the first stage after losing to Hungary 4-2. Arab press coverage of the two games was not marked by the usual hostility. That would be a fitting tribute to one of African football's trailblazers. Only 10 of the 32 entrants, and four of the 16 qualified teams (Brazil, Argentina, United States and Egypt, the first African team to qualify for a World Cup finals tournament), were from outside Europe. After the tournament, Mansour moved to his manager's homeland to begin a diploma in physical education at Jordan Hill Training College. A month from Monday, five African teams will line-up to represent the continent in Brazil. That was in 1934 when Africa had its first outfit at the global showpiece and the tournament had only just started to resemble the one we know today. The final tournament of the 1934 FIFA World Cup was a single-elimination tournament involving the 16 teams which qualified for the tournament. [2][3][4], The Federale 102, which was manufactured in Italy, was the match ball provided for the 1934 World Cup. As an eight year old, he watched Mansour play in 1939. "When the game was 2-2, my colleague Fawzi took the ball from the centre and dribbled past all the Hungarian players to score a third goal. "When we went to the 1934 World Cup, it was only the second one that had been played. Egypt won again, 4-1, with Mokhtar dominating the game and scoring two goals. The first game was scheduled for Cairo on March 16, 1934, the second for Tel Aviv on April 6. The reports noted, for example, that many Arabs were among the crowd of 6,000 at the Tel Aviv game. 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Logistical difficulties dissuaded many European teams from participating in the tournament, and so only 13 teams took part, and there was no need for qualifying rounds. According to these accusations, Mussolini personally selected referees for the matches where the Italian national team were playing, while the Italian government meddled in FIFA's organisation of events, re-organizing the logistics of the matches to further promote fascism. The sudden-death rule is in force, so the winner will advance to the most prestigious tournament of all. Highland moves. "His elbow broke my nose and he even pushed me behind the goal-line. Mansour says the Italian referee Rinaldo Barlassina denied them victory against the Eastern Europeans. The local team consisted exclusively of Jews, a development made possible by a thaw in the relations between Hapoel and Maccabi. The race for the Ondo Government House is largely seen as a contest between the APC and the PDP. Credit: The Israel Football Association's archives. Unfounded rumors that spread in Tel Aviv about a Zionist victory were quickly refuted, and at the end of the Sabbath the Hebrew press was left with little to write about, other than to rehash the few compliments about the Jewish team that had appeared in the Egyptian press. ... 1934 FIFA World Cup (Italy) The quality of officiating at the tournament brings back a lot of bad memories.