Gianpiero Combi - The 1934 World Cup

The 1934 World Cup

Around the beginning of 1934, 31-year-old Gianpiero Combi was preparing to retire from football. In this season he was on the way to winning his fifth Italian championship (a record fourth in a row) with Juventus and he had played more than 40 games for the national team. A new promising young goalkeeper was emerging : Carlo Ceresoli, who played for Inter. On his debut Ceresoli had helped the national team to qualify for the 1934 World Cup which was held in Italy that summer, by eliminating Greece in Milano by a 4-0 win. But the National Coach Vittorio Pozzo included Combi in the Italian squad -he was also one of the Nazio-Juve members- and was asked by Pozzo to postpone his retirement until the end of the tournament as his experience might be a great help. During a training session a few weeks before the beginning of the tournament, a shot by Pietro Arcari broke one of Ceresoli's forearms. This forced him to miss the World Cup and Combi again found himself the top goalkeeper in Italy, with the responsibility of leading the Azzurri to their debut in football's premier competition.

The first match was on 27 May 1934 when Italy played the first round of the World Cup in the Stadio Nazionale of the P.N.F. in Rome against the United States. The Azzurri beat their opponents 7-1, a victory provided by a hat trick from Angelo Schiavio, a double from Raimundo Orsi and a goal each from Giovanni Ferrari and Meazza. In the Quarter finals the Italians met Spain, who were led by another great goalkeeper of the time, Ricardo Zamora. The game was played on 31 May 1934 in the Stadio Comunale "Giovanni Berta" of Florence. The game against the Spanish team was a very difficult one, dominated by the speed and force used by both teams and finished in a 1-1 draw after extra time. A replay had to be played the next day, in which Italy changed four players and Spain seven. Italy won 1-0 with a goal by Meazza.

Their semi-final opponents were the Austrian Wunderteam, the squad who had beaten the Italians 4-2 in Turin four months earlier. The match was played in Milano's Stadio Calcistico San Siro on 3 June and the Azzurri won 1-0 with a goal by Enrico Guaita. Combi was also decisive when he made two miraculous saves to keep the score in favor of Italy until the end. The final was held in Rome on 10 June 1934 against Czechoslovakia. The first half finished without a goal but in the 71st minute, against all odds, Antonin Puč managed to beat the Italian goalkeeper. Ten minutes later Orsi equalized and the game went to extra-time. With the help of a noisy support, so great that the rival coach Pozzo had to continually run along the pitch so that the players could hear his instructions, Italy won the match through a goal by Schiavio and the Italian team were crowned World Champions. Gianpiero Combi, who played 510 minutes and conceded three goals as captain of the squad, received the Jules Rimet trophy from the Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini.