Tales from 1930: USMNT Tidbits From the First World Cup

As we get ready for the stretch run leading up to the 2010 World Cup, let's take a minute and reflect back on a time when things were a little bit different.  OK, a lot different.  After all, 1930 was a year when steelworkers, part-time students, and immigrants galore traveled down to Uruguay for some new tournament being put together for the first time.  Though a good portion of the players on the USMNT were professionals, it was hardly in the sense that we know the word today, in that soccer was hardly their main source of income.  No, instead of cushy endorsements and hefty wages, there were extra hours at a factory or in a classroom during their off time.  But although there was a lot less glitz and glamor, there was still plenty of glory and pride on the line for the first team to done the Red, White, and Blue on what has now become the world's biggest stage. And out of their quest for global supremacy, we find several facts and anecdotes worthy of a few words.

To this point, I can't say that I knew too much about the 1930 team, other than the fact that they achieved the USA's best World Cup finish to date with their third place showing.  But upon looking back on the players and the stories from Uruguay, I found more than a few interesting little tidbits that I felt compelled to pass on, if for no other reason than to share the new things I've learned about our national team's past with others like myself who were not too familiar with the early years.  If you think Mexico plays dirty or that Brian McBride is a true tough guy for the way he continued to play through a bloody face or swollen eye, just wait until you hear some of the things that the other Bob (head coach Bob Miller) and company had to deal with 80 years ago.
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When a Mexican player put a hand up to Benny Feilhaber's throat in the Azteca last August, I'm sure I wasn't alone in being furious yet completely unsurprised.  But I can only imagine what my reaction would have been to what happened to Andy Auld against Argentina in the 1930 World Cup semifinals.  The match was a physical affair featuring several injuries for the Yanks (they finished with just 8 field players), one of which being the bloody face and mouth that Auld suffered after being kicked in the mouth.  As if that wasn't bad enough, one of the opposing players (according to US coach Wilfred Cummings) knocked the US trainer's smelling salts into Auld's eyes, temporarily blinding him.  Unable to bring in a substitute because of the rules at the time, Auld was forced to play on with a bloody rag in his mouth and impaired vision.  If you ask Auld, I'm sure he'd gladly take a Rafa Marquez elbow rather than suffer through that particularly dirty sequence again.  I can only imagine what guys like Auld would think of the modern player, who all too often lies face down on the turf clutching at a phantom injury.
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It's a fairly frequent complaint when youth tournaments roll around that the US doesn't have an extensive enough youth development program, with a desire for more quality coaches at every level often coming up from a segment of the dissatisfied.  While that is a valid wish and one that would likely help the national team, let's not take for granted what the team already has at its disposal.  Trainers, public relations workers, and translators make life a whole lot easier for everyone involved in the process of preparing the team and playing the games.  The men back in 1930 would have relished the opportunity to have just a fraction these kinds of services at their disposal, but instead had to rely on one another to get things done off the field.  One such example is Massachusetts native James Gentle, who was an integral part of the USMNT's success in 1930.  Not so much for what he did on the field, but for what he did off it.  With the tournament located in South America, all of the logistics and scheduling required at least a working knowledge of Spanish.  This ultimately fell upon Gentle's shoulders, the only person in the USMNT camp who knew the language.  I don't know about you, but the thought of Jozy Altidore or Charlie Davies serving as both the team's starting striker, official liason, and in-game interpreter seems ridiculous, at best.
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The list goes on and on, from Raphael Tracey finishing a half after breaking his leg in the first 10 minutes to Bert Patenaude recording the first hat trick in World Cup history only after being awarded a goal that had previously been called an own goal and then attributed to another US player.  It was definitely a fascinating era with its own sort of unrefined charm, and it's one I'd really likely to learn more about (if I ever have time for any leisurely reading).  Too often, I feel like USMNT fans have a line drawn in the sand at 1990, as if the federation prior to that year was completely disjoint from the one we support today.  Only the victory over England in 1950 seems to permeate that threshold, leaving 40 years of futility, 20 years of World Cup play, and decades prior to that largely unknown in the minds of most American fans (to which I am no exception).  Though that 40 year gap between World Cups certainly does little to help matters, I feel like there should be a more concerted effort to celebrate a past that is littered with historic moments and interesting characters, to say the least.  Let's give the guys that laid the foundation for the likes of Landon Donovan their due; after all, they're the ones that have set the bar the highest.
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If history isn't your thing and you were looking for something a little more forward looking with the World Cup being just six months away,I'll leave you with one last fact that you can bring with you on June 10th when you sit down to watch the US play England. As Wayne Rooney, John Terry, and David Beckham step onto the field in South Africa, they will be following in the footsteps of the first Englishman to ever play in the World Cup.  Who was he?  None other than USMNT defender George Moorhouse.  Take that, Three Lions.