After a relatively incident-free first round in which the Italians demolished the USA in Rome, the World Cup quarter-finals proved to be a different story, particularly for the hosts. Their clash with Spain was marred by inept refereeing and overly-physical play from both teams. The game ended in a draw, thanks mainly to Spanish keeper Zamora, who despite being roughly handled by the Italians, put in a breathtaking display between the sticks.
The Italians eventually won the quarter-final by a single Meazza goal but another controversial refereeing display saw Swiss official Rene Mercet suspended by his federation. The coach always insisted that his team were not interested in politics and that his relationship was strictly professional, but the introduction of the Roman salute as a pre-game ritual was destined to cause contoversy.
The semi-final once again gave the Italian Coach another chance to pit his wits against his Austrian nemesis. The wet and muddy conditions in Milan prevented the more skilful Austrians from playing their finely-tuned football, and they struggled to handle the physical long-ball approach adopted by the host nation.
It was this ability to adapt his tactics to the conditions that helped the Italian boss steer his team to the final. A single first-half goal from Guaita was enough to see off their opponents and set up a final showdown with Czechoslovakia. The final in Rome took place in front of 55, spectators and proved to be a genuine battle of styles.
For much of the match, it was the short passing game of the Czechs that had the Italians well and truly pinned to the ropes — with Antonin Puc in particular causing problems for the home team down the left hand side. Predictably, it was the Slavia Prague winger who eventually opened the scoring with just 20 minutes to go- despite having been carried off the pitch in agony earlier in the half following an over-zealous tackle from Attilio Ferraris.
The Czech team continued to press and had a couple of great chances to seal the win, first through Sobotka, who dragged his shot wide; and then through Svodoba, who fired his attempt against the woodwork. Pozzo reacted and made a significant tactical change — switching the positions of Schiavio and Guaita.
This simple ploy gave the Italians a way back into the game, and sparked a spell of relentless pressure that eventually led to the equaliser. After running at the defence, Guaita fed the ball in from the right and, in one skilful movement; Orsi controlled the ball, turned and guided the ball low into the corner, beyond the fingertips of Czech goalkeeper Fran Planicka.
The commission was made up of managers, referees, players, ex-players, coaches and journalists. As part of this commission he was invited by the Italian Football Federation to act as a mediator in order to help resolve a dispute between the elite clubs in the north and the smaller, weaker sides in the south on how best to structure the top division.
However, the smaller clubs, who greatly outnumbered the giants, were unimpressed and led by Novese, who under the old setup would have been set to debut to Serie A, signed the Pact of Novi which was in protest at the new arrangement.
Pozzo left his position with Torino in but remained as part of the technical commission that was guiding the national team. With Italy set to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris, Pozzo was once again selected to lead the nation. This time, the Azzurri fared a bit better with wins over Spain and Luxembourg taking them to the quarter-finals but they fell short of a medal again when Switzerland ran out winners.
Sadly, his wife passed away shortly after and he moved to Milan where he continued to work for Pirelli and also took on a position as a journalist for La Stampa. This was a very attacking and Pozzo had studied it during his time in England. He always felt like it was too gung-ho and left too much for his defensive players to do.
He felt that there had to be something better and after a few years out of the game, Pozzo was once again made manager of the Italian national team. This gave him the opportunity to put his theories to the test. In reality, all Pozzo did was move the two inside forwards a bit deeper into what would now be considered attacking midfield but it made a huge difference. The backline consisted of two central defenders and in front of them would be a line of three.
The two wide players would be equivalent to attacking full-backs now and the player in the middle a bit like a deep-lying playmaker. The front three would consist of two wingers and a striker who would carry little defensive duties but then, the metodo was already considered overly defensive. The Central European International Cup was a tournament that was usually played over a number of years between and Italy were joined by Austria, Hungary, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia before Yugoslavia joined later for the final edition.
After a loss to Spain, he decided that captain and an international for 10 years, Adolfo Baloncieri was now surplus to requirements. FIFA were in no rush to just hand over the keys to their marquee competition and it took eight meetings before Italy were awarded hosting rights ahead of Sweden with Benito Mussolini getting involved as he saw it as an opportunity to promote fascism to the watching world.
In the lead up to the tournament, Pozzo had time to wield his axe and once again, it was his captain that fell foul of the managers lack of patience. Umberto Caligaris had featured in a loss to Austria and Pozzo decided that he had seen enough from his skipper. Although he kept him in the World Cup squad, he never played for Italy again. With a space now open for a new on the pitch leader, it was decided the armband would be handed to his Juventus team mate and legendary goalkeeper, Gianpiero Combi.
Fellow finalists from , Argentina were also unhappy at the decision but rather than pull out, they sent a reserve team.
Pozzo had no issue selecting players who had been born in other countries but who carried Italian heritage. Of the 22 men selected to play for Italy at the World Cup, seven of them were born outside the peninsula and while there was a Brazilian, a Frenchman and an Austro-Hungarian, the other four were born in Argentina and two of them had even played for La Albiceleste at the World Cup. This was unfair in the eyes of the Argentine authorities and it was decided that they could not stand back and accept the situation.
The Italian squad was heavily represented by Juventus players with no fewer than nine selected, but it was an Inter Milan star that would carry the bulk of the home expectations.
Giuseppe Meazza is regarded by many as one of the first football playboys. While his off the field antics were questionable his performances on the pitch were not and even all these years later he is still held in high regard by all lovers of calcio. Italy got their campaign off to a great start with a crushing win over the United States of America. In , there was no group stage and instead it was just a straight knockout.
The win over the USA was a good place to build momentum but things were to get much tougher when the draw put them against Spain in the quarter-finals. It was against Spain that the first signs of home advantage came to light with more than a few favourable calls going the way of the hosts. After minutes, the teams could not be split, unlike the shins of many of the players, with both teams hitting the back of the net once. Questions were raised of Belgian referee, Louis Baert when he initially disallowed the Italian goal before changing his mind amid the protests.
The roughness of the first match meant that when the replay began the next day, Spain had been forced into seven changes and Italy four.
Spain had two goals disallowed and three players forced off due to injury. The Swiss FA were so disgusted by the performance of their referee, Rene Mercet, that they decided to ban him afterwards. It was felt that Mussolini was putting pressure on the referees and that by hook or by crook, Italy would win their home World Cup. In the semi-finals, Italy faced a difficult task against the Wunderteam of Austria. The Austrians were technically better than Italy and on most days would have been too much for the Azzurri to deal with, but as luck would have it, the game was played in Milan on a very wet and muddy pitch which proved to be a great equaliser.
Pozzo liked strong defenders and encouraged them to get the ball forward as soon as possible and this tactic worked well in the conditions with Italy running out winners thanks to the only goal of the game from Enrique Guaita, one of the Argentine-born, Oriundi. Once again, it was felt that the referee, Ivan Eklind of Sweden was favouring the hosts but no action was taken and he was handed the privilege of taking charge of the final where Italy would take on Czechoslovakia.
Louis Baert of Belgium, who had refereed the first game against Spain was also tasked with running the line and it seemed the odds were firmly stacked against the Czechs. With the referees seemingly favouring the hosts and a hostile atmosphere of 55, Italians baying for blood in Rome, it was quite a surprise to see the Czechs look the better team for much of the final.
The Italians were no strangers to rough tactics and the Czechs were an excellent technical side. With under 20 minutes left, the victim of some of the worst of the Italian tackling, Antonin Puc silenced the home crowd by putting Czechoslovakia ahead and on the verge of becoming world champions. The Czech goal stunned Pozzo into action and he decided to make a tactical change by switching the positions of Enrique Guaita and Angelo Schiavio. Both players had been well marked by Czechoslavkia but the change brought them more freedom and with 10 minutes left, Guaita created the equaliser before Schiavio won the game and the World Cup for the Italians in extra-time.
Beginnings Vittorio Pozzo was born in Turin in Thinking points Vittorio Pozzo was a legendary coach of the interwar years, along with men like Hugo Meisl, and Herbert Chapman. Educators could look at the life story of Vittorio Pozzo and work with young people to consider these questions: How does the life of Vittorio Pozzo inform us about Italy in the interwar years? How should the remembrance of sporting achievements be contextualised historically? Life Story. Vittorio Pozzo coached Italy in the interwar years, seeing the rise of Fascism.
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