On This Day – 2nd July
There was a peculiarity in the 1950 World Cup where several countries pulled out of the competition, leaving just Uruguay and Bolivia as the only sides in Group 4!
India, Scotland and Turkey qualified for the fourth World Cup but decided against travelling. India only refused after the draw for the group stage had been made.
France, Portugal and Ireland were invited to make up the numbers. Portugal and Ireland refused the offer of a place in the competition although France accepted. They later withdrew from the competition after being drawn with Uruguay and Bolivia in Group 4.
After India and France pulled out, Group 3 was left with three competing teams and Group 4 only had two!
The tournament went ahead and all the group games were played. The eight teams who made up Group 1 and 2 played three matches, the three teams in Group 3 had two games leaving Uruguay and Bolivia to play each other effectively one a play-off match to decide who would progress to the final round.
The match between Uruguay and Bolivia took place in Belo Horizonte on 2nd July. The match was officiated by English referee George Reader, who would go on and referee the Final.
Uruguay romped to an 8-0 victory, with Oscar Miguez scoring a hat-trick. He is Uruguay’s all-time World Cup record goalscorer with eight goals, and scored a further two goals in a 3-2 win over Spain later in the competition.
Uruguay beat hosts Brazil 2-1 in the Final at the Maracana two weeks to the day after their 8-0 demolition of Bolivia. They came from a goal down to shock the nation of Brazil, who all thought that they would win the competition in their own country.
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