Oct 3, 1990 Great Britian in the Olympic Games (Garry Archer)
Nov 30, 1995 The early Olympic Games (Garry Archer)
Nov 15, 1996 Ominous Signs for Sweden? (Stephen Halchuk)
Feb 28, 1997 Hardest team to beat at home? (Stephen Halchuk)
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Subject: Football at the Olympic Games (was Re: Swedish/Danish Scores)
From: Garry Archer (archer@hsi.com)
Date: Wed Oct 3 08:30:44 EDT 1990
Regarding a unified British team and being represented by four separate
associations within FIFA:
As far as I can tell, Great Britain's last appearance in football at
the Olympic Games was in 1960 in Rome (losing 4-3 to Brazil, drawing
with Italy 2-2 and beating China 3-2). Note that FIFA was formed in
1904. Great Britain won the gold at both the 1908 and 1912 Olympics.
The four separate British associations withdrew from FIFA in
1920, declaring that they would not intermingle with their former
enemies of the Great War. They all rejoined in 1924, but all withdrew
again in 1928 over FIFA's sanctioning of part-time wages for amateur
players at the 1928 Olympic Games. All the British associations
were reaffiliated in 1946.
While the British teams were affiliated with FIFA, a Great Britain team
participated in Olympic competition in 1908 (London, gold medal),
1912 (Stockholm, gold medal), 1948 (London again, beaten by Denmark for the
Bronze), 1952 (Helsinki, defeated by Luxemburg 5-3 aet in a major upset in
the Preliminary Round), 1956 (Melbourne, beaten 4-2 by Bulgaria in the
Second Round) and 1960 (Rome, finishing only 3rd in the First Round group
games).
It is my understanding that the Great Britain Olympic teams were all amateur
players selected by the British Olympic Commission and were not
connected in any way with the professional football associations that
constitute England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
-----------------------------------
From: archer@hsi.com (Garry Archer)
Subject: Re: Celebrating 110 years of soccer in North America
Date: November 30, 1995
rblouin@econ.pstc.brown.edu (Renaud Blouin) writes:
>And I think Canada won the Olympic gold in 1904, beating the US in the finals!
>Probably not many countries showed up. :)
A good guess, you're on the right track...
Soccer in the 1904 Olympic Games in St, Louis, Missouri, USA was only
an exhibition sport and therefore Canada's first and only international
honour (in soccer) is not officially entered in the record books.
Here are the results:
Canada 7, USA I 0
Canada 4, USA II 0
Canada was declared the winner of this exhibition series. Subsequently,
the following matches were played to conclude the series.
USA I 0, USA II 0
USA I 0, USA II 0
USA I 2, USA II 0
Canada was represented by Ontario Galt FC.
USA I was actually Christian Brothers College, St. Louis.
USA II was actually St. Rose, St. Louis.
Three other teams from the USA were also scheduled to participate in the
exhibition series, but never did play. No other representative teams from
other countries were entered.
Soccer did not become an official Olympic sport until the Games in London
in 1908. Great Britain won the Gold then and also in 1912. Denmark won
the Silver in both 1908 and 1912. The Danes had received the benefits of
British coaching earlier than most countries in Europe. Noteworthy is
that Denmark defeated France 'A' 17-1, which remains a world co-record
for a full international (they had also beaten France 'B' 9-0 earlier).
At the first Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 a Danish representative team
played a Greek team and won by an unknown score; all details of this contest
have been lost, apparently.
In 1900 at Paris, three countries entered unofficial teams in another
exhibition tournament. Great Britain, represented by Upton Park FC,
defeated a French representative team sponsored by the Union des Societes
Francaises des Sports Athletiques by a score of 4-0. The French team then
defeated a Belgian team 6-2. Again no mdeals were awarded.
After the 1904 Games in St. Louis there was an Intermediate Olympic Games
at Athens in 1906, in which Denmark defeated teams from Izmir (5-2) and
Athens (9-0). Izmir defeated a Salonika team 3-0 and then Athens defeated
the Salonika team 5-0.
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Subject: Ominous Signs for Sweden? (Was:Uphill battle for Sweden)
From: halchuk@seismo.emr.ca (Stephen Halchuk)
Date: Nov 15, 1996
kstokker@risc.uni-linz.ac.at (Karel Stokkermans) writes:
> Dan Sammartino writes:
> >Has any team that finished 1-2-3-or 4 not qualified for the next WC?
> [snip]
>The Netherlands and France are the only examples in the last 25 years.
I can't believe I'm saying this :-) but "Karel, you missed one!"
Remember not so long ago - England failed to qualify for USA94 after
finishing 4th in 1990.
I think I have the complete list below.
Teams finishing in the top 4 who failed to qualify for the next World Cup
Notes
England 1994 (4th 1990)
France 1990 (3rd 1986)
Holland 1982 (2nd 1978)
Portugal 1970 (3rd 1966)
Czechoslovakia 1966 (2nd 1962)
Yugoslavia 1966 (4th 1962)
Sweden 1962 (2nd 1958) 1
France 1962 (3rd 1958) 1
Uruguay 1958 (3rd 1954)
Spain 1954 (4th 1950) 2
Sweden 1954 (3rd 1950)
Hungary 1950 (2nd 1938) 3
Austria 1938 (4th 1934) 4
Yugoslavia 1934 (3rd 1930) 5
Notes
1. Both Sweden and France failed to make the 1962 tournament at the
last hurdle. They both finished tied at the top of their (separate)
qualifying groups, but lost in playoffs to Switzerland and Bulgaria
respectively.
2. Spain did not make it by shear cruelty. In the days before goal
difference mattered, they played a two game series with Turkey. They
won the first match 4-1 and lost the second 1-0. The deciding game ended
in a 2-2 draw and Turkey was chosen by the drawing of lots.
3. Hungary, in disarray after World War II, chose not to participate in
1950, along with several other eastern european nations
4. Austria did in fact qualify, but had been annexed by Germany and was
no longer a separate country. They withdrew from the 1938 tournament.
5. There was no third place match in 1930. Yugoslavia was a losing semi
finalist (as was the USA)
Oh yes - Sweden. On the previous 2 occasions that Sweden finished in
the top 4, they failed to qualify for the next World Cup. Ominous signs
for 1998???
==============================================================
Subject: World Cup Trivia - Hardest team to beat at home?
From: halchuk@seismo.emr.ca (Stephen Halchuk)
Date: Feb 28, 1997
After looking into the history of Canada vs Mexico, I reinforced my
pessimism about Canada achieving a positive result for this Sunday's
World Cup qualifier. Mexico is almost perfect at home in the "cosy"
Azteca Stadium when it comes to World Cup qualifiers (or any other type
of match, for that matter). Mexico has played 42 World Cup qualifiers
at home, won 40 and drawn 2.
This lead me to wonder if there was a national side with a better World
Cup qualifying record at home. Off the top of my head I came up with
the following candidates:
Mexico played 42 won 40 drawn 2
Spain played 31 won 27 drawn 4
Italy played 25 won 22 drawn 3
Brazil played 18 won 15 drawn 3
England played 28 won 19 drawn 8 lost 1 (first loss to Italy 2 weeks ago)
Germany played 22 won 18 drawn 3 lost 1
Egypt played 20 won 17 drawn 2 lost 1
Argentina played 19 won 13 drawn 5 lost 1
S Korea played 29 won 20 drawn 7 lost 2
It can be argued that Mexico's opponents were weaker on average than
most of the others but it is still impressive. Can anyone suggest any
other "unbeatable" nations at home when it comes to World Cup
qualifiers?
As for the 2 draws that Mexico has suffered at home, both came at the
hands (or should I say feet) of Canada, so hope springs eternal
(however feeble) that history will repeat itself on Sunday.