Estadio Centenario was completed just days after its deadline, allowing Uruguay to host the first World Cup semifinals and final. The inaugural final ended with Uruguay defeating Argentina 4-2 in a hometown victory. Uruguay had already achieved major international success with Olympic gold in 1924 and 1928, and by 1929 it helped solve FIFA’s lack of a tournament by offering to fly and house participating teams. Uruguay’s football culture remains exceptionally strong despite its small population, producing two World Cups and many Copa América titles. Montevideo concentrates most top-division clubs, and national team matches pull everyday life to a near standstill.
"On July 18, 1930, a 38-year-old public-works director named Juan Antonio Scasso stood inside the still-wet Estadio Centenario while his crew dried the floors with braziers. FIFA had given him under a year to build the place, and he'd refused any pay beyond his municipal salary, promising to finish on time. He missed by five days."
"Saving Scasso's skin, the Centenario opened in time to host both the inaugural semifinals and FIFA finals, the latter of which Uruguay won 4-2 against Argentina in an emotional hometown victory. Uruguay was already the best football nation on Earth-taking Olympic gold in Paris in 1924, gold again in Amsterdam in 1928-and by 1929, FIFA was 25 years old and still tournament-less, a problem Uruguay solved by offering to fly and house every team that entered."
"Small, mighty Uruguay, often overshadowed by the powerhouse teams of neighboring Argentina and Brazil, is an essential part of World Cup history-and, year-round, arguably the most soccer-crazy. The country, with a population of 3.5 million, has produced two World Cups and 15 Copa Américas wins, and Montevideo itself is home to 13 of the national league's 16 first-division clubs. ( Buenos Aires, a city nearly 10 times the size, has 5.)"
"Classrooms in Uruguay lose students to football on ordinary afternoons-but when the national team plays, the rest of the country follows them out the door: offices empty, banks shutter, the panadería line dissolves by half"
Read at Conde Nast Traveler
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